I was totally prepared to hate this book. I'd convinced myself that I didn't like American children's fiction, let alone American teen fiction! And did you really expect me to enjoy a book that seemingly mixed the American high-school genre with a no doubt dodgy take on classical mythology?
Low and behold I opened the book and was greeted by a self-centred, troubled teenager telling me not to read on if I believed I was a 'half-blood' too; at this point I nearly gave up on the whole thing! However, remembering that I had pledged to read 100 books, and giving up on number 92 would be ridiculous, I ploughed on! And i'm really glad I did!
Yes, it was a bit cheesy, yes it was somewhat predictable, and yes, it had a slightly dubious take on Greek mythology, but i'll admit Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief was a real page turner and to my surprise I actually enjoyed it!
The story is narrated by Percy Jackson, a twelve year old boy who discovers that he is a demigod or half-blood. It turns out that Percy's mum had a fling with the Greek god Poseidon and Percy was the result! As I said the story has an interesting take on Greek mythology! However dubious, everyone whose anyone in Greek mythology features in this book! Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Dionysus, Ares, Medusa, to name but a few. And Percy finds himself face-to-face with many a mythical creature too, he fights the Minotaur, the Furies, Cerberus the three-headed dog (think Fluffy in The Chamber of Secrets), and a Chimera. Therefore, its a good job he goes to stay at Camp Half-Blood.
Camp Half-Blood is a summer camp that teaches children like Percy how to do what a demigod should do; it is like Hogwarts for children who are half Greek god. It is run by headmaster and alcoholic Dionysus the god of wine, his deputy Chiron, a centaur, and some Satyrs (half goat, half man). Percy's best friend Grover, whom he met at his last school turn out to be one of these Satyrs, apparently putting trousers and trainers on completely disguises goat legs! Anyway, as well as Grover, Percy makes another friend, Annabeth, daughter of Athena. Like her mother Annabeth is known for her intelligence, logic and reason; she is somewhat of an intellectual, with a thirst for knowledge and a cool head in a crisis. Sound familiar? Yes I thought so too. Annabeth sounds very much like Hermione Granger don't you think? Once i'd picked up on this it was really hard not to see Percy as a Harry type character and Grover in some ways as Ron (it didn't help that i'd imagined him with ginger hair!). Although Percy has a mother (who dies temporarily) and a father who is a god, he spends a lot of time in boarding schools giving him a hint of the orphaned boy character, a well used protagonist in much children's literature, from Dicken's Oliver Twist to our beloved Harry Potter, and lots of other characters in between. Riordan uses this stereotype to endear his readers to Percy, making us feel a little sorry for him, as well as backing him in his fight against evil. The main plot of the story involves Percy and his friends going on a quest to return Zeus's Master Bolt to the god after it is stolen.
Here are my high points from the quest:
- Percy has a really cool pen that turns into a sword!
- Medusa owns a garden gnome emporium! Somewhere she can sell all the people she has turned to stone of course.
- Percy encounters a water-bed salesman who is in fact a mythological creature.
- Demigods and other mythological creatures communicate through 'iris-messaging', which is like video-calling through a rainbow.
- The underworld is situated in a recording studio in L.A.
I would actually recommend this book! It was a fun, enjoyable read, with a creative twist on the stories and characters of Greek mythology.
Thanks for reading, L x
In other news I have set up a facebook page for this blog! I'm planning to fill it with articles and other interesting things that are children's lit related. If this sounds up your street then click here to take a look! Thank you!
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