Evan’s ESS = 6 out of 10
Erin’s ESS = out of 10
Content = PG-13 (Violence, Bullying, Name Calling, Temperamental Greek gods)
"He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!"
Why: The concept alone for The Lightning Thief should be reason enough to give this one a try – the offspring of Greek gods battling it out here on earth over a certain stolen bolt of lightning. Ever since we (Evan) saw the previews for this movie we’ve been on a mission to read this book. Finally, almost a year later we took the plunge (sorry, but our TBR pile’s a little out of hand).
Alas, we’re unable to include the glowing review we had originally hoped to pen. For us the main character just didn’t do it for us. And we hate to say this, but the primary reason The Lightning Thief was suspenseful was because Percy Jackson isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Seriously, how is the son of P… (sorry, we almost gave something away, although the main character’s attraction to all things water might also prematurely reveal the twist), so slow and unbelieving when all kinds of hard core freaky stuff is happening right before his very eyes. Seriously, if one of our math teachers turned into a winged beast from the underworld we’d probably consider reassessing some things. Plus, does an individual on a desperate quest to save all of humanity really have time to take in the sights in St. Louis? The reader is helplessly left to find new nuggets of information at the pace in which Percy’s skepticism lessens… This isn’t very fast.
Okay, maybe we were a little harsh. In fact, maybe we were a lot harsh. Is it our fault, so many other great YA fiction novels have set the bar so high? The Lightning Thief is actually a decent read, with tons of action and interesting Greek mythology. It just has some flaws. While we’ll be continuing on with the series hesitantly, we’ll be continuing on nonetheless. Finally, the last… oh, actually, we need to go – the movie is about to start. We’ll let you know if it’s any better than the book.
