The Lightning Thief

Title : The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and The Olympians #1)

Writer : Rick Riordan

Number of Page : 249

Ebook Publisher : Disney Book Group

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

In my opinion:

Yes, I just read this. I know. Where have I been? Actually, I had watched the movie and I didn't like it. It was ridiculous and shallow. That's why I decided not to read the book despite of the hype. 

But, Percy Jackson kept coming back to me. Some of my friends recommended the book. Even goodreads has very high ratings for these series. And I am getting more and more itchy to read them. 

So, here I am. Finished with the first book and would continue until the end because it is funny. I mean the mighty gods in the Greek mythology that I read several years ago became real and they lived in Empire State Building level 600th. Oh, my.

The book is much better than the movie. It has different story lines, more adventures, and more funny dialogues. However, this book has problems with background explanations. The pace is very fast and it would be very confusing for those who never know about Greek gods before. Rick Riordan just pops all the names and assumes we all know who they are. Even two of my friends read it with the help of wikipedia, just checking who is who. I do know them luckily and I could catch up with the fast plots. Well, maybe I am used to detailed descriptions, that's why I felt the first half of the book kinda rushed. 

My favorite character would be Hades. I don't know why I always like him more than Zeus. And Rick Riordan's version of Hades is very damn funny. He was accused of stealing the lightning bolt and wanting a war. He was so angry and I laughed in this scene. (Ugh, I must be crazy)

Hades bellowed, "Do you think I want war, godling?" I wanted to say, Well, these guys don't look like peace activists. But I thought that might be a dangerous answer.
"You are the Lord of the Dead," I said carefully. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"
"A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"
"Well..."
"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but Hades was on a roll now.
"More security ghouls," he moaned. "Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"

Just imagine a god angry and complaining at the same time. I made my own versions of those conversations in Indonesian spontaneously and I choked myself laughing. Ignore the paragraph below.

Hades meraung, "Kaupikir aku ingin perang, godling?" 

"Kau kan Dewa Kematian. Perang akan memperluas kerajaanmu, ya kan?"

"Sama persis dengan apa yang akan kakak-kakakku katakan! Memangnya aku tidak punya kerjaan lain lagi apa? Kaupikir aku butuh tambahan masalah lagi? Apa kaulihat antrian di Asphodel Fields sana?

"Yah..."

"Tau nggak seberapa luas kerajaanku telah merajalela, berapa banyak cabang yang harus kubuka? Kurang security ghouls," keluh Hades, "masalah lalu lintas di judgement pavilion, double lembur untuk staf-stafku. Aku itu dulunya kaya, Percy Jackson. Aku mengatur seluruh logam berharga yang ada di bawah tanah. Tapi pengeluaranku!!!! Aku sudah cukup bangkrut untuk memulai perang lagi, dasar kalian makhluk-makhluk bodoh!"

I like all the characters. They are all lovable, even I like Luke. I understand why he did all those things. Well, gods are not that kind to all of their children so hatred is sure will come up.

Unfortunately, I don't like the adventures. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover suddenly ended up in the middle of nowhere and there was this restaurant and Medusa was waiting for them. They went to Las Vegas and entered a casino and it turned out that this casino trapped all their customers. And then they got off the train and there was this store selling beds and the owner was evil. What??? Why did they suddenly meet evils? Just for the sake of actions? That doesn't make sense.

I think I need to stop now. 'Till later.

3/5