Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The LIghtning Thief

I'm a Harry Potter fan. So when I saw the movie trailer for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I was intrigued. It impressed me enough to read the series, and I enjoyed it.

You know how, in the Greek myths, Gods would have affairs with mortals, and a demi-god hero (or villain) would result? In this series, they're still at it. Percy Jackson learns that his father was Poseidon. And while being a "half-blood" does come with some cool powers - it also makes him a magnet for every monster out there.

There are obvious analogies to Harry Potter - young kid finds out he has extra powers and gets pulled into extraordinary adventures, he trains at a place for special people like him. But these are story structures that have been used since we started telling stories around a fire. Would Percy Jackson have existed without the success of Harry Potter? Maybe not. But Harry Potter wouldn't have existed without Hercules, Odysseus, and Perseus.

There's one similarity I will point out between the two series - while both are theoretically for children/young adults, neither makes the mistake of writing for children. There are a number of levels in the story, and clearly neither J. K. Rowling nor Ric Riordan ever asked themselves "will the kiddies be able to handle this?"

This is not a perfect book, and this is not a perfect series. The writing can slide into predicability, from time to time, the dialog can sometimes border on the trite, and for the most part, the characters are the good guys who are good and bad guys who are bad. But those are imperfections, not defining characteristics. If you enjoy heroic fantasy - this book and this series is worth a try.