Percy has never quite fitted in to any of his schools. His latest school is no exception. Only his best friend Grover and his Latin teacher make it bearable. On a field trip his maths teacher attacks him and things fall completely out of his control. All of a sudden he is on the run with his mum from all sorts of monsters. They want to kill him because he is half god making him a hero. At half-blood camp things are only a little better until he is accused of stealing Zeus's thunderbolt. He must find it to prevent war between Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. A war that could tear the world apart.I originally picked this book up before the film came out. The plan was to read it then go and see it. Well it's out on DVD and I have yet to see it and I only just read the book over the weekend. Worth the wait though. I loved it! No teen romance or angst involved. Just pure adventure and a good storyline into the mix. I was a little wary near the start. The Greek gods move depending on where the centre of the Western World is. At this moment it's America. I thought this was going to be about how wonderful Western culture is but the Greek gods are hardly portrayed as angels and it makes sense since Homer's Iliad is meant to be the first piece of Western literature.
The wariness picked up again a little later on. One of the characters mentions the arrogance of the gods and Western culture and how it was time for Kronos. Kronos is meant to be the bringer of chaos. Have to wonder if the author meant that non Western culture is then chaos. Possibly I am reading too much into it but it did niggle.
Other than that it was a good read. I think it's a great way for kids to get into Greek mythology. Definitely plan on reading the rest at some point.
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