This exciting book opens up with twelve-year-old Percy Jackson in his sixth boarding school in New York and things aren't going well. But at least he has his best friend Grover whom he keeps the bullies away from and his favorite teacher the Latin teacher Mr. Brunner. This is his best class. The others he's making a C- or worse in. He has dyslexia and ADHD which doesn't help. When they go to a museum he's really enjoying it but people like Nancy Bobbfit, the class bully are ruining it by talking and acting up. When Percy "knocks" her down by the fountain for harassing him and Grover, Mrs. Dodds the Pre-Algebra teacher takes him away to a quiet place to talk to him, but really it was to reveal herself in all her glory with her black wings and screeching voice. Mr. Brunner appears and tosses Percy a pen that when uncapped becomes a sword and he uses it to slash through Mrs. Dodds. who turns to golden sand. When they get back to school no one remembers a Mrs. Dodds. And one night Percy overhears Grover talking to Mr. Brunner about him and the importance of the Summer Solstice and him not being ready in time. And how Mrs. Dodd was a kindly one?
Now its summer and Percy has gotten kicked out of another school. He goes home to his mom and his evil stepdad who plays poker all the time and treats his mother like trash. His mother decides that the two of them should go to the beach for two weeks. That night she tells him that his father had wanted him to go away to a summer camp, but she had been against it because it might mean she never saw him again.
With a hurricane arrives Grover points out to Percy that he hasn't told his mother about what happened at school and how on the bus road home they saw the three fates snip a string, which is bad news for Percy. His mom gets them in the car and they start driving toward the summer camp and they get close when a lightning bolt totals the car and stops them. Percy refuses to leave without them so they head toward the large pine tree which is the property line and the line of safety. A minotaur arrives to attack them and they split up to give him too many targets to attack. He goes after Percy's mom who puts Grover who is injured and out of it on the ground. He grabs her by the throat and she turns into a shining light and disappears. Percy battles the Minotaur and snags one of its horns off of its head and uses it to stab it in the heart turning it into a pile of gold sand. Percy grabs Grover and they make it across the border.
Mr. Brunner, aka Chiron, shows him around. There are eleven houses (Hades doesn't get a house) and four of them are empty. Artemis because she vowed to remain pure, Hera because she is married to Zeus, and Zeus and Poisdon because the two of them and Hades vowed to have no more children a century ago because they were always fighting each other's children in battle and it was getting pretty bad. Zeus, however, broke that promise made on the River Styx and sired a child in some twenty years ago. She almost made it to the summer camp but sacrificed herself so the others would make it. She was turned into the large pine tree that protects the place. Dionysis runs the camp because he pissed off Zeus twice over a nymph. He also lost his ability to drink alcohol so he stays pretty ticked off most of the time.
Percy meets Annabeth who lives in the Athena hut and has been there the longest along with Luke who lives in Hermes. All those who don't know who their parent is staying in Hermes which is the god of travelers so it's always crowded. That\s where Percy goes. He learns the things he's not so good at but sword fighting is one he's good at and canoeing is another. He just can't seem to find the right sword to fit his hand. He trains sword fighting with Luke and learns Greek with Annabeth. Grover helps out when he can.
On capture the flag day, the two teams are Ares and Athena. Luke has a plan to capture the Ares flag and change it to Hermes colors. Percy is asked to patrol the borders and when he does, the evil Clarisse of Ares and her gang come for some payback for Percy soaking them in toilet water when they came to beat him up when he first arrived. But Percy's ready and he somehow manages to beat them and break Clarisse's magical pole. Then a hellhound appeared which could only be summoned by someone on the grounds in order to get past the security. Chiron put some arrows into it and killed it.
This has convinced Chiron that Percy must go on his quest now rather than later and that he may take two people. He chooses Grover and Annabeth, who had put in a request for a quest a while back. Chiron tells him that Zeus is missing his master bolt, an object of enormous power and he and Poisodon are fighting over it because he believes that Poisdon stole it in order to take over Olympus. They have agreed to not start anything until the summer solstice when Poisodon expects an apology for besmirching his name and Zeus expects the master bolt returned to him. Percy goes to see the Oracle who has this to say: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned./ You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned./ You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend./ And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover will encounter a wide variety of creatures in many disguises and more than one god along the way. The only thing that bothered me was that Annabeth and Grover were viewed as people/satyrs that needed to be rescued by Percy all the time. I mean this was Annabeth's quest too. I think it does a disservice to girls to see that Annabeth does one thing to save them while being a damsel in distress the rest of the time. Otherwise, this was a great book and I really enjoyed the myths coming alive in modern times. Percy Jackson is a worthy hero who doesn't figure out things too quickly even if you do. Though I was surprised by some things. Grover is a good friend to have. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to its sequel. I give it four out of five stars.
Quotes
Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Thief-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/0786838655/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2XIU9J2QROOUN&keywords=the+lightning+thief+by+rick+riordan&qid=1584368971&s=books&sprefix=the+lightnin%2Cstripbooks%2C174&sr=1-1“Hades would very much like to kill that young half-blood before he can take up his quest” “Great,” I muttered. “That’s two major gods who want to kill me.” “But a quest to…” Gover swallowed. “I mean, couldn’t the master bolt be iin some place like Maine? Maine’s very nmice this time of year.|”-Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief p 143-4)I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches, or listen to opera music.-Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympianan: The Lighning Thief p 301)
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