Percy Jackson & The Olympians is a series of adventure books written by Rick Riordan, based on Greek mythology. Our titular character, Percy Jackson thinks he's a normal kid trying to not keep his record of changing school every year after being expelled from the last one. What he doesn't know is that he is the son of a god. Obviously, this would explain everything.
Percy Jackson is an excellent replacement for readers eager to move on after finishing the great Harry Potter series. The Lightning Thief takes the same approach that Harry Potter did, but with obvious differences. The main character, Percy Jackson, is clearly different than all of his peers in schools, until one day someone tells him he is the son of a Greek god, also called a half-blood, or demigod. Very similar to Harry Potter's situation in the Philosopher's Stone.
Percy Jackson is also paired with two, close knit friends. His first friend, Grover Underwood, is a satyr (half goat and half human) who was sent to locate Percy and verify if he was a true demigod. Percy's second friend is a girl by the name of Annabeth Chase who is a daughter of Athena and one of the longest tenured campers at Camp Half-Blood for young demigods training to be heroes.
Within a few days of being at Camp Half-Blood, Percy is blamed with stealing Zeus’s Master Lightning Bolt, which he didn’t. He is quickly whisked away to fulfill a quest set out by the great Oracle. He also becomes the owner of the sword Anaklusmos (which means “Riptide”)- a gift from his father. In the process, he learns that the Olympians still exist, along with many other figures and monsters from Greek mythology like Titans, cyclopes, and other creatures.
As stated, Percy Jackson is the son of a Greek god set in present time. His mother is a human and living in New York. All the while Percy is thrown head first into a world of myth and completely unknown to him and possibly even the reader. Whether it is the new Mount Olympus being located in New York's Empire State Building or the Underworld of Hades being located under Los Angeles, Mr. Riordan has given great care to making his world seem real.
Verdict: 8.8
