Reading Response: The Lightning Thief

Of the "teen lit." or "adolescent lit." books that I've read so far this semester, this has probably been my favorite. Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief is the first in a series about a boy from New York who finds out around the end of his sixth-grade year that the gods and monsters of Greek myth are real, and he's one of them--a demigod, in fact, half human and half god. Among the mysteries Percy (short for Perseus) Jackson must solve is the question of which god is his father, so I won't spill the beans here.

As the story unfolds, Percy sets out on a quest to find and recover Zeus's stolen lightning bolt, a personally important task for him because he is the primary suspect on Mount Olympus (which, by the way, has moved from Greece to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building). Along the way, he has dealings with more mythical creatures than I knew existed, even in myth, and discovers how the Olympians, their monsters and friends, and their offspring continue to be the driving force behind "Western culture."

Riordan writes from Percy's perspective, with a convincingly naive yet adaptable voice, and the action and mythical references never let up. I've read a couple of series books this semester, and this is the first one that's made me want to continue the series. It's definitely adolescent, perhaps moreso than it is literature, but it's informed and fun--adventure with an education--and I kind of like the idea of seeing ancient gods in the modern world.