Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

47 reviews

kaidoz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Child death, Blood, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Child abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Torture, Alcohol, and Physical abuse

Bullying: MC gets bullied verbally several times by classmates, and later is physically assaulted with weapons by several peers. On the bright side,

he kicks their asses.

Death: Mentioned frequently in threats and in passing. Ghosts and the like. Emotional/Domestic/Child Abuse, Alcohol: MC’s stepfather is emotionally abusive to MC and his mother, often while drinking. Physical Abuse: Implied abuse when the abuser raises their hand and the victim flinches. MC says aloud ‘[Abuser] hits you,’ and it is not contested by the victim. For more context:

It is revealed near the end of the book that the stepfather hits the MC’s mother when he is not around. This is rectified.

cadence99's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I can certainly see why this is such a well loved series; lovable characters, tons of action, and emotional depth all packed into an easy to read bundle. What lowers my experience, reading this as an adult, are things I probably wouldn’t have picked up on if I had read this when I was still the intended audience. There were numerous instances of the author using ableist language: the words

cripple

and

lame

both appeared multiple times. In addition, in true early 2000s fashion, every fat character was a bad guy, clearly intending readers to see them as gluttonous and repulsive. 

I might continue the series at some point, as I felt the strong points of this book still made for an overall positive reading experience, but i’m not chomping at the bit

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and War

aprilblues348's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Blood, Domestic abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, War, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Child death, Addiction, Ableism, Car accident, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Racism, Child abuse, Islamophobia, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Car accident, Child death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Ableism, and Animal cruelty

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Abandonment, Confinement, Violence, and Alcoholism

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I haven't read this book since I was in fifth grade myself, but I picked it up again seven (?) years later to freshen my judgement for the new Percy Jackson series on Disney+.
I honestly thought that I might not like it that much now I did then, and that I'd find it childish, but... I really don't. Well, it's childish, of course, (it's for children), but not so much that I don't enjoy it? It's silly and funny, but not too silly. I think Riordan writes an excellent balance between humour and serious themes here.

There are times where the humour overshadows and ruins seriousness in books (and films especially, [cough-cough] MCU's Thor), but that is really not the case here! Riordan's humour does not make me think it appropriate to include themes such as grief and domestic abuse, and finding that balance can actually be quite difficult, but so important.

There's also me having forgotten how likeable Percy is as a character. What a charming little man.

I was very positively surprised by this book! My expectations weren't that high, given that I last read it in fifth grade and my standards then were «funny haha» and «mythos», but it still holds!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Bullying, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Ableism, Grief, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Minor: Blood and Cursing

kendra_taylors_version's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, and War

unicorngirl's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book is well done; it checked all the boxes and was enjoyable even the second time around. I think I connected with it more when I reread it.  The first time I read it I felt like something was missing. Maybe I was disconnected from it most of the time, or the characters weren't there for me, or the plot was just a little too long. But the second time reading it I was all for it.
 
Things I liked when rereading:

• Annabeth's and Percy's banter. They make a great duo, and their conversations were chef's kiss. And I'm so excited to see their relationship grow in the next book.
  Grover left to go find Pan, so it's just going to be them to save him and I'm very excited
• Percy's relationship with his mom. His mom is so sweet and kind and is the greatest mom for Percy. Hopefully, she gets more page time in the upcoming books, but from the first couple of pages of the second book she might not, I haven't picked up the second book in a while now, so I wouldn't know (It is on my January TBR, so I am excited to read it).
• Annabeth. She is so cool and kickbutt. I wish she had more page time fighting monsters instead of just helping Percy with plans. 

Things I didn't exactly like when rereading:

• I know they did help Percy a lot, and they are  secondary characters, but I feel like Grover and Annabeth were always at the background, and really didn't do a lot. I wish they were able to do a little bit more and not leave everything to Percy. 
• Gabe. Everyone dislikes him. I don't really have to say anything else about him

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Blood, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Mentions of torture, mention of gun (briefly), threats of killing a child by monsters or with fictional objects, threats of war,

abusive stepdad (both on and off page)

,

mom dies by monster (on page) but is brought back to life by magical means (off page)

mention of character cursing (not on page)

danicakvcs's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, War, Torture, and Domestic abuse

joey_paige's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, and Car accident

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Domestic abuse