The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Title: The Lightning Thief	Loved it	Graded
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Elements: Greek mythology
Series: Book 1 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

What if the gods of Olympus were alive in the 21st Century? What if they still fell in love with mortals and had children who might become great heroes — like Theseus, Jason and Hercules?

What if you were one of those children?

Such is the discovery that launches twelve-year-old Percy Jackson on the most dangerous quest of his life. With the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena, Percy must journey across the United States to catch a thief who has stolen the original weapon of mass destruction – Zeus’ master bolt. Along the way, he must face a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. Most of all, he must come to terms with a father he has never known, and an Oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend.

Greek mythology has always been a favourite of mine, and I enjoyed THE LIGHTNING THIEF a lot. I came across this series a few years back, and I'm glad I didn't read it then because I wouldn't have appreciated it as much then! THE LIGHTNING THIEF was action driven, with characters going places where I have only dreamed of. I loved how Rick Riordan incorporated Greek mythology into the 21st century. The idea of the mist that veils the gods, monsters etc from humans' eyes was so simple, yet so effective!

Poor Percy is stuck in school when we first met him. He's been shuffled from school to school ever since he started, and this year is no different. Percy always thought of this as his rotten luck, along with his ADHD and dyslexia, but then bam! A Fury attacks him, his best friend Grover turns out to be a satyr, his mom is killed by a Minotaur and he finds out that he's a demigod who's father is Poseidon, and he's being sent off to camp with other demigods! *gulps down air* Man, I don't know about you, but all that info overload in 24 hours would have driven me nuts. Lucky for Percy, he's much more level headed than me. And there's still a hundred more pages and 4 more books to go, so you know Percy is going to deal just fine with his new life.

I loved the origin of how the Percy Jackson series came about. To sum it up, it's for Haley, Rick Riordan's son who has dyslexia and ADHD. Haley is an aspiring author, so kudos to him! It just goes to show that... conditions (?) don't make the person, but only what the person choose to make of himself. Something like that. I suck at pretty, insightful sayings.

At Camp Half Blood, he meets his old Latin teacher who turns out to be a centaur and pretty, deadly Annabeth, daughter of Athena. The kids in the camp are half bloods, with their parents being sibling or in the case of the Big Three (Poseidon, Zeus and Hades) uncles to those siblings. Which means that all of them are cousins. From Percy being an only child, he has all these cousins. And it was ick, but imagine if he and Annabeth got together. We're talking an actual MORTAL INSTRUMENTS situation here. I bet you never thought of that!

Sometimes when I pause and restart a book, I have to read the preceding pages to get back into the story. But with THE LIGHTNING THIEF, there's no such thing. The scenes are distinctive, the writing flows smoothly and the jokes are tasteful. The plot grows by leaps and bounds, and the introduction of all the characters and monsters are not overwhelming. By the end of the book, I almost smacked myself in the head because the ending was just so obvious, and yet I didn't figure it out! Such is Rick Riordan's writing. I love this series and I'm diving back in. Can't say more about it. Enjoy!

Movie Review: Spoiler alert! I watched Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief with Tian. It's the second time I'm watching it in three days, and that's a bit too much goodness in such a short span of time. I loved the movie, with its (albeit shortened and much less complex) storyline, special effects, all star cast and the gorgeous scenery of the places I definitely want to visit. Percy Jackson tour, anyone? Some of the jokes practically wrote themselves (like when Percy goes "Heads up." after beheading Medusa) but other than that they were funneh.

My favourite part has got to be when they were in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. It was GREAT to see the actors go wild. The explanation was lame ("It was the lair of the lotus eaters, from ancient times.") and it was apparent that the script writers made that up. It just wasn't up to Rick Riordan's quality.

Edited: So I was informed by Rose that there is such a thing called the lotus eaters. I like the modern twist, and the explanation doesn't seem THAT lame or convenient now.

The storyline was almost simplistic when you compare it to the book. I rather like that the movie distinguished itself that way, because (Harry Potter reference oh no!) then you don't have a bunch of plot lines that seem to go nowhere and plot holes that litter the screen. I'm looking at you, HP 5 and 6. I got lost while watching those two movies, even though I've read the books many times. Wth? However, it would have been nice if they added the Kronos storyline, which would make crossing over into the second movie more like another chapter in Percy's life, rather than just another movie about Percy. I also particularly loved how they blamed the weather effects global warming on the gods.

As for how they introduced ADHD and dyslexia into the plot, I don't know how they could have done it better but boy, was it rough. I choose to think of it as a lovely tribute to Rick Riordan's son, Haley, who has both ADHD and dyslexia, and is one of the main reasons why Percy Jackson ws invented. One thing that I thought could be improved was Percy's relevance as Poseidon's son. The movie didn't show what a big deal being one of the Big Three's son, but they did show that Poseidon loved Percy aww blubber blubber blubber. It irked me, because even though I understood the need for some lovey dovey family moment, I thought it rang a bit false. Because Poseidon is a god, and he has many, many children, and to think that he favours Percy over the others... well, obviously it happens, but blech. Another thing that irked slightly was the obvious product placement. Oh, hello Apple iPod touch and Ford truck! It brought the LOLs when some irritating, smart mouthed geek coughed "Product placement!" loudly and the theater laughed instead if stoning said person for interrupting the movie. Thank god they knew of product placement, and thank god they had a sense of humour. Phew! If not, said irritating, smart mouthed geek wouldn't be here clattering on the keyboard.

The main leads did a great job. Dreamy Logan Lerman was fantastic as Percy Jackson, but I didn't expect any less what with his repertoire of big blockbuster movies like Number 23 and Gamer. I first noticed him as the all too iconic Simon in Gamer... advertisements. Unfortunately, I haven't watched the movie so I have no idea if he's any good in it. Or in any of the other movies he acted in. But mark my words: Logan Lerman's bound for great things.

The chemistry between him and Annabeth, played by Alexandra Daddario (whose name I tried to pronounce, but instead likened to Dugtrio from Pokemon. If you're reading this, sorry Alexandra!) seemed slightly forced. It was more on Alexandra's part. The poolside scene was supposed to be intimate and full of sexual tension, but it was awkward rather than exciting. How do I know this? I only realised it was supposed to be such a scene, until AFTER the scene. She just seems to have more of a friendly stranger vibe as compared to a love interest vibe. In this movie, the main characters are about 16 or so? So get any thought of "sexual tension" and "twelve year olds" out of your brain. Don't even put it in the same sentence, like I did.

Brandon T. Jackson was the comic relief guy. I don't know about you; on one hand I loved his performance and the light heartedness he brought to the movie, but on the other, I'm tired of seeing African African guys as the comic relief. Why not give him a bigger job THAN the comic relief? Hopefully we'll see more of him and Grover as the series progresses. Pierce Brosnan played the Dumbledore to Percy's Harry. I would have loved to have seen more of the other adult cast. Their involvement was seriously underplayed, and their appearances seemed more like cameos.

Overall, I'll be giving a 4/5 for the movie. I enjoyed it tremendously, and I'll be enjoying it again when the DVD comes out.