The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

By Rick Riordan

1152 ratings 1555 reviews 1764 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 5 - 8Grades 3 - 8W4.787223

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he's not even sure he believes himself. Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp. Suddenly, mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. The gods of Mount Olympus, he's coming to realize, are very much alive in the twenty-first century. And worse, he's angered a few of them: Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now Percy has just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property, and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. On a daring road trip from their summer camp in New York to the gates of the Underworld in Los Angeles, Percy and his friends -- one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena -- will face a host of enemies determined to stop them. To succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of failure and betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
ISBN-13: 9780786838653
ISBN-10: 0786838655
Published on 3/21/2006
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 416

Book Reviews (1486)

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All the Percy Jackson books are great. They have a lot of action.

This is very funny!!!!! :) :):):):)

jaidyn jaidyn

have a good time on dogo

Bobby Bobby

I read this book in school and it is cool

jay jay

i like this book because its based on Greek mythology

I reccommend this book to Harry Potter lovers who are aching for a new burst of magic to explode in a book. As usual in his life, Percy Jackson, a boy born with dyslexia and HDHD is doing not so great at boarding school at the last month of the school year when - gasp! - something weird happens to him for the ?? time in his life. But this is weirder than usual. I mean, how many times does your math teacher suddenly become a flying hag with a whip and attack you? But that's just the beginning. Percy finds himself with much more weirdness, from a centaur to a murderous massage bed. With magic worthy of Albus Dumbledore, Rick Riordan spins a tale much appealing from beginning to end, adding his own addictive spark of modern mythology.

WARNING, THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. This is an amazing book about the adventures of Percy Jackson. My great friend was reading the series and I had to know what it was. I quickly dove in and found myself laughing at the random names of the chapters and much more. This book is about a tween age boy that thinks he is perfectly normal, until he goes on a field trip... Percy is fighting with his math teacher, with a pen that turns into a sword!? Or monster teacher! Everyone thinks he is crazy when he talks about it. Even his favorite teacher and best friend Grover. Once he comes back from school, he tells his mom in the simplest way possible. Of course she is mortified and immediately tells him to pack a few things and to get in the car. They drive to their beach house in New York, and find a weather beaten Grover with no pants or shoes on.Turns out Percy's best friend is a satyr. No biggie! They drive to this place called Camp Half Blood. Percy finds himself out of a wrecked car, trying to get an unconscious Grover out of the car mumbling something...food. Soon Percy is trying to get up a hill with a huge minotaur trying to kill him. Percy uses his penknife to slay him. unfortunately, Percy's mom gets killed by the minotaur. Percy kills the beast and gets a souvenir, the monster's horn. He remembers getting into the camp, and then black. Percy wakes up a couple of days later, remembering a pretty blonde girl taking care of him. All the sudden Percy hears his teacher's voice. He is sitting close to Percy's bed in the wheelchair. Percy is really good at canoeing, but not archery, foot racing, or fighting.Time for a sword fighting lesson in cabin eleven. Luke is the teacher. Luke is the best swordsman to come along in three hundred years. Percy is paired with Luke as they practice their swordplay. Luke gives him a work-out. During the break, Percy dumps ice-water on his head and instantly feels better. Then, Luke demonstrates a super-tricky offensive sword technique to cabin eleven, using Percy as an example: Percy, a couple days later, finds himself about to play capture the flag. Though this was not what he was thinking... Everyone is in battle gear and yelling crazy things. Although, what can you expect at Camp Half Blood? Everything is better and more extreme there. Percy is on a team with the girl that took care of him in the Big House. Her name is Annabeth, and she is a daughter of Athena. Yes, it took some time for Percy to believe he was a demigod, half human, half god/ goddess. They start the battle of capture the flag... In the woods, Percy gets a big deep gash and falls into a little stream. A couple people, including Annabeth find him. Percy finds that when he gets out of the water, he is tired and his cut really hurts him. But when he gets back into the water, he is not tired, in fact the water seems to be giving him strength! Also, his cut starts to heal! Then, a green aura shows the symbol. PERCY IS A SON OF POSEIDON!!! Percy is then given some ambrosia, food of the gods. (If normal humans eat it, they could blow up, and if demigods get too much of it, the same thing can happen.) Ambrosia and nectar, (Drink of the gods) have healing powers. The game is over, and Percy's team WINS!!! Percy, a day later is talking with the director of the camp. Mr. D. Percy gets two options. either get turned into a bottlenose dolphin, or go on a quest to find Zeus's master lightning bolt. Percy has to go up to the attic of the big house to have a chat with the oracle. This is what the oracle says... You shall go West, and face the god who has turned. You shall find what was stolen,and see it safely returned. You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end. Will Percy find the master bolt and see to it that it is safely returned, or will all be lost? Read the book to find out! I rated this book 5/5 because everything in it makes you not want to put the book down. Rick Riordan really did a great job with this book, and I hope you will like it as much as I did! HAPPY READING!!

Great reviewđź‘Ťđź‘Ťđź‘Ť

INTERESTING, BEAUTIFUL, FABULOUS. <3 Ok, so first thing I want to say. It's romantic. ROMANTIC! BEAUTIFUL. Ok, so when he gets to the camp, he fights monsters and makes friends.

It is NOT romantic! The LAST book is.

playclash playclash

pretty good. read

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