Looking for an exciting read to break up the snow and studying of February?
Try Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lighting Thief.This novel has all the makings of a good weekend adventure. The Lightning Thief is equal parts fantasy and adventure within the structure of a Greek epic.
Like many other fantastical adventures, the building blocks of The Lightning Thief are simple. Average boy finds out that he has extraordinarily heroic abilities. He is sent away from his normal family in order to train in these abilities. While away, he meets loyal friends that will help him. Together, he and his friends end up on a mostly impulsive quest to battle evil.
Of course, they will win in this first novel. But only temporarily, as the evil must come back again and again until the whole series is over. The hero will, naturally, continue battling evil for X number of books.
The simplicity of the plot is part of what makes The Lightning Thief a good weekend novel. On the one hand, there is already a roadmap that makes the reading go that much faster.
And on the other, each unexpected twist is exciting. But this plot would hardly make for a good recommendation on its own.
And no, the recommendation isn't just for the giggle-worthy, euphemistic debauchery of the Greek gods. (They "smooch," of all things)!
Well, okay, the recommendation has something to do with the Greek gods' habitual affairs.
The Lightning Thief, after all, is about the half-god, half-mortal children of the Olympians. It's the consequences of being a "half-blood" that makes Riordan's novel worthy of a recommendation.
The problems for the half-bloods come straight from the original Greek myths. Staying with the mortal parent is dangerous, and the Olympian parent must claim the half-blood. And, of course, monsters holding grudges against the gods might just take it out on the half-blood children. In both the myths and The Lightning Thief, the half-bloods tend to meet tragic ends. On the upside, if the half-blood dies heroically enough, there's a chance of being commemorated as a pine tree.
The knowledge of tragedy is the tension that underlies the whole novel. This tension is rarely the focus. But it also leads to the tension of whether to be or not to be the hero.
There is always the possibility that the half-blood hero turns around and walks away.
There is just enough tension to make the reader think. However, this tension is not heavy enough to weigh the whole novel down. Essentially, The Lightning Thief is still a light and fluffy adventure. The novel is just short enough that it can be read in a couple afternoons on the weekend. And, of course, exciting enough to break up the winter blues.
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