The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) * * *

-
More like 3.5 stars. I had a difficult time deciding between the two, but the story is more fun, and a bit too simple to deserve 4 stars. Of course, it's more for a younger demographic, still, it was a good light read.

The story of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan itself is clever, but not too inventive. It can be recommended to young people as an introduction to the Greek pantheon. In a way it's very educational, and having always been a fan of Greek mythology, I can appreciate that aspect. It also does a good job of making it interesting for contemporary people. However, since most of the mythology is not invented by the author, I deducted points for it.
The story itself has a good pace. The language is easy to read, not overly descriptive, but still gives a good sense of the places and the people. It focuses on adventure, and since I'm not a fan of overly flowery language, I appreciated the simplicity. I gobbled up the whole thing in a few days.
It's also educational in that it often stresses the visible reality of pollution. It's interesting to note that at one point there is also a mention of not just physical, but mental pollution, that is done by negative thoughts.

I could empathize with Percy Jackson. He had ambivalent feelings about his father, and had to work through some issues. His devotion to his mother was also understandable. I have a similar relationship with my parents, therefore I could identify with his character.
Annabeth was a bit understated. She was the girl in the team, and I felt she was often forgotten. She was the brains of the operation, but I felt she should have had a more important role. Hopefully in future books.
Grover was a lot of fun. In a way, his character was the comic relief, but couldn't be completely dismissed as such.

Overall, the book is more for the 12-14 demographic, however, can be appreciated by adults as well. It should not be taken seriously, but as a light adventure, a bit of fun at the end of a hard day. For younger people, it's a good teaching tool for ancient mythology, as well as environmental protection.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Claiming of Souls by R.A. Sandpiper (Amefyre, #3) * * * * *

-
Image
I finally finished my ARC copy of A Claiming of Souls by R. A. Sandpiper . This is the final part of her Amefyre trilogy, and it was a satisfying conclusion to a great series. (Also, just FYI—there’s a companion novella !) The ending was genuinely unpredictable. I usually have a good sense of where stories are going, but this one kept me guessing—so kudos to the author. I really enjoyed the story in this final book. A lot was happening, and there was even a little callback to the novella, which I appreciated. There were some surprising moments throughout. Suri ’s new powers were used really well—I liked that they didn’t make her feel overpowered or invincible. She still had real moral dilemmas to face and discovered a lot about herself. Her arc was deeply satisfying; she truly developed as a character while still staying true to who she was at her core. Kol , the other main character, wasn’t as prominent in this instalment. He was present, but he didn’t stand out as much this time. An...
Read more

From Five To Nine (JDrama) * * * *

-
Image
First of all, I have to say that I mainly started to watch From Five to Nine for Ishihara Satomi, whom I just adore! She’s not only incredibly beautiful, and I sometimes find myself staring at, but she also brings such warmth to all her performances. I also started to watch it as I’ve worked as an English teacher myself. I tried once to get a job in Japan, but apparently it’s impossible if you didn’t grow up in an English speaking country. This drama starts out a bit strangely, and frankly, throughout the story it was hard to understand Takane ’s attraction to her. Sure, Junko is a lovely, vivacious, beautiful woman. Like I said, it’s very hard to not stare at Satomi sometimes, she’s that gorgeous, but one would think a monk would go deeper than that. Also, frankly, Takane’s very annoying, and I would probably have been more drastic in my refusal of him. So this drama is about a monk falling in love with an English teacher inexplicably fast and deep. He relentlessly pursue...
Read more

Snowpiercer (2013) * * *

-
Image
I didn't hear about this movie until it was mentioned in a list of movies never released in the theatres in Hungary that were good. That's where I live, BTW. The concept sounded interesting and unique, so I decided to check it out. I also do have a thing for dystopias . The movie is about a train that goes around the world, carrying the last members of humanity. In an experiment that we managed to mess up, we managed to freeze the whole world. The train was built to be a self-sustaining economy . I did wonder how that would work. The first thing that came into my mind was "guns?" That's the first thing you see on the the screen of the train. A man carrying a machine gun. In a way that describes the whole movie. It is very violent. The basic plot is that the people who live in the back, the poor section, try to take over the engine at the front, to control the train, the world, really. The rich people control the food, punish rebellious poor people...
Read more