Reviews with content warning for Murder - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

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Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

40 reviews

raisinbrann's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

The way Mr. Riordan describes both his characters and the scenes is somehow both evocative and elusive. While I can see exactly what he describes when a character does or feels something, I appreciate that he leaves the actual physical description of his characters (and the gods) to his readers. I spent my childhood reading books where every single person is presumed white unless explicitly stated, it’s been fun to put my own ideas of what Grover and Annabeth look like (they’re both Black, argue with your mother)! This is a fun start to a very formative experience for mythology kids everywhere!

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danicakvcs's review against another edition

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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

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annaofjesup's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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finnft4's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Good. A middle grade adventure novel was refreshingly different to read, especially compared to the sort of novels I usually read. Even though this is the first time I've ever read any Riordan book, it still felt nostalgic, reminding me of what I used to read when I was younger (and, admittedly, read more in general - before having assigned readings, and before I started being so cynical of the content I consumed). It almost made me feel like a kid again. And it does feel like a series I would've loved when I was younger; I hate that I never got into it.

Before I actually get into the book, I'll put a disclaimer here: my view of Percy Jackson was definitely tainted by the bad movies. I had watched both of them (but barely paid attention for the second one since I didn't like the first one) before reading the book and unfortunately couldn't shake the association of the two. As such, I already knew most of the plot points and twists. As the series goes on, I hope this aspect becomes completely negligible. The badness of the movies shouldn't be hurting how much better the books are.

I'll first briefly go over the stuff I didn't like (not a lot of stuff tbh).

So I thought the whole "Western civilization is in danger, the Olympus locations are all in Western places, the Gods went with the West" thing to be pretty stupid. A lot of people commented that this was white supremacist. I wouldn't go that far, but it's definitely white-centric. Definitely not a book-ruiner, though. Just a bit silly. On the same note, I rolled my eyes a little at George Washington being Athena's son lmao.

I also thought that, while the book was generally good at balancing the serious with the lighthearted, there were definitely some instances of tonal whiplash, where a dark scene would happen shortly after or before a comical one, with little room in between - I think this is pretty unavoidable though, considering how fast-paced the book is.

Now onto the stuff I liked.

I found Percy, Grover, and Annabeth to all be fun and likable characters. Percy is an interesting narrator; I particularly liked how sarcastic and "impertinent" he was - he definitely had his own, strong personality. Him learning to be more brave and starting to forge his own life path was great to see. Grover and Annabeth's characters, while both being similar to ones I've seen before, both had their own unique qualities as well and their own little arcs, which I appreciated. I also found most of the side characters to be endearing or entertaining (though a couple were pretty outdated and tiring tropes, this wasn't a huge issue for me). I thought the whole ADHD + dyslexia = half-god to be strange at first, but it eventually grew on me. The whole concept, along with the characters being descendants of gods, is all super cool. Certain characters having certain skills or qualities depending on their parents was very interesting. As someone who used to be into Harry Potter, it reminded me of Hogwarts houses (which was one of the big things I liked about that series).

I really LOVED the action scenes in this book, too. They were crazy. The fight scenes were perfectly tense; Riordan really nailed the visual imagery.

I had such a fun time reading this. Looking forward to getting to the rest of the series!

Edit: I used to rank this one pretty low, but it's since grown on me. After thinking on it more, I've only just realized how good it was. It has so many stand-out scenes, and the quest doesn't feel unnecessarily long, menial, and formulaic (like in some other books). It's simple, and it effectively builds the world while investing the reader. A great start.

RANKING
[1] PJO: The Last Olympian
[2] HoO: The House of Hades
[3] HoO: The Mark of Athena
[4] PJO: The Lightning Thief
[5] PJO: The Titan's Curse
[6] HoO: The Son of Neptune
[7] PJO: The Battle of the Labyrinth
[8] HoO: The Lost Hero
[9] PJO: The Sea of Monsters
[10] HoO: The Blood of Olympus

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mariareviews's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

i’m kinda feeling like i’ll be addicted to these books for a while

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rorikae's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-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? Yes

4.5

2022 ReRead:
This continues to be a wonderful start to a great middle grade series. Riordan creates a strong voice for Percy that mixes humor with heart. These books are always fun to reread because they hold up and build well off of each other. Can't wait to continue the reread of the original series and continue on to the spinoffs.

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