The Lightning Thief 

Rick Riordan

     This book is the 1st book out of 5. It's about a boy that has a lot of weird things happen to him throughout his life. In preschool the teacher put him down for a nap and his cot was full of snakes and the teachers found him playing with a lifeless body of a serpent. In 2nd grade his class went to the park. A man was following him and when his teacher threatened to call the cops he left but no one believed Percy that the man had one eye in the center of his head. If you think that's a lot of stuff,he also has ADHD too.

     The 3 main characters are: Percy Jackson, Grover, and Annabeth. Percy is the son of Poseidon and the main character in the book. He is very stubborn, brave, mischievous, and gullible. Percy has black hair green eyes and kinda tall. Grover is the one that brought Percy to camp Half-Blood. Grover is a satyr as well. He gets scared easily and cracks under pressure. waist up he looks like a boy, waist down he looks like a goat. Annabeth is the daughter of Athena. She helps Percy and Grover in their quest to find Zeus's Master Bolt. She is very confident and brave too. She has blond hair and grey eyes

     The story begins with Percy and Groverat Yancy Academy with Mr. Brunner [aka Chiron]. Then Percy gets kicked out of Yancy Academy and goes to the ocean with his Mom, Sally Jackson. Then a huge storm hits and Grover shows up, and then the trio leaves and goes to Camp Half-Blood on Half-Blood Hill. When they get to the top of Half-Blood Hill they get confronted by a Minotaur, when Percy trys to get Grover to safety the Minotaur attacks Percy's Mom. The Minotaur almost kills her but then she disappeared in a flash of golden light. Percy kills the Minotaur. He takes Grover to the camp. Then he faints and is knocked out for two days.

     When Percy wakes up he finds out that Mr. Brunner is the legendary Chiron the Centaur and finds out he is the activity directer. On his first day Annabeth, the girl that helps make him better, shows him around Camp Half-Blood. In the middle of his tour he meets a girl from the Ares cabin #11, Clarisse. When she almost gave him a swirly all the toilets and showers sprays gallons and gallons of water on Clarisse and her goons they  all get drenched. But when it stops Percy has a ring of dry cement around him and he is completely dry not one drop of water on him. A couple of days later the whole camp plays a game of capture the flag with real swords, spears, shields, and armor. In the middle of the game Clarisse and her friends attack Percy so the other kids on Percy's team could capture their flag. After Luke takes Clarisse's team flag it turns into Hermes flag [which is Percy's cabin till he finds out who his father is]. Then out of the forest a Hellhound jumps out and trys to kill Percy. Chiron shoots the Hellhound in the neck with an arrow. As Percy is laying in the water bleeding, all his wounds heal instantly when he stands up a golden trident with blue energy swirling around it is above his head. As it fades every one kneels. Chiron trots up to him and tells him something Percy Jackson is the son Poseidon.

     Chiron gives Percy a quest to find Zeus's Master Bolt it is said that it makes Atomic Bombs seem like fire crackers. Percy has a choice he can take two companions but one was chosen for him, Annabeth. Percy chooses Grover for his other companion. Before they leave Chiron and Luke have gifts for Percy. Chiron gives Percy a ballpoint pen but when you take the cap off it turns into a sword called Riptide. Luke gives him a pair of flying shoes that his father Hermes gave him. After that they make their way to New York City to catch a Gray Hound bus to L.A. When they get on the bus the three Furies or the Kindly Ones get on their bus. When they get into a dark tunnel the Furies go from there old lady forms into their bat like monster forms in seconds. While they fight the Furies it starts to storm. The three friends get out of the bus right as a bolt of lightning hits the bus, and the bus blows up with the three Furies in side. As the friends walk through the night they come across a garden gnome emporium there they fight Medusa, and when Percy is finished with her he finds a shipping box for gods he mails her head to Zeus.

     Percy has a run in with a Chimera at Saint Louis in the Gate Way Arch. After that they meet Ares in Denver, Colorado. He asks them to do him a favor, he wants them to get his shield from a water park. When they get there a trap was placed by Hephaestus to capture his wife Aphrodite and Ares kissing and broadcast it live to Mount Olympus, but instead he caught Percy and Annabeth trying to take Ares shield. When the three friends get back to Ares he finds them a ride to L.A. What he found was a black market truck with three animals: a lion, a zebra, and a antelope. When they get there they set the animals free and they run a muck in the streets of L.A. As they search the streets they come upon a place called Lotus Casino. As they get closer they see a man. He asked them if they wanted to come in and stay for a while. When they got in side another man was waiting for them. He said _^welcome to Lotus Casino and he gave them all free passes to all the games in the casino and also a suite. After that they go up to their room and then play some games. After while Percy meets a guy from the fiftys and he said he only been there for a week. After a while he realized what was happening and he got Grover and Annabeth and tried to get them to leave but they fought. When they got outside the spell was broken and they looked at the newspaper, an they saw that its been five days since they went in Lotus Casino so they had one more day before the summer solstice and one more day before Zeus and Poseidon start world war three. After another couple hours they find the entrance to the Underworld. As they make their way to Hades castle they fight Cerberus. When they get there Hades has an army of the undead and the three Furies waiting for them. Hades makes an offer he will give him his mom but 1 of his friends have to stay with Hades. Percy leaves his mom but when he gets back from the Underworld Ares is waiting for them but he has the Master Bolt and Hades's Helm of Darkness. Percy and Ares start fighting for the gods weapons if Ares wins he gets to kill Percy, but if Percy wins he gets the helm andthe bolt. After a while Percy defeats Ares and then he gives the helm to the three Furies witch where watching the battle from above. After that the trio makes there way back to N.Y. New York there Percywill go to the six hundredth floor of the Empire State building which is Mount Olympus. There Zeus and Poseidon are waiting for him so he can return the Master Bolt. When he gets home his mom is waiting for him at the front door.

     I would recommend this book to people who like an adventure book and mystery twisted together. I like how the whole book is revolving around Greek Mythology. One thing I didn't like about the book is that Percy's mom almost dies. In a 1 out of 10 scale I would give it a 9.