Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Fantasy (definitely)
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Number in series: 1st
My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8 (actually…about 8.24)
Type: Fiction
Number of pages: 377
Time period: Present
My overall opinion: Wow. I’ve been mulling over this review for days trying to decide what to say (and whether or not I’m going to finish the series). Let’s see here. I’ll do numbers…no particular order. 1. I didn’t like all the gods. Obviously, I know that there is only one true God. I think I could safely say that the Greek gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, etc) are a gigantic part of this story. I don’t want to completely give it away, but that was an aspect that bothered me. And since it’s major in the story… hmmm. 2. Rick Riordan was a wonderful author. The book was interesting, and yeah, he’s a great writer. 3. It was a little dark. Maybe a bit more than a little. That bothered me too. 4. Will I finish the series? We’ll see. If so, you’ll hear about it. J 5. Thoughts, anyone? Have you read it? What did you think? What DO you think? Should I finish it? Decisions… lol, by the time you read this review, it’ll be well over a month since I read the book, so the “should I finish it” question will be a little outdated.
For those of you who are overwhelmingly curious...yes, I read the rest. :)
6 comments:
I love this series! I have come to look on it as a kind of fairy tale story. I think for a while it was uncomfortable with a few aspects. I think I have come to be more okay with things that make me uncomfortable because when I was growing up my sisters and I would change those things, or find a way to explain them with our Christian faith. It has also help how familiar I am with Sci-Fi.(My dad likes Sci-fi so I pretty much grew up on Startrek Next Generation)I would also say that morality is an issue in the books, but I think kids can see that it is not such a good thing. Overall I would have to say I really really loved these books. I enjoyed how he blended Greek Mythology into the story, I actually learned a lot about it, or it made me research it. Which has helped me with some classical literature to know what they are talking about. I found to book was hard to put down, and the chapter titles where hilarious! :) I would say that if you want to find out what happens. I would say that the other books are just as good. I liked how in the books it is not exactly glorious battles, he shows how it is tragic too, it is not all good. He is a very talented writer.
Sorry this is a long comment, I really really enjoyed these boos, as did my sisters, and have been debating whether or not I wanted to post about them myself.
~Elizabeth
I have not read this series, but 3 of my siblings have and they liked them. I read 2 of his Kane Chronicles that just came out and, while good, I don't think I'll finish the series. Something about the gods bothered me.
Elizabeth, Katelyn, thanks for commenting. :) Interesting thoughts!
Thanks for posting this review Charity! I got a Barnes & Noble gift certificate for Christmas, and just recently got to the store to redeem it... I didn't find much, since B&N didn't have most of the books I was looking for, so I browsed a bit, and there was a stand with the Persy Jackson & the Olympians books. I'd seen the trailer for the movie, and it looked interesting, but, it being fantasy & having a lot to do with gods, I wasn't sure if it would be any good, so I randomly read some excerpts from the first book, and ended up getting it (just the first book, since I still wasn't completely sure about it). I haven't gotten to reading it yet, since I've already got a bunch of other books to read before The Lightning Thief, but when I do I'll be sure to comment and tell you what I thought of it! I already agree with what you said in your review, and while it didn't tell me much more than I already knew, it was helpful just to get another's opinion on it. So, thanks again for reviewing The Lightning Thief!
P.S. I've actually used your blog quite a bit, especially when I'm looking for a new book to read. It's nice to have somewhere I can go with a Christian perspective!
I have a lot of jumbled thoughts on this series by Rick Riordan and all his books, in particular. I have read the whole Percy Jackson series, including its "sequel series," The Heroes of Olympus. I actually love the way they were written. Rick Riordan is the master of modern wit, and he's a great, creative writer. The books were humorous, interesting, perhaps a little dark sometimes, but overall, I liked them very much. I've studied Greek mythology as a part of history for my school, but still, those invented gods can be quite a bother and also very controversial. That probably is the "worst" thing about the books, but it without them, well, I guess it wouldn't be exactly complete.
Anyway, I wrote reviews for the first three books in the Percy Jackson series. I elaborated most of the pros and cons there. You might be interested to read them.
Very interesting. Jessie, yes make sure you tell me what you think! I'll be very curious. :) Also, I'm SO glad you use my blog for book suggestions...when I created it, that's what I hoped would happen. :)
Jemimah, could you leave me links for the Percy Jackson reviews? I'm definitely interested in reading them. :)
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