The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

This is a more childish book, but engrossing and fun-filled all the same. People of all ages can enjoy it, and it's one of those books that has you going back to it again and again. There is also a movie adaptation of the book- I would definetely check that out. Both the book and movie were wonderful.

The Lightning Thief is written absolutely beautifully. It really drew me into Percy's world, and I felt myself able to relate to the characters in a way that I normally am not able to. I loved the humor that Rick Riordan added into the book- it was so refreshing and really complimented the intense storyline. I also enjoyed the modern references to the Greek Gods. The mythology is done perfectly; it gives you just enough information to understand the story without getting boring (take a hint Dan Brown). It was intriguing to see how a talented writer can spin the tales of Greek mythology into a modern, enjoyable story with an original twist.

The plot started off a bit slow, but quickly gained pace; the action was perfectly distributed throughout the entire story. I normally skim through action paragraphs (they get rather tedious sometimes) but I found myself eating up every word Riordan had written on the page. It was just amazing- cool and very very fun. Just when you think Percy and his friends are safe, another monster appears and they are battling it out yet again.

I loved the characters Riordan has created with this book. They weren't two-dimensional - they felt so completely real - and I found myself loving each and every one of them. Percy was everything a strong main character hero should be. He was cute, funny, strong, brave, courageous, loyal. I loved him! We see him go from being the 'loser', a kid who struggles with ADHD and Dyslexia, who keeps getting kicked out of schools, to a monster-fighting hero. Grover and Annabeth were also good characters, but I didn't feel we got to know them very well in this one. I can connect to them better in the sequels to this book.

If your expecting romance, I'm sorry, but you will be dissapointed. That's something I actually liked about this book. I'm so sick and tired of the YA love triangle thing, this book was refreshing and new. I mean, come on, they are only twelve! But the friendship between Percy, Annabeth and Grover is wonderfully written I could really feel the companionship between them.

I would recommend this book to absolutely anyone. Regardless of what you’re into, you will probably like this book. It has plenty of everything: humor, action, adventure, and mythology.