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Review: The Lightning Thief
Sep. 25th, 2007 11:41 amOk, this is non-serious reading, but I wanted to share it with others (I'm also working on a list of books La Beck has liked, since other people probably struggle with what to give a pre-teen Pottermaniac to read.)
Rick Riordan. The Lightning Thief. Hyperion, 2005
Book one of the Jackson & The Olympians series.
I picked this one up because it reminded me a bit of Ye Gods! by Tom Holt, though on a kid level. Basically, it turns out the Greek gods are still around, and still doing what they do best-- mating with humans to produce demigods. Percy Jackson, who has been kicked out of 5 schools in 5 years, finishes up his disastrous year in Yancy Academy by fighting off a Fury, formerly his pre-algebra teacher, during a school fieldtrip. Turns out Percy is the son of an unspecified Greek god, and to keep him safe, his mom gives in an sends him to a summer camp for children of the gods. But Percy is apparently in big trouble-- too many mythological creatures are out to get him, perhaps in connection with a mysterious theft. Desperately, his instructors assign him a quest and send him off with a daughter of Athena and a young satyr (in the classical sense) to retrieve something from Hades. Along the way he meets (and battles) a number of mythological characters and elements, challenges more gods than is safe, and finds out that the situation isn't what it seems.
What lifts this above the usual 'mythological fantasy' is Percy's smart-aleck sense of humor and the author's choice of mythology to handle. The sense is light but the touch is deft. Charon, for instance, has a weakness for cream-colored Italian suits; satyrs, being part goat, snack on Coke cans; Dionysis, banished to earth as a grumpy camp director, has to drink Coke instead of his favorite wine as part of his punishment; the pre-algebra teacher looks "mean enough to drive a Harley right into your locker." In many cases, I couldn't guess who the mythological references were before I got to the give-away moment. The gods still have their more-than-human hubris and squabbles, though some things-- like the entrance to the Underworld, in LA, are a bit modernized (the EZ-Death line?).
While it's nowhere near the level of sarcasm of Tom Holt, this is still an amusing read. Given that it's target audience is ages 9-12, that's about right. The issues of parental responsibility, reliability/unreliability of adults, and the usual personal responsibility growth common to books for this age group are not addressed heavy-handedly. Some elements are not handled as deftly as others, but I'd definitely give it a 3.5 or 4 out of 5.
Rick Riordan. The Lightning Thief. Hyperion, 2005
Book one of the Jackson & The Olympians series.
I picked this one up because it reminded me a bit of Ye Gods! by Tom Holt, though on a kid level. Basically, it turns out the Greek gods are still around, and still doing what they do best-- mating with humans to produce demigods. Percy Jackson, who has been kicked out of 5 schools in 5 years, finishes up his disastrous year in Yancy Academy by fighting off a Fury, formerly his pre-algebra teacher, during a school fieldtrip. Turns out Percy is the son of an unspecified Greek god, and to keep him safe, his mom gives in an sends him to a summer camp for children of the gods. But Percy is apparently in big trouble-- too many mythological creatures are out to get him, perhaps in connection with a mysterious theft. Desperately, his instructors assign him a quest and send him off with a daughter of Athena and a young satyr (in the classical sense) to retrieve something from Hades. Along the way he meets (and battles) a number of mythological characters and elements, challenges more gods than is safe, and finds out that the situation isn't what it seems.
What lifts this above the usual 'mythological fantasy' is Percy's smart-aleck sense of humor and the author's choice of mythology to handle. The sense is light but the touch is deft. Charon, for instance, has a weakness for cream-colored Italian suits; satyrs, being part goat, snack on Coke cans; Dionysis, banished to earth as a grumpy camp director, has to drink Coke instead of his favorite wine as part of his punishment; the pre-algebra teacher looks "mean enough to drive a Harley right into your locker." In many cases, I couldn't guess who the mythological references were before I got to the give-away moment. The gods still have their more-than-human hubris and squabbles, though some things-- like the entrance to the Underworld, in LA, are a bit modernized (the EZ-Death line?).
In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have someone to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.
While it's nowhere near the level of sarcasm of Tom Holt, this is still an amusing read. Given that it's target audience is ages 9-12, that's about right. The issues of parental responsibility, reliability/unreliability of adults, and the usual personal responsibility growth common to books for this age group are not addressed heavy-handedly. Some elements are not handled as deftly as others, but I'd definitely give it a 3.5 or 4 out of 5.
