The Lightning Thief (2005)
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The Lightning Thief Book Review
The Lightning Thief is a 2005 fantasy novel by Rick Riordan. It’s a flawed, but fun genre story that offers a solid start to this franchise.
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“Where’s the glory in repeating what others have done?“
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As the first in a series of five novels, The Lightning Thief did establish effortlessly this world and all the characters that it’s populated with. It’s the very beginning, so there is an origin story for our protagonist, but it’s a story that’s actually done surprisingly well, though obviously the book deals with a lot of fantasy genre clichés.
Rick Riordan was at one time a history teacher and an English teacher. He ended up combining these two strengths of his into writing this story about Greek Mythology to appease his son who is dyslexic, thus he made the protagonist like that as well. It’s a great behind the scenes story, but Riordan showcased here his strengths in history knowledge, but not so much his writing skills.
My main issue with this first novel is its rushed pace. I get it, it was meant to appeal to children and teenagers first and foremost. And it does obviously a great job appealing to those groups. However, the pacing is so chaotically brisk that I desperately wished for a breather or two during the more important character or plot-driven moments. Riordan doesn’t deal with many descriptions in his storytelling, which was a problem to me personally as fantasy storytelling needs those descriptions to establish the world properly.
With that being said, the world building is still excellent here. Most of the plot points are predictable, but they were so well realized in momentum, emotion and memorable scenarios that I did not mind that predictability eventually. The book truly soars in its second half where it fully delves into Greek Mythology. It’s a fantastic lesson in this mythology for those who aren’t particularly knowledgeable of all the gods and goddesses without being too dense in that area either. It’s a perfect mixture of modern storytelling with classic myths that really worked.
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One of the biggest complaints Riordan’s writing gets is in the dialogue department. I somewhat agree with that sentiment as the ironic humor and that aggressive teenage angst edge were too much to take in at times, but overall the dialogue is very believable for this particular age group while it’s also genuinely fun and memorable at times.
Percy Jackson is one of the better fantasy protagonists. He’s not too perfect nor is he ever overly heroic, which was refreshing to witness. His arc is the best thing about this entire novel as it features a great message about turning your supposed weaknesses into a strength as he did with his dyslexia. This message was beautifully conveyed and it’s universal in its application as it can appeal to all minorities, but especially those who found themselves much better aligned in a different city or profession etc.
Percy can be too bitchy at times, but I loved his dynamic with his best friends. Grover is just so likable and the best friend you can ask for while Annabeth is the cranky female friend who is a potential love interest. Both are excellent and quite memorable. Percy’s mom and her plight with her terrible husband represented a typical story that was still well told. Luke turning out to be a villain was a great twist that worked.
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Poseidon and Zeus needed more time to shine, at least they did in this first novel, but the book still established the gods in a very complex manner. They are cool and badass, but also very human in their selfish and arrogant ways. Ares was a phenomenal main villain of this story and that fight between him and Percy was an action highlight in a novel that had some strong fights throughout. Hades was also great and the book is filled with so many iconic moments with countless mythological creatures, the highlights being the minotaur and the Medusa, the latter representing the best and most thrilling section of this novel.
