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The Lightning Thief is a 2005 fantasy/adventure novel based around Greek mythology and is the first children's book written by Rick Riordan. It is the first book in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, and chronicles the adventures of the demigod Percy Jackson, who is the son of a mortal woman and the Greek god Poseidon. Percy and his friends go on a quest to stop an apocalyptic war between the Greek gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. The story contains a multitude of encounters with characters from Greek mythology still alive in modern times.

The book is commonly classified as young-adult fiction, written in a playful style while also trying to be faithful to the original myths.

Riordan finished writing his manuscript in 1994. The Lightning Thief was initially accepted by Bantam Books in 1997 and later sold in a auction to Miramax Books in 2004. The book received critical acclaim winning multiple awards. Since its release on July 28, 2005, the book has sold over 1.2 million copies. It was listed as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Book for Young Adults in 2006. On April 8, 2007, The Lightning Thief was ranked 9th on the New York Times Best Seller list for children's books.

Plot

Plot summary

Percy Jackson is a twelve year old boy, diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Because of this and other strange things he doesn't know the truth about, he has been kicked out of every school he has attended and tends to get in trouble with the law frequently. While on a trip to a local beach cabin with his mother, his friend Grover is revealed to be a satyr and urgently tells Percy's mother that he must go to camp. As they are driving, their car is struck by lightning, and they are attacked by a Minotaur. The minotaur grabs Percy's mother, who dissolves into a gold shower of light, and then comes for Grover and Percy, who narrowly escape. Percy wakes up later in a cabin while being fed ambrosia, the food of the gods, by a demigod named Annabeth Chase. He later finds out that he has arrived in Camp Half Blood, a secretive training ground and year-round camp for "half bloods" (demigods, children of unions between mortals and the Twelve Olympians). Half bloods seem to have ADHD because they have inborn battle reflexes, and dyslexia because their brains are hard-wired to read in Greek.

After he is introduced to the camp, Percy is moved into the cabin of Hermes (which takes all newcomers until their Olympians parent claims them) under the care of Luke, the cabin's counselor and a son of Hermes. During a Capture the Flag game, Percy is attacked by the children of Ares for making a fool of Clarisse. He heals when he steps into a river behind him, and is revealed as the son of Poseidon when Poseidon's trident appears above his head. Poseidon had broken an oath taken with Hades and Zeus after World War II that they would not have any more demigod children because they had the potential become too powerful. Percy then is granted a quest, to find Zeus' master bolt. Although Chiron believes that the thief is Hades, Zeus who has found out that Poseidon has broken his oath, believes Poseidon had Percy steal his master bolt. Percy has ten days to find it before the summer solstice, accompanied by two friends, Annabeth and Grover. Luke gives him winged shoes for the trip, but Percy lets Grover wear them instead.

They decide to reach the entrance to the Underworld, now in Los Angeles. As they travel west, they encounter Medusa on the New Jersey interstate, the Chimera in the St. Louis Arch, a hotel in Las Vegas that slows down time, and other monsters, as well as the god of war, Ares, who tells him that his mother isn't dead. As they approach the pit of Tartarus, the winged shoes try to pull Grover into it, but he manages to slip his hooves free. Percy then confronts Hades. Hades also believes Percy stole the Master Bolt as well as his Helm of Darkness, and Percy discovers that the master bolt is indeed in his backpack. He finds out that Ares had tricked him and Percy gets out of the Underworld, being forced to leave his mother. On the shore he fights Ares and wins by hurting the god's heel. Ares gives Percy the Helm of Darkness which he gives back to Hades.

In spite of being a son of Poseidon and having angered Zeus, Percy takes a flight to reach New York City to give the master bolt to Zeus at the Empire State Building atop which Olympus is now located. Zeus accepts the master bolt, but not before warning Percy he may never enter the sky again. When Percy returns to camp he meets with Luke, who suddenly attacks. Luke reveals that he stole the master bolt for Kronos. Luke then calls out a poisonous scorpion and leaves, meanwhile Percy is stung and nearly dies. However, Chiron saves him and at the end of summer, Percy decides to attend another school found by his mother, although he's sure he'll be kicked out.

Major Characters

• Percy Jackson – The protagonist; a 12 year old boy who has ADHD and dyslexia. Percy soon discovers that the father he never new is the Greek god Poseidon and discovers that his disabilities are natural for demigods. Soon he is forced on a adventure to find Zeus's master bolt before the gods clash in a disastrous war.
• Annabeth Chase – A twelve year old daughter of the god Athena. Annabeth was brought to Camp-Half-Blood by Luke and Thalia. She helps nurse Percy after he is attacked by a Minotaur. She also accompanies Percy on his quest for Zeus's master bolt.
• Grover Underwood – A satyr initially under-cover as a disabled boy and Percy's best friend. He ends up being a recruiter for Camp-Half-Blood. He leads Percy to to the Camp after his mother is killed and accompanies him on his journey to find Zeus's master bolt.
• Luke Castellan – The leader of the Hermes cabin at Camp-Half-Blood. He is responsible for Annabeth arriving at Camp-Half-Blood and helps to train Percy in the art of battle. Luke is consider a protagonist until the end of the book where he betrays Percy and leaves him half dead; revealing that he works for the Titan Kronos.

Development and publication

Development for both The Lightning Thief and the Percy Jackson series as a whole when Riordan first began making stories for his his son Haley who had just recently been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. His son had been studying Greek mythology in second grade and requested that his father come up with bedtimes stories based on Greek myths. Riordan had been a Greek mythology teacher in middle school for many years and was able to remember up with enough stories to please his son. Soon Riordan ran out of myths and his son then requested that he make new ones using the same characters from Greek myths and add new ones. Thus, Riordan created the fictional character Percy Jackson and made the story of how he would travel across The United States to recover Zeus's lightning bolt. After he finished telling the story to his son, he then requested that his dad write a book based on Percy's adventures.

In June, 1994, Riordan had completed his manuscript and began looking for agents. During that time, he visited multiple local colleges looking for good editors until he eventually found an agent. While he left his manuscript to his agent and editor to review, Riordan took his book to a selected group of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to read and give their critique. Ultimately he gained their approval, and with their help came up with the name of the book and created the way Percy's sword worked. In June of 1997, Riordan signed with Bantam Books to prepare the book for publishing. In 2004, the book was sold to Miramax Books for enough money for Riordan to quit his job to focus on writing. Eventually, the book was released July 28, 2005 and sold over 1.2 million copies overtime. The book was released in multiple versions including hardcover, soft-cover and audio additions. Over time, the book has been translated into over 34 languages and released all over the world.

Style and Genre

Reviewers have generally regarded The Lightning Thief as an adventure novel which revolves around the fictional topic of Greek gods in modern times. Authors like Eoin Colfer as well as several other websites have called it a combination of myth, fantasy and modern. Publishers Weekly has called it humorous in their review at Booklist, a publication by Publishers Weekly.

Reception

Reviews

The Lightning Thief received mostly positive reviews. Common Sense Media said "...there are two levels of fun in The Lightning Thief. One is the fast-paced quest of a young hero and his friends to save the world" and added "another level of fun here -- laughing at the wicked ways the author has updated the gods and monsters for the 21st century". It also regarded the prose as "choppy, attitude-filled". However, it was slightly critical of the book and said that "The characters aren't emotionally involving", and gave it an overall rating of 4 stars out of 5. The New York Times praised The Lightning Thief as "perfectly paced, with electrifying moments chasing each other like heartbeats". School Library Journal said in it's starred review that the book was "An adventure-quest with a hip edge." and that "Readers will be eager to follow the young protagonist's next move". Kirkus praised the book and said, "Packed with humorous allusions to Greek mythology and clever updates of the old stories, along with rip-snorting action sequences, the book really shines in the depiction of Percy -- wry, impatient, academically hopeless, with a cut-to-the-chase bluntness one would wish for in a hero of old." Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl called it "A fantastic blend of myth and modern". Publishers Weekly also praised the book, regarding it as "swift and humorous" and added that the book would "leave many readers eager for the next installment" On April 8, 2007, The Lightning Thief was ranked 9th on the New York Times Best Seller list for children's books.

Honors

Adaptions

Film adaptation

In June 2004, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the book. In April 2007, director Chris Columbus was hired to helm the project. It is also confirmed that Logan Lerman has been cast as Percy Jackson and Brandon T. Jackson as Grover Underwood, the satyr. Alexandra Daddario will be playing Annabeth while Jake Abel has been cast as Luke Castellan. Pierce Brosnan will be playing Chiron. The film is scheduled for release in the United States on February 12, 2010.

Audiobook

On June 28, 2005, a 10 hour 25 minute audio book version of The Lightning Thief was published worldwide by Listening Library and read by Jesse Bernstein. The audio book itself was praised as well as Bernstein's take on the characters voice's were praised in multiple reviews. Kirkus in a starred review said "The narrator’s voice lends a refreshing air of realism to this riotously paced quest tale of heroism that questions the realities of our world, family, friendship and loyalty". AudioFile Magazine praised the audio book raving "Adults and children alike will be spellbound as they listen to this deeply imaginative tale unfold." School Library Journal both praised and criticized the audio book saying "Although some of Jesse Bernstein's accents fail (the monster from Georgia, for instance, has no Southern trace in her voice), he does a fine job of keeping the main character's tones and accents distinguishable".

References

1. Minzesheimer, Bob (January 18, 2006). "'Lightning' strikes with young readers". USA Today. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
2. Riordan, Rick. "Where did you get the idea for Percy Jackson?". p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
3. ^ Riordan, Rick. "What was your experience getting published?". p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
4. Riordan, Rick. "Did you share the Percy Jackson novel with any of your students before it was published?". p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
5. Rich, Motho (September 1, 2008). "Author of Book Series Sends Kids on a Web Treasure Hunt". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
6. Mabe, Chauncey (May 14, 2009). "Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson vs. Harry Potter". Sun Sentinel. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
7. ^ "Reviews for The Lightning Thief". RickRiodran.com. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
8. Velthizen, Michele. "What's Mrs. V reading?". p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
9. ^ "The Lightning Thief - Book Review". Matt Berman. Common Sense Media. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
10. Shullman, Polly (November 13, 2005). "Harry Who?". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. p. 2. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
11. "Children's Books". The New York Times. April 8, 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
12. "Best Books 2005". School Library Journal. 12/1/2005. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
13. "Notable Books of 2005". The New York Times. December 4, 2005. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
14. ^ Riordan, Rick. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians". Rick Riordan. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
15. "2006 Notable Children's Books announced". American Library Association. February 6, 2006. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
16. "2006 Best Books for Young Adults with annotations". YALSA. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
17. "Mark Twain Award 2007-08 Winners". Missouri Association of School Librarians. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
18. Claude Brodesser (2004-06-23). "'Lightning Thief' strikes Maverick". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
19. "Percy Jackson (2010)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
20. Rick Riordan. "Contact Information". Retrieved 2009-02-06.
21. ^ Bernstien, Jesse (2005). "The Lightning Thief". AudioFile. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
22. "Audio Reviews: October, 2005". School Library Journal. October 1, 2005. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-25.

External links

• Rick Riordan official site
• Percy Jackson official site
• Percy Jackson U.K. site

• 2005 novels
• American novels
• Fantasy novels
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians