Percy Jackson: A captivating fantasy story about gods, titans and teens

Your life was completely normal and suddenly, out of nowhere, monsters and other fantasy creatures appear try to kill for no reason. This would be very crazy if it happened to us right now. Well, this is what the protagonist of the novel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief experience.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a fantasy novel by Rick Riordan. The novel, which is very popular among teenagers, was first released on in 2005. The story is narrated through the eyes of a boy named Percy Jackson, who is able to breathe under water. He’s also diagnosed with dyslexia, because everything he reads turns into old Greek. He does not have a lot of friends, only his best friend Grover.

Percy’s dad left Percy at a young age, so he grows up with his mother only. Everything is goes quite well until his teacher turns on him during a school trip and, in fury, tries to kill him. At this point, everything changes. His best friend Grover turns into a satyr and his Latin teacher into a centaur. They take him to the camp half-blood.

On the way to the camp, his mother dies and gets captured by Hades in the underworld. At the camp, he learns that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, which makes him a demigod. At the camp, he also gets to know a girl called Annabeth, who is the daughter of the Greek goddess Athena. Annabeth, Grover and Percy become good friends throughout the story.

The main issue is that Zeus, god of thunder, thinks that Percy stole his lightning, which is the source of the god’s power, and demands that Percy brings it back in ten days. Otherwise a war between the gods will start, because Zeus thinks that Poseidon told Percy to steal Zeus’ lightning. This war would destroy the world of the humans, which Percy tries to save.

Percy has to find the lightning in ten days with help of his friends as well as save his mum from Hades, god of the underworld.

This book is a part of trilogy, and it was adapted to a film too. The film “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” was filmed in 2010, and the protagonists where Logan Lerman and Alexandra Daddario. Rick Riordan also wrote the book spinoff-series: Heroes of Olympia, the Fallen God and Good/Heroes tales too. Rick Riordan did not only write books based off of Greek gods. For example, he also wrote about Egyptian gods in his trilogy: “The Kane Chronicles”.

I think everyone, even if they are not the biggest fans of reading, who like books even just a bit, will like Percy Jackson. It is because the story captivates the reader from the first paragraph, and you find yourself not wanting to stop reading. In this book, you will learn a lot about the Greek mythology without even realising it, because the author is brilliant at mixing the actual mythology with the storyline. And another good reason to read this book is that this book, even if it categorized as a fantasy novel, also deals with typical teenage experiences, like finding friends and fitting in. It also has elements of an action novel, because the fights between the different gods or monsters are described very well.

Percy Jackson is a book that every teen could enjoy reading.