The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

During the summer, I was recommended a book called “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan; this is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The story is about a city boy, Percy Jackson, with dyslexia who finds out that he is a half blood when his history teacher gives him a pen that transforms into a sword before his eyes, to slay his most hated teacher in his boarding school who is reveled to be a terrible Harpee (an evil Greek mythology creature) that attempts to kill Percy. His best friend Grover (who to Percy’s surprise is a satyr, half person, half goat) in order to keep Percy safe from Minotaurs, Harpies, and other mythological creatures that are trying to kill him (Percy), then takes Percy to a camp, Camp Half-blood. Once Percy gets to Camp Half-blood, he finds out that he is Neptune’s Father (King of the Sea) and that he (Percy) has been blamed for framed for stealing Zues’ lightning bolt. In order to prove his innocence, he and his friends (Grover the satyr and Annabeth, daughter of the demi-god Athena) take on a given quest to find and return Zues’ bolt in a maximum of 10 days before a huge war breaks out between the gods of Mount Olympus, but this quest will not be an easy one, for it requires traveling from their camp in New York to the gates of Hell located in Los Angeles, while avoiding tons of enemies trying to stall and/or kill him and his friends. Not only does Percy have to deal with finding the real thief of the lightning bolt, but he must also mentally deal with the abandonment of his father and to solve the mystery of the Oracal which warned him of failure and betrayal of a friend.

In my opinion it was a very enjoyable read, even if you’re not the Sci-Fi type of reader. The author used excruciating detail, so it will be easy for the reader to picture what is going on in the story and a great ending that blends in well with the story speed. One of my favorite techniques to author used when writing this book is bringing something from the past, into the 21^st century. I highly suggest this book to everyone.   

By Charlie Yee