Modern Adaptation of the Week (late)--The Lightning Thief

In our continuation of PERCY JACKSON MONTH, I'm going to review the first book of the series, The Lightning Thief. Truthfully, this is my second favorite book of the series... even IF my little brother spoiled it for me by telling me EVERY SINGLE FREAKING PLOT DETAIL before I ever sat down to read the book (in his defense, though, he said that he didn't expect that I'd ever read it at all. Then, I was like, "YOU MENTIONED GREEKS!!! OF COURSE I'M GOING TO READ IT!!!"). Nevertheless, it's a great book, and a great way to kick off a great series!

Ready to begin? [Y/N]

SPOILERS!!! (Yeah... I'm gettin' tired of the "ahoy" part... the ninja in me doesn't like it)

Pros:

+Characterization: This is something I'm going to complain about in later books, so I'll go ahead and say that the characterization in this first book is excellent, especially on the part of our hero, Percy. At the beginning of the book, we're introduced to this kid who's not always got everything going his way, like at his school field trips:

Like at my fifth-grade school, when w went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.

This trip, I was determined to be good. (2-3)

Of course, it never is for poor little Perseus. After having fights with the school bully and getting called out for it, he has a creepy run-in with a teacher who happens to be a monster! Once Percy kills her... everyone acts like that teacher never existed. However, the rest of the semester still sucks, and he's eventually kicked out of school. When he gets home, we see what his home life is like; his step-dad, Smelly Gabe, is a real creep! He treats Percy and his mom like they're not even worth his time! Percy's mom is awesome, though. It sucks when she dies.

[GASP!]

Of all the dynamics in this book, I think the relationship between Percy and his mother is the most touching. It's obvious Percy loves his mother, and like most little boys with an abusive father, wants to protect his mother at all costs. After she dies and he's sent to summer camp, he does everything in his power not only to look for the one who took Zeus' master bolt (thus the title of the story), but to save his mom from Hades.

From all of this, I think we can deduce that Percy is not a bad kid; he may do bad things, but he is not a bad kid himself. He's fallable, just like the rest of us, which is why I really like him.

Did I mention I like Percy as a character? Yes.

+The handling of religion: In a book about Greek gods, the subject of religion is BOUND to come up, especially with the backlash of the church against Harry Potter. I think that this book handles the issue of religion VERY well.

"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."

"Well, now," Chiron said. "God--capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."

"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about--"

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endevors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."

"Smaller?"

"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class." (67)

I think this is a genius move. He neither acknowledges nor denies the existence of God, leaving it open to the religion of ANY family. The one backlash I can see is if someone took the bit from Paradise Lost too seriously about the Catalogue of Demons, and how they're actually all foreign gods. Those people will never be happy, I think.

+Chapter Titles: I forgot to mention this in the last blog post, but MAN, these titles are a riot! Here's a few of the better ones:

1. I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-algebra Teacher
2. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death
3. Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants
6. I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom
12. We Get Advice from a Poodle
16. We Take a Zebra to Vegas

There's more, of course, but these ones are my faves. I think they also get better as the series goes on, too.

+Introducing us to the world: I think this book does a really good job of introducing us to Percy's world. I suppose I can't give any examples, but I'll just say that the pacing is really good.

+Luke: LUKE GETS HIS OWN SECTION BECAUSE HE'S TOO SEXY FOR ANYTHING ELSE!!! For those wondering who Luke is, Luke is the son of Hermes who, by the end of book 1... nah, I'll let you read it. I don't want to spoil it for you. :) Luke will be discussed in more detail in later books.

Cons:

-Innaccuracies: It's not really enough to make me go "OMG YOU HEATHEN!!!" It's little stuff, like, "Ooh, the Eta looks like an 'H'! Therefore, it's Hephaestus' symbol!" ACTUALLY, for those who don't know Greek, what would make the 'h' noise in Hephaestus' name is a little apostrophe looking thing at the beginning of the word called a "breathing mark." I'm not too mad about little stuff like this because really, that would be too hard to explain to kids.

... yeah, I really don't mean to make my posts SOOOO obviously one-sided. If it makes you guys feel any better, I have some complaints about future books, so =P

~~~

Yep, that's all I have time for today, kiddies! Sorry for the late post, but here ya go!

CARTHAGO DELENDA EST!!!

Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. Hyperion: New York, 2005.