The first in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
Summary:
Percy Jackson is a dyslexic kid with ADHD who can't manage to stay in the same school for two years in a row, thanks to his ability to get himself into trouble so very easily. But a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, complete with a really bad encounter with his pre-algebra teacher, leads to Percy discovering that he is a half-blood. Half what, you ask? Half human, half god. Percy is sent to Half-Blood Hill, a summer camp for demigods. All the campers there are sons and daughters of the Greek gods and goddesses. He and the rest of the "undetermined" go through their days, hoping to get claimed by one of the gods.
Percy does get claimed, and gets sent on a quest to find the master bolt, Zeus's most powerful lightning bolt, which was stolen at the winter solstice. Oh, and Percy has a grand total of ten days to go west to LA, find the bolt, and get it back to Zeus before the summer solstice on June 21st, when Zeus and Poseidon will break out in all-out war. Along the way, Percy comes face-to-face with five gods, as well as countless mythical creatures that are kind enough to impede his progress.
Thoughts:
AWESOME. I loved it, and will be reading the rest of the series very soon. The throwbacks to Greek mythology are great. Seeing how Riordan work the old Greek myths into the story was awesome. Sure, I knew where much of the story was going before it got there (except one little twist that I didn't pick up on thanks to not remembering everything from my mythology class), but it was great watching it all unfold. I can't wait to see the rest of this series play out. Now I can totally get myself to the video store (I think?) to get the movie.
Seriously, though, this book was can't-put-it-down great. This was the second book this year that I wasn't checking page numbers all the time to see where I was and how much I had left. The writing feels exactly like being inside a pre-teen's brain. The way Riordan tells his story, it's truly like talking to a teenager. Beautifully done. I can't wait to get my hands on more.
Pages: 375 (wow, really? Didn't feel that long!)
Genre: Fantasy, mystery, with some Greek Mythology thrown in.
Grade: A+
Would I Recommend?: Abso-freakin'-lutely.
13 down, 37 to go!
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