I’ve always had a fond place in my reading heart for Percy Jackson, mostly because this was the book that I saw in a bookstore, read a few pages, and then promptly forgot the title and author (and only remembered the tagline) and almost went crazy trying to find the book. So when I saw a few of my Sunday School students reading the book, I thought it was time for a re-read.

The first in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Lightning Thief is an introduction to a world where the Greek gods are still alive and living in America (because it’s the ‘heart of Western civilisation’ – I definitely missed the America-centric nature of the book the first time round!). In this world, Percy Jackson has always felt like an outsider. After he accidentally vapourises his maths teacher, he learns why: he’s the son of Poseidon and hence, half-god. To save his mom and the world from an all-out war between the gods, Percy and his friends Annabeth and Grover must embark on a quest to retrieve Zeus’ lightning bolt.

This was such a fun read. I really enjoyed it, from the first chapter to the last. The book is tightly paced and the mystery unravelled in good time. I also really enjoyed the world-building, which made it plausible for Greek gods to still exist in modern-day America.

Speaking of modern-day America, it’s pretty cool that the book doesn’t feel dated even though it was published in 2006. Thinking about it, there weren’t many references to smartphones or the internet, but the nature of the story didn’t really require any of that, so they weren’t missed. I can see why my Sunday School students didn’t realise that this was a book that I had read in school as well.

Percy and his friends were great too. It’s very easy to empathise with Percy; especially if you’ve ever felt like an outcast. I liked how it was the quest that helped him to find a home at Camp Half-blood and to come to terms with his entire life (not easy since he had to re-evaluate everything that he knows).

I also recommended this to my brother and he really liked… the first few chapters. He stayed up to read it until he was tired, but then he couldn’t finish the book. I don’t think it’s an issue with the book – my brother loses interest pretty quickly – but I was very encouraged by how much he liked the start. I think he would have finished the book if he didn’t have the internet and various games competing for his attention, and I think other reluctant readers would like it too. My brother pestered me for spoilers and then stopped once he knew how the book ended (so definitely not an issue of the plot not hooking him) so now I’m trying to get him to listen to the audiobook.

You know, I don’t think I finished this series. But given how much fun I had with The Lightning Thief, I’m definitely going to come back and finish this (along with The Mysterious Benedict Society series).