Review: Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief - Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is a troubled kid, his school record proves it - he's been through six schools in six years. Taking a trip with his mother after leaving his last school, Percy runs into yet more trouble which he escapes from with the help of his friend Grover. They make it to Half-blood Hill where Percy finds out he's not exactly the person he thought he was. He's the son of one of the Greek gods - but which one?

The Lightening Thief follows Percy, Grover and another half-blood, Annabeth, on a quest to stop a war between the gods. On their travels, the trio ensue a number of chracters from Greek mythology.

While not a literary masterpiece, this book is a fun read with some great ideas and, as far as I could tell, well researched in terms ofthe mythology (I'm not an expert on Greek gods, lol). The characters are really likable and seemed well developed right from the start. I particularly liked Ares' human form!

There's obvious similarities to the Harry Potter books but in my opinion that's not a bad thing as I love them! Some of the 'twists' were a little predictable but as an adult reading a children's/young adult book that's often the case anyway.

Looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Other reviews of this book:
Reading Angel

You can now read my review of the second book here