Review:
Percy Jackson is a 12-year-old boy with dyslexia and ADHD attending a school for at-risk students in New York. Percy's first major clue that something weird is going on happens during a school trip, when one of his teachers turns into some kind of monster, attacks him, and he defends himself with a sword that, seconds before, was a pen belonging to another one of his teachers.
When school wraps up, he goes home and thinks he's about to go on a much-needed trip with his mom when he's attacked yet again and barely makes it to the safety of Camp Half-Blood. There, Percy learns that he's a demigod - his father is one of the Greek gods. As Percy learns more about himself and his abilities, he gets caught up in a conflict between Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades and must somehow find and return Zeus's missing master bolt.
My first exposure to this series was via the 2010 live action movie. I came away from it feeling so-so about the franchise. I didn't remember enough about it to say, one way or another, how similar it was to the original book, although I do at least know that the movie aged the main characters up a few years. The better to introduce potential romantic subplots as soon as possible, I guess.
In this book, Riordan introduces a world where kids like Percy can discover that their dyslexia is actually a sign that they're a demigod and their ADHD helps give them an edge in battle. It's not all great, though - quite a few of the Camp Half-Blood kids have issues with their mortal families. Also, not only are the gods prohibited from directly taking a part in their children's upbringing, but several of them aren't exactly good parent material to begin with. There are many Camp Half-Blood kids who never get a sign from the gods indicating that one of them has claimed them as their child.
I generally enjoyed the way Riordan worked Greek mythology into Percy's world and story. There were times I got a bit impatient - although I could barely remember anything about the movie, it seemed obvious to me who Percy's father was based on the various clues we were given - but I'm also willing to accept that I'm a good bit older than the intended audience for this series. If I had been introduced to this series when I was in the 5th grade, when we spent a period of time learning about Greek gods and mythology, I probably would have gotten a kick out of having the opportunity to figure out a few things here and there in this book using the details I knew.
It did take ages for Percy to show any sign of concern about the part of the prophecy that predicted he'd be betrayed by someone who called him a friend, though.
Overall, this was decent and I'll probably give the next book in the series a try.
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