I had been putting of this series for awhile now. Although I normally love YA, I just thought this one would be more along the lines of a children's book and wouldn't keep my attention. And, I was wrong (and someone better record this, because I don't say it often...hehe). This was a very engaging read from the beginning to the end.

I really love reading about Greek mythology and this book really went in depth with it, there were several times that I wrote down names just so I could look them up later, made me feel NOT smarter than a 5th grader!! Percy is a great charcter, he's a scared kid who still stands up for what he believes is right, even when it would have been alot safer for him to run away. Percy meets some great characters along the way, some destined to be his friends, some destined to be his enemies. And sometimes the ones he thinks are friends don't turn out that way.

It's a perilous world that Percy finds himself thrown into, and I was glad to go along for the ride with him. I dug through this book at lightning speed and I'm really excited to read the rest and see what trouble Percy and the crew find their way into next time!

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My son and I read this book together. I think this book is better than the final few Harry Potter books. Really funny too! We are looking forward to reading the rest othis series.

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This book has an overall interesting story concept, but it's fairly obvious that the author was trying to break into a genre made popular be series like Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl. So if you like those types of books, like I do, you will most likely enjoy this.

Initially, Percy doesn't know who his father is, but the mystery isn't really that hard to figure out for anyone who has a basic understanding of Greek mythology.

There are several plot-holes in the story, one coming to immediate mind is the repetition of Percy being warned not to speak the names of Gods or creatures aloud so as to not draw their attention. This rule seems to be inconsistent, since other characters manage to do it, plus you have to wonder how they keep the average public from mentioning these names. There's several other things you'll notice that don't make sense when you analyze it, but overall, it doesn't make the story something you can't enjoy, so it's easily overlooked.

I'd suggest reading this series, just for wanting to find out what happens, plus it'll be good reference for when the movie comes out.

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I picked up this book because my students were raving about it. I did like it, but it's not one of my favorite young adult books. I felt it was very Harry Potter-esque. So many books these days are about these young heroes battling a variety of superhuman creatures. I think many aspects of these themes are becoming redundant and cliche.

However, I do like the use of Greek mythology. That is a foreign topic to most everyone, and this is a fun way to learn about it.

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Basically, another Harry Potter book (well, what YA book isn't, these days?), rather light reading, entertaining, slightly tongue-in-cheek story of a child of a greek god in modern times. Quite often, there's a re-telling of greek myths, you and your little demigod probably doesn't need to know much greek mythology, although it might help make it more entertaining.

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I know I shouldn't be surprised when a book is infinitely better than it's movie adaptation. I watched the movie version of The Lightening Thief before I'd read anything of this series, which is fortunate. I liked the movie enough to start reading the series, but if I'd read the books first I would have been sorely disappointed by the movie.

Besides the characters being better developed, there are major plot differences that work much better in the book. Additional characters play major roles and many details about the characters are changed -- mostly things like AGE. The books are about awkward early teens, while the movie featured pretty teenagers. Ugh.

Criticism of the similarities to Harry Potter put aside, this is a great series so far -- quick, entertaining, imaginative reads.

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I read this because I love the "Harry Potter" series, and try to check out the new YA fantasy books that have some potential for that kind of enjoyment. This does have the potential, however there are parts that are along the lines of silly humor for an 11-year-old. On the other hand, there are some very rough parts, such as these kids going into Hades, and the dead standing in line there, that I felt were not for the faint of heart and might be hard for young kids to process. Overall, it is a good beginning with some surprising twists and wraps up nicely, though open for the sequel.

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This book has an overall interesting story concept, but it's fairly obvious that the author was trying to break into a genre made popular be series like Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl. So if you like those types of books, like I do, you will most likely enjoy this.

Initially, Percy doesn't know who his father is, but the mystery isn't really that hard to figure out for anyone who has a basic understanding of Greek mythology.

There are several plot-holes in the story, one coming to immediate mind is the repetition of Percy being warned not to speak the names of Gods or creatures aloud so as to not draw their attention. This rule seems to be inconsistent, since other characters manage to do it, plus you have to wonder how they keep the average public from mentioning these names. There's several other things you'll notice that don't make sense when you analyze it, but overall, it doesn't make the story something you can't enjoy, so it's easily overlooked.

I'd suggest reading this series, just for wanting to find out what happens, plus it'll be good reference for when the movie comes out.

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Hmmm, loser nobody tween starts seeing weird things, ends up in a special boarding school where there are people like him, but destiny has a stronger pull on him, and with the help of a kindly professor who overlooks his foibles, a geeky side-kick, and a practical female, manages to save their world from evil, all in time for summer vacation and at least 4 sequels. Does J.K. Rowling sue for plagerism, or do all YA books follow this basic plot? Well, it was an enjoyable read.

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When my 4th grader walked into our local independent bookstore and asked the children's expert what he should read now that he was done with the Harry Potter series, this was the book she put into his hands. He enjoyed it so much he read the entire series and now his dad and I are trying to catch up! This is an exciting and enjoyable read about an outsider hero (diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia) who discovers that there may be good reasons for certain "weaknesses" and even moments when they can be strengths. Percy is accompanied on his quest by a wise female friend and a satyr who provides comic relief. This is a great way for kids to learn about mythology if they aren't quite ready for Edith Hamilton, and I suspect a whole bunch of related books will be around because of the movie. My son is currently enjoying Mythlopedia, a cartoonish who's who of the gods.

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My introduction to the Percy Jackson series was through watching the movie for this book, which piqued my interest enough to get me to read it. Good job movie!!!

The first thing that struck me not too far into the book was how much the movie varied from the original work. After reading the whole thing, this disappointed me quite a bit, because there were a lot of pretty cool scenes in the book that I would have loved to see on screen. I assume that was done to fit the movie into standards that work for the target audience, but it would have been so awesome to see some of these explosions and fights!

To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.

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Clever, a new twist on old mythology! :)

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