Review #9: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan

I know I should be trying to finish reading I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, but sometimes I get so in the mood to write some review that I really can't lose it, because it's pretty rare. I must confess I have not read so many YA books recently to review - only the ones I did. My official list of books read counts 64 books, that I remember, since I started reading. I must take advantage of this moment to inform that my classes started this morning, so I won't be able to post as much as I want to, neither to read as many books as I want, especially because I'll be quite busy reading school books as well as studying - now I have only three years to finish the high school then go to college, so it might be hard.

Title: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1)
Author: Rick Riordan
Release Date: June 14, 2005
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 384

There is no such twelve-year-old boy as Perseus 'Percy' Jackson. The Greek gods are nothing more than old myths. They certainly never have children with mortals in the 21st century, nor is there any such place as Half Blood Hill, a summer camp for demigods on eastern Long Island. Percy never met a satyr or a daughter of Athena. They most emphatically did not take a quest together across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

I've read this book before Christmas, I think. I never really liked mythology. Like, any mythology thing. I think I only wasn't really into it to know. I saw these books millions and millions of times in the library/bookstore and they never looked interesting to me until a friend of mine says she read the synopsis and liked it and bought it. So, I said, ok then, it must be good, I'll give it a try. I didn't know what to expect - even if I had already seen the teaser trailer. So, I asked it as a Christmas gift and read it in a few days.

I fell in love with the story, the characters and even with Greek mythology. I loved this thing of Gods, Demigods, etc. I must confess it would have been more exciting to read if I haven't read spoilers, like who was Percy's father, one thing the trailer already reveals. But that was fine.

It's such an easy and fast read, though I'm not so fast like you all. Riordan wrote it sweetly and simply, describing all the things happened in Percy's perspective, which I didn't like in the beginning - only in the beginning. It sounded "kid" to me. But he improves it as long as the story goes. It's kind of Percy is getting older, so the writing is getting better, now that they tells him lots of things about his real life, who he really is, why he doesn't know his father, then he knows who is his father, what are these strange/weird things that happen to him, etc. It's pretty cool to go with Percy while he finds the answers to his questions, along with his best friend, Grover, and Annabeth, a girl that turns to be his friend when he arrives in the Camp Half-Blood. Also, he really impressed me in the end of the book. I have no idea of who was the "villain". And I kind of liked it.

The world Rick Riordan created with Gods and creatures from Greek mythology universe, plus the demigods, is incredible and I really want to get a bit more into it while reading the next books, The Sea of Monsters and, then, The Titan's Curse, which I have already ordered.

Overall: 5 stars!