Wednesday, March 3, 2010

"The Lightning Thief": It's All Greek, baby!

"The Lightning Thief" is the first book in the Percy Jackson series, and it was quite good.
I'll start off with the elephant in the room: YES, there are many similarities to Harry Potter. Percy is a young boy of 12 years who never quite fit in in the real world and suddenly finds out he's one of many demigods roaming the earth, so he is sent to a camp in the countryside where demigods are trained to become heroes. Ditto Harry, only with wizards. The demigods are a secret society, constantly trying to keep their kind a secret from the mortals. Ditto Harry, only with Muggles. The demigods are sorted into 12 different cabins at their camp, depending on which Greek god they were sired by. Ditto Harry, only with a talking hat. Percy discovers that he is very powerful, and along with his two best friends Grover & Annabeth, gets into a mishmash of adventures on his way to defeating the evil titan lord Kronos, whose name people are somewhat afraid to speak aloud. Ditto Harry, only with Ron, Hermione, and Voldemort.
But you know what? Who cares?
I loved the Harry Potter books, and if Percy Jackson is gonna be similar, then right on! If you're gonna have a lot in common with another series, it may as well be the best fuckin' book series of all time!
I really enjoyed this book. The best part about it for me was seeing how many creative ways the author Rick Riordan introduced a character or creature from Greek mythology, but presented it to us in a modern way. For example, Ares (god of war to all you PS2 fans out there) is portrayed as a buff, Hulk Hogan-like man with red-tinted sunglasses and a motorcycle with flames painted on it. Medusa (who would turn people to stone at a glance) is portrayed as a woman in a turban who owns a stone lawn ornament emporium. It's clever stuff, and Riordan pulls it off pretty well. The story itself is very well-thought-out, and even though it's a tad on the juvenile side (it REALLY appeals to the Miley Cyrus crowd) it still doesn't fail to deliver.
Oh, and Grover the satyr is pretty damn funny, too.
"The Lightning Thief" gets an 80%. Can't wait for Book 2!

;)

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