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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Simon Simon

I own the Heros of Olympus series my sister owns this series. I think the're the best series ever

When I read it I thought it was spectacular!!

This book is really good and intresting. It got me hooked in right in at the vary beginning. I allredy was intrested in greek mitholagy

OMG Percy is so awesome I think that you should read this books

There are five books in the Percy Jackson series, and many more books in the series Heroes of Olympus, which is kind of the sequel series to Percy Jackson. Today I will be reviewing the first book. The first book is good, I guess, it's okay. But it didn't appeal to me that much. *SPOILERS BELOW So basically the story centers around a kid named Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson has been expelled from every school he's been to so far because of accidents, like landing the whole class in a shark tank in the aquarium. When his current school, Yancy Academy, goes on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his class, including his nemesis, Nancy and his best friend, Grover. His teacher, Ms. Dodds, turns out to be one of the Furies. The Furies are demons, basically, in Greek Mythology. His other teacher, Mr. Brunner, gives him a sword that can be disguised as a pen, called Riptide. Percy defeats Ms. Dodds and sends her back to Tartarus, which is the ultimate-horrible-place-to-go-when-you-die- place. Percy and his mom drive to Montauk Beach, but is met by Grover, who gives them a warning to go back. However, while driving, they are attacked by a Minotaur (monster that is half-bull, half-man.) He takes Percy's mom and Percy kills the Minotaur, before falling with exhaustion. Later, he and Grover are rescued and taken to Camp Half-Blood. While at Camp-Half Blood, Percy discovers that he is a demigod, a son of a mortal and one of the gods/goddesses in Greek Mythology. He also learns that Grover is a satyr (a mythical creature with horse-like features) and that Mr. Brunner is a centaur (half-horse, half-man). He also meets other demigods, like Annabeth, who is a daughter of Athena, Luke, who is a son of Hermes, and Clarisse, who is a daughter of Ares. Since no one knows who his god parent is, they place him in the Hermes cabin. Later, when they play a game of Capture the Flag, a trident appears above Percy, revealing that he is the son of Poseidon. Percy learns that Zeus, the king of the gods, thinks Poseidon used Percy to steal Zeus' lightning bolt, Zeus' chief weapon. The Oracle (a fortune-teller) tells Percy to return the stolen lightning bolt to Zeus to prove that he didn't steal it. Percy then has to go on an odyssey to find the lightning bolt with Annabeth and Grover. Percy, Annabeth and Grover defeat several mythological creatures, including the demon Medusa, who has snakes for hair. Now here's where it gets super confusing - at least for me. The trio find Hades, god of the dead, who has taken Percy's mom because he thinks Percy stole the Helm of Darkness (Hades' most powerful weapon). He says if Percy returns the Helm, Hades will return his mother. Percy realizes that Ares has all the stolen items. The backstory behind that is that when the lightning bolt was stolen, Zeus sent four of the most agile, quick, young and smart gods out to search for it, Apollo, Artemis, Athena and Ares. Only Ares found the true thief, Luke (the son of Hermes) but didn't turn him in. Instead Ares took the lightning bolt and the Helm of Darkness to start a war between the gods (because Ares is the god of war.) Percy challenges Ares to a duel, and surprisingly, wins. After getting all the items and returning them to their rightful owners, (and freeing his mother), Percy, Annabeth and Grover return to Camp Half-Blood. At Camp-Half Blood, Percy doesn't know that Luke is the thief (because Ares left that detail out) but Percy gets it quick enough when Luke tries to kill him with a scorpion. It is also revealed that Luke is a servant of Kronos, the King of the Titans, the enemy of the Gods. After all that, Percy decides to not stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, only in the summer and to spend the rest of the year with his mother. Okay, here it is. There's a lot of five-star reviews, and I like this book. But it isn't one of my favorites because for one, the characters seem a bit one-sided. Percy's brave, Annabeth's witty, Grover's loyal. That was pretty much everything interesting about the characters. That kicked it down one star. The imagery and world building - amazing. Up one star. Descriptions were pretty good. Up one star. Managed to make my emotions go up and down and all around. One star more. One star less because it was so confusing and generally, I couldn't understand it near the end even though I have a solid base of Greek Mythology. It is a good book, I just feel it could use some improvement. But let's just say this - it's a book that stuck with me through and through and basically, it's worthy of putting on a special shelf on my bookcase. ~FelicisOwl

I love this book! Please read the rest of the series too. There is also anot her sires by this author called the hero's of olympus that has Percy and Annabeth in it. Please follow and I will follow you! :)

Ally4489 Ally4489

I think that this book is really good and I think that you should read the book because the book has a lot of action in it.

I wish I would have this book because it is soooo GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!! I LOVE ALL PERCY JACKSON BOOKS!!!!

I read The Lightning Thief and by the first chapter I could just not stop reading! This amazing book is full of adventure, suspense, bravery,and also includes humor. I've read the whole series and am wanting to again! I think this book is a very amazing read!!! :)

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