BAD Reads
Fantasy Book of the Month: "The Lightning Thief"
 | Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - Book One (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) Date: 01 April, 2006 — $7.99 — Book Rating: |
Okay, let's get it straight right now. J.K.Rowling did NOT sit down and create the idea of a young hero who suddenly discovers he is more than he seems to be, that he has a destiny. J.K just wrote a great contemporary version and was lucky enough to write it in the age of the Internet and the idea of a book as a product. So this is not a "Harry Potter" imitation.
If you do want to see an incredible example of an author doing a direct ripoff of someone else's work, try Christopher Paolini's books which are a blatant repackaging of "Star Wars" . But I've blogged about that elsewhere and I digress....
In fact, the idea goes at least as far back as Greek and Roman mythology--and perhaps further back still. And speaking of Greek mythology brings me to The Lightning Thief.
Percy Jackson has dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and can't manage to go for a full year of school without getting expelled. Then he vaporizes the mean math teacher on a field trip, discovers that his best friend is a satyr in disguise and that he is a "half-blood", the son of a god. Now Percy and his mother risk their lives to get him to Half-Blood Hill, a school/camp for the half-blood sons and daughters of the Olympic Gods, who are alive and well and have moved Olympus to the 600th (really) floor of the Empire State building. And soon Percy must embark on a wild cross country journey to retrieve Zeus's stolen lightning bolt and avoid a new war between the gods.
Riordan is terrific. Percy's voice is real and funny--by the time I'd gotten through the first chapter, I was hooked. It's a fast paced, rollicking adventure, and the mythology angle is great. Can you guess who "Crusty" the mattress salesman is, or figure out the secret of the lady who runs the store with all the lifelike garden statues? And just who is Percy's father, anyway? Plus there's the fun of seeing Greek gods transformed into 21st century characters--picture Ares(Mars), the god of war as a big bad biker dude....
Adults (like me) and kids who love mythology are going to have fun with this. And it may get other kids who always thought Greek and Roman mythology to dig out some more books about the Olympians. Besides, they'll want to be ready for the next "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" adventure, "The Sea of Monsters"
