Percy Jackson and the Olympians  Book 1

The Lightning Thief

By Rick Riordan

Where are the Greek gods today? Do Hercules or Theseus have any siblings living among us? What if there were children of the gods battling monsters like Medusa and the Hydra in our neighborhoods and we didn't even notice? Rick Riordan answers all these questions in The Lightning Thief.

I remember reading all the mythology I could find in the school library when I was in school. I always entertained by the stories from Greek, Roman and Norse mythology. Rick Riordan has taken the stories from Greek mythology and brought them into the 21st century, and set them in well known areas of the United States.

In the world of Percy Jackson there are many children with a Greek god as one parent and a human mortal for the other. It's pretty tough being a demigod in today's world with monsters chasing you and the Olympians creating quests for you and using you to manipulate world events. These kids need training to learn how to avoid and overcome these challenges. Lucky for them there is a special camp called camp half-blood where they can learn to fight and use there special powers and any magical gifts there parents may bestow upon them. Percy teams up with one of Athena's daughters and a helpful satyr at camp half-blood.

Percy's father is one of the Greek gods and his mother is a lady who works in a candy store in Times Square. I can't tell you who Percy's father is because it would give too much of the story away. This and the next two books in the series great reading for kids ten and up. Adults can receive a great deal of entertainment from the fiction written for children and young adults today. I try to read many of the books we carry at Discovery Depot for this age group. I like to make sure the books are appropriate and that we are comfortable recommending them to our customers. I find that I enjoy many of these books immensely. This is definitely one of them. Even though I had a good feel for the series after reading the first book I couldn't resist reading the second and third books also and I am anxiously awaiting the fourth book in the series which is scheduled to release May 6, 2008

The series so far

1. The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1
2. The Sea of Monsters: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2
3. The Titans Curse: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3
4. The Battle of the Labyrinth: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4 (May 6, 2008)