SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
After Percy Jackson witnesses his teacher turn into a monster, his whole life changes. Suddenly he is on the run and ends up at Camp Half Blood, where demi god kids stay. Then he finds himself on a quest to find a missing lightning bolt that he is blamed for stealing. Along the way, he hopes to prevent a war. And maybe meet his father.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Percy is a boy who has essentially had bad things happen to him his whole life. When he finds out that he is a demi god he is just glad to fit in somewhere.
Grover the satyr has been friends with Percy for the past year. He isn't exactly brave but still volunteers to go with Percy on his quest.
Annabeth, the daughter of Athena is athletic and smart. She has some anger issues.
Chiron is a teacher and a mentor figure to Percy.
Luke is the camp counselor of the Hermes cabin. He is the basic cool kid, with blonde hair and a scar on his face.
THE VICTIM COMPLEX
Percy is instantly set up as a victim. He is constantly causing chaos without meaning to, which mean every year for the past six years he has been sent to a new boarding school (I don't know how they afford it, as his mom works at a candy store). He isn't any good at schoolwork. His stepfather is lazy, stupid and abusive. He has never met his real father.
All of that is fine. But Percy isn't set up as a victim who perseveres and hopes things will get better. He is constantly whining. And that bothered me. I couldn't find a real reason to like him. Being a victim wasn't enough. I wish I had seen him do an act of kindness, or at least tried to suck it up.
CAMP HALF BLOOD
Percy learns that most demi gods don't make it to adulthood. They attract monsters and die. Only at Camp Half Blood are they safe. And yet only Annabeth is a year rounder. It didn't make sense that it would be a camp (as in, only in the summer). Why wouldn't the kids stay there all year round? Why not start a small community there? It could be dangerous, but it could also be safer.
A GREAT MOM?
It's eventually revealed that Pecy's mom married Gabe because he stinks. Smells human, or something. Besides the fact that this excuse is stupid, the logic of Percy's mom is a different matter altogether.
She tells Percy that he is not “normal” and that's why he has to go to boarding school (How did he not dive deeper into that puzzle after all these years?).
But why did she think sending him to boarding school would help things when that meant he was away from Gabe most of the year? (It's mentioned that Percy still smells like him, even after being away from him a week.) But if that were so, his mom didn't have to merry Gabe at all. Just date him. Or visit him. And how did she know about the aura thing anyway?
She obviously knew about Camp Half blood and knew about how demi gods usually die. So why on earth did she keep him away? Nothing makes sense.
FAULTY LOGIC
For some reason, Riordan takes it upon himself to explain to the reader just why it's logical that Greek mythology is real. Perhaps if one has a really good imagination, this could have added something to the story. But it's laughably bad.
Percy is told since there are statues of characters from Greek mythology in America, the gods are real. No really. They have moved to America and they go to wherever the power is.
By this point in the story Percy has witnessed magical beings, so there is no reason why he needs some scientific explanation. He has seen it with his own eyes. This serves no purpose. If Percy had been presented with no actual evidence, then this would make sense. He would be skeptical and need to be convinced.
This just takes the reader out of the story. Also, the reasons to why Percy is obviously a demi god are rather bad as well. He is dyslexic because he is hard wired to read Greek. (Ah, yes, the gods can only read Greek.) ADHD means you're a demi god because you are super alert and see everything. It has nothing to do with young boys being oversubscribed drugs (by demons, according to Riordan).
SMART OR ATHLETIC?
I had a hard time liking Annabeth at first. Maybe because I was confused at who she was supposed to be. She is a daughter of Athena, but instead of being logical and wise, she is rather arrogant and quick to lose her temper. Sometimes she felt more like a daughter of Ares.
I thought the portrayal of her as smart came off as unnatural. She randomly starts talking in equations and it feels like another character. Instead of being quiet, maybe a bookish type, she just likes architecture, so that makes her smart. Or something.
Also she dislikes Percy for the illogical reason that Athena and Poseidon are rivals. I thought she was supposed to be smart. The tension between her and Percy felt manufactured.
THE CURSE OF CYNICISM
I have never revered characters of mythology, but I wanted to respect the gods and goddesses. But the impression I got was that most were evil, selfish or reckless. Some were even stupid. The gods in Riordan's story are not only unworthy of worship, they are unworthy of respect.
In a way, they seem like tyrannical bureaucrats who don't care about the consequences of their actions (birthing children that usually die before adulthood). It's interesting to see where Riordan plans to go with this.
DEATH OF A LOVED ONE-SPOILERS
Before getting to camp, Percy watches his mom get attacked, turn gold and vanish. It's a strange death, but he never tells anyone at camp about it. For some reason. He only ever talks to Grover. It's later implied that he is scheming, but in reality, he should have blurt out in a panic that he just watched his mother die. Describing how it happened, and basically freaking out and grieving. Or at least demand to know what happened to her.
If not, at least Chiron or someone would have found it odd that there was no body. But no one cares to look, or ask about the dead woman. It didn't make any sense.
THE ARCADE OF DOOM-SPOILERS
There is a hotel and arcade that the kids are welcomed to with open arms. They don't have to pay and there is no explanation. So of course, the kids go up to see their room and play some games. I was surprised how stupid the kids were. This bothered me. Was this the only way they faced any problems, if they were gullible and naive? Which was odd, because none of them were presented that way.
THE GOD OF MATTRESSES
There is a scene where the kids meet a god who owns a waterbed store. And he traps people and tortures them. Why? Is it because he wants to stop their quest? No. There is no motivation. He is just evil or something. But since Riordan explains the backstory about how this particular god stretched out people and tortured them in mythology...then it's okay.
A TWIST
There are hints that the group has been betrayed. And even after we find out by who, we get another surprise when we find out a second person involved. Unfortunately, this characters was only a side character who I barely got to know. So I didn't feel shocked. After all, I had barely gotten to know that person.
It would have been better if one of the character who went on the quest with him had betrayed him. It would have impacted not just Percy, but the reader as well.
CLIMAX
Percy realizes he is being used and goes to confront his enemy. Since his enemy is all about fighting, Annabeth basically tells him just to be smart. Since his enemy is dumb. He does this, but his enemy ends up sparing him instead of killing him. So I guess the point was to show that Percy could fight. Even though nothing was really at stake. Not that nothing came out of it. When Percy confronts him he gets a hint that there are more enemies to be fought.
A MURDER-SPOILERS
There is a footnote near the end of the book that mentions that Percy's mom turns his stepfather into a statue with the head of medusa. She basically murders him. It is implied that he has been physically abusive, so that makes it okay.
The fact that it was made into a light matter, as if it didn't matter rather bothered me. It didn't matter that Gabe was a horrible human being. It was still murder.
The fact that there was no consequences just made it unbelievable. Didn't anyone else find out about it? Percy's mom should have stood up to him and divorced him. That would have shown character.
CONCLUSION
The idea about a boy finding out he is a demigod isn't bad. Unfortunately, the kids are dumb at times, and so are the gods for that matter, when they are not being evil.
I was rather indifferent to the characters, even though Annabeth, Percy and Grover are all presented as victims. But the faulty logic used hurt my brain at times.
The story itself wasn't dull, it was just full of holes. I give “Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief” two stars.
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