Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Lightning Thief

Somehow, I'm very late to this PJO party, but now that I've arrived, I get the hype. This book was great! It was filled with all the adventure and fun I would've craved in a fantasy book in middle school. My almost 30-year-old self is a little sad that my 12-year-old self didn't get a chance to enjoy it during that time. But, the great thing is that it's appealing even as an adult.

I'm finally diving into this series in anticipation of the upcoming adaptation. Yes, I watched the first movies, and no, I didn't hate them - namely because I didn't know at the time that they were adaptations, so I wasn't aware of all that I was missing. But considering the fact that I've seen them a handful of times, reading the book opened my eyes to all the things that were missing - so I understand why avid readers were upset.

This opening book was so much fun. The characters were likable and creative. I appreciated the fact that there were learning disabilities too and that they were normalized. Sure, for Percy, some of that had to do with the fact that English isn't actually his native language, but for the most part, it was really neat to see how those things played into who the characters were.

I think the thing I had the toughest time with was how quickly Percy adjusted after his mom was taken - or in the reader's eye, killed. It seemed like he bounced back pretty fast, even before he had decided to believe she was only in the Underworld and perfectly capable of being saved.

I loved the sass, humor, and creativity of the characters. I can't wait to see how their stories unfold in the following books.

Also, side note: considering how many years ago these were written, I was greatly impressed with the lack of problematic topics or themes. For the most part, this seemed like it aged really well!

Content Warnings

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

Content Warnings

smsam's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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ashleycmms's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

tintinmd's review

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I'd heard of this book here and there but it didn't catch my attention as a kid. But the past few years, I started looking forward to reading this book since there's this thing that a lot of people who liked the Percy Jackson series turned out to be queer😅 Also, a friend of mine is a big Percy Jackson fan.

Also note, I've marked this book as medium-paced but honestly, I feel this book was more slow-paced for me. That's also because I spent a lot of time looking up words and characters mentioned since I'm new to Greek mythology.

This book scared me a lot!😭😭
How is this a middle grade book?!
But then, maybe middle
graders look at things differently.

Monsters at every other step! I lost a lot of sleep over those monsters, especially Echidna. But thankfully, things aren't scary on the return journey.

Also, this book felt queer coded right in the first para! But after that I lost track coz so scary!😭
Percy can be so funny! Love the way he describes things. Eases the tension.

Grover and Annabeth are such sweethearts!🥺 And I liked the bit where Percy meets Hades. Hades' ranting somehow makes him more human?/relatable/less terrifying. Also the decision Annabeth makes of contacting her dad, giving things a chance - that was heartwarming.

I think once I get over the fear this book caused me, I'll be able to appreciate more. Percy is a protagonist who has ADHD and dyslexia and I think this is the first time I'm reading a book that has these explicitly mentioned and incorporated in the narrative. I don't know if they're good descriptions but from what limited knowledge I have, they seemed to be so. I'll try to check on the quality of these descriptions.

Other than all this, I was slightly disappointed that I could identify elements of a middle grade story centering a young hero. Kept finding parallels with Harry Potter. But maybe that's okay.

I kinda wish I'd read this as a middle grader, would I be less scared then? Anyways, I'll take some time before I read the next book in this series, and I hope I'm not as scared then😅

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