The Lightning Thief
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| File:Lightning thief.jpg | |
| Author | Rick Riordan |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | John Rocco |
| Language | English |
| Series | Percy Jackson and the Olympians |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Miramax Books |
Publication date | June 28, 2005 |
| Publication place | United States Canada |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) Audiobook CD |
| Pages | 377 |
| Followed by | |
The Lightning Thief is a 2005 fantasy/adventure novel. The first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, in chronicles the adventures of Percy Jackson, a son of the Greek god Poseidon, and his friends on a quest to avoid a war between the gods.
Plot
Pre-Book Plot
As a camper of Camp-Half-Blood, Chiron received a prophecy that the next child of The Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades) would either save the world from Kronos or side with Kronos and bring down the Olympians once and for all.
Lightning Thief Plot
Perseus Jackson is a twelve year old dyslexic and ADHD student at Yancy Academy. On his trip to a museum with his class, Percy is constantly being bullied by a girl in his algebra class. As she continues to anger him Percy closes his eyes and suddenly the bully is wet and cold. Percy is accused of throwing water on the bully and then is confronted by Mrs. Dodds, Percy's algebra teacher. Mrs. Dodds calls Percy to follow her into the museum and he is then confronted by her. As Percy follows Mrs. Dodds to the exhibit containing Greco-Roman artifacts, Mrs. Dodds transforms into her true self: one of the Erinyes (referred to as a fury). Percy's Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner, suddenly comes into the room on his motorized wheelchair and tosses Percy a ballpoint pen. Given no other choice, Percy takes the top off his new pen and it transforms into a sword. Percy kills Mrs. Dodds in a explosion of dust and then wanders back outside to the rest of the school and his best friend Grover. He asks Mr. Brunner where Mrs. Dodds was but he and the rest of the school all say that there never was a Mrs. Dodds. Later at Yancy Academy, Percy discovers Grover talking to Brunner and says that he suspects Percy to be "one of them" and calls his teacher Chiron. Confused, Percy leaves for home to spend the summer with his mom.
As Percy returns to his mother's and her husband Gabe's apartment, Percy's mother tells him that they would be taking a short vacation away from Gabe. This vacation is on the Long Island Atlantic shore at a place called Montauk. During their vacation, a thunderstorm starts, and suddenly Grover appears at the door of their vacation home. Ms. Jackson gets both of the boys into her car and quickly drives off to a dark abandoned road. Suddenly, Percy notices that the car is being pursued. The car is thrown off of the road by a lightning bolt and Grover appears to be injured. Percy helps Grover to his feet and then runs away. Percy's mother is captured by the pursuer and is crushed into a pile of golden dust. Percy goes back to the minotaur, rips off its horn, and kills it with it. Injured and tired, Percy blindly runs into a strawberry field. Slowly Percy recovers finding himself in a deep sleep being tended to by the camp traveling director. Percy wakes to find Mr. Brunner waiting for him. Mr. Brunner tells Percy that his real name was Chiron, and that the Greek Gods are real. Percy then meets Dionsyus and finds his friend Grover tending to him. Grover reveals that he is really a Satyr, and that he was at Camp-Half-Blood, A place where the children of the Greek Gods come together to train for battle.
Percy then meets Annabeth, a daughter of Athena. She tells Percy that he is a son of one of the Greek Gods and that he must stay in the undetermined cabin until he is claimed by his Greek father. In the undetermined (Hermes) cabin, he meets Luke, a son of Hermes and the leader of the Hermes cabin. After the dinner on Percy's first conscious night at camp, the camp has a Capture the Flag game. During the game, Percy is attacked by Clarisse, a daughter of Ares. Suddenly a rush of water over flows the forest healing Percy's wounds and leaving him face down in water. A hell hound then jumps out and attacks him, but is defeated by Chiron. Then a glowing green sign with a trident through it floats over top of Percy's head, revealing that he is a child of Poseidon, the only child of Poseidon at the camp.
That night, Percy has a conversation with Chiron and Dionsyus and discovers that Zeus's Master Thunderbolt has been stolen and if it is not returned by the summer solstice, that Zeus would go to war with Poseidon, because he believed that Poseidon had stolen it to become the new God of Gods. With no other choice, Percy is forced to go on a quest to find Zeus's Master Thunderbolt to clear his father's name.
Percy seeks out his prophecy from the Oracle of Camp-Half-Blood. The oracle tells Percy:
You shall go west, and face the god who has turned,
You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned,
You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,
And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.
After receiving his prophecy, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover leave for the West. After traveling through the West, Percy encounters Ares. Ares provides Percy with a backpack and tells him that everything he needs is in the bag.
As Percy finds his way into the Underworld, Grover's shoes given to him by Luke son of Hermes, were a trap to throw him into Tartarus. After saving Grover, Percy finds his way into Hades' throne room. Percy accuses Hades of stealing the Master Bolt and Hades reveals that it was in Percy's backpack the entire time, also revealing that Ares was the one who stole the bolt. Hades unleashes him wrath for being accused, and Percy later finds Ares and confronts him in battle. Percy stabs Ares in his ankle and Ares flees from the scene. In a rush to save Olympus, Percy goes to Zeus and tells him everything. The war is averted.
When Percy returns to camp, he confronts Luke, and is stung by Luke's scorpion. Luke flees camp leaving Percy in a fatal situation. Percy cuts the scorpion in half, but realizes he was stung. He attempts to reach water's edge in order to heal himself, but he faints before he can reach the water. He wakes up cured by Chiron and Annabeth.
Characters
- Percy Jackson: a 12 year and a half-blood. He is the son of [[Poseidon] His real name is Perseus. He is astounding at sword fighting. Chiron gives him Anaklusmos, or Riptide, a sword said to be used by Hercules, partway into the book.
- Annabeth Chase: 12 years old, half-blood, daughter of Athena, has a Yankees cap that bestows the power of invisibility to the wearer. Annabeth is very intelligent and loves to read. She is very afraid of spiders. She expresses an interest in becoming an architect to create the most magnificent building to honor the gods,one better than the Parthenon.
- Grover Underwood: A big-hearted satyr (half human, half goat), whose favorite foods are aluminum cans, apples, and cheese enchiladas. He is 28 years old, but has the appearance of a middle school-age boy human due to satyrs' slower growth rate, though he is slower to mature than other satyrs. He receives winged sneakers from Percy who received them from Luke (which were actually cursed to drag the wearer into a deep chasm (Tartarus) when he/she got into the Underworld), and accompanies Percy on his quest. He is often asked to read things to Annabeth and Percy because they are not able to properly read any language but Ancient Greek.
- Luke Castellan: Demigod, 19 years old, son of Hermes. He has a scar from a dragon under his eye. Apparently he stole the Zeus's master lightning bolt, and when Ares caught him, Luke, who was corrupted by Kronos, the Titan Lord, told Ares of his plan to trick the "Big Three" gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades into war.
- Clarisse: Belligerent demigod, daughter of Ares, camp enemy of Annabeth and Percy. She possesses an electrically charged spear, until Percy snaps it in half during capture the flag.
- Chiron: A.k.a. "Mr. Brunner" (his pseudonym while teaching Latin at Percy's school), immortal as long as he is needed to teach demigods. He is a centaur, assistant director of Camp Half Blood. He has kept a sword called "Anaklusmos" ("Riptide") which is disguised as a ballpoint pen, and is later given to Percy. The sword always returns to its owner, no matter how far away. Chiron is also skilled at pinochle.
- Sally Jackson: Percy's mother. She makes blue food all the time due to an argument between her and Gabe Ugliano, her former husband, and she can see past the Mist. Gets taken hostage by Hades when fighting the minotaur. Turns Gabe into a statue with Medusa's head, then sells him for money to go to college.
- Gabriel"Gabe" Ugliano: (Smelly Gabe) Percy's stepfather, he smells so bad that it masks Percy's strong godly aura and monsters have a hard time finding Percy. His last name is an obvious pun on the word "ugly". He is currently a statue due to Sally using Medusa's head at the end of the first book.
- Zeus: Lord of the gods, Lord of the sky. Was first to break to oath of never having demi-god children. Is father to Thalia.
- Poseidon: Lord of the Sea, creator of horses. Father to Perseus "Percy" Jackson and Tyson the cyclops.
- Hades: Lord of the Underworld. Kidnaps Percy's mother in the first book.
- Ares: God of war, a biker with a very bad attitude in human form. Aphrodite's boyfriend. He gets into a fight with Percy, loses, and puts a curse on Percy.
- Kronos: The evil Titan Lord, father of Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. He was cut up into a million pieces and condemned to Tartarus by Zeus.
- Dionysus: God of wine, disgruntled and he is the director of Camp Half Blood, resembles a "cherub gone middle-aged in a trailer park." Dionysus was banished to Camp Half Blood and temporarily banned from wine for a century by his father, Zeus, as a punishment for pursuing a beautiful wood nymph who was 'off limits.' Dionysus hates his job, and now subsists on Diet Coke, which he can create as needed. He does not pay attention to the campers as much as he possibly can, and deliberately uses wrong names.
- Nancy Bobofit: A young at age girl that goes to the same school as Grover and Percy who is a school bully but never gets caught. She mostly picks on Grover because he and Percy couldn't do anything. Percy normally does something about her picking on Grover but when they go on their class trip he is on probation and she knows that so she bullies Grover.
- Mrs. Dodds: Percy's teacher who loves Nancy Bobofit, and is secretly a Fury.
Film adaptation
In June 2004, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the book.[1] The following November, screenwriter Joe Stillman was hired to adapt a screenplay based on the book.[2] In April 2007, director Chris Columbus was hired to helm the project.[3] . The film has gone into pre-production. An un-named writer has been brought on board, the budget hasn't yet been set, concept art is being created, and the script is being finalized. It has been announced that the tentative release of the film will be November 13, 2009.[citation needed]
Reception
The Lightning Thief has been greatly recepted and received multiple awards including, Bluebonnet Award Nominee 2006, Texas Library Association,Askews Torchlight Award (UK) Winner, 2006,Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book List, 2005,VOYA Top Shelf Fiction List for 2005,ALA Notable Book for 2005,YALSA Best Book for Young Adults 2005,Red House Children's Book Award Winner (UK), 2006,CCBC choice award 2006, Cooperative Children's Book Center,2006 Notable Children's Book, National Council for Teachers of English,Publishers Weekly National Children's Bestseller,Warwickshire Book Award Winner (UK), 2007,Beehive Award Winner 2007 (Children's Literature Association of Utah),Maine Student Book Award Winner 2007.[4]
References
- ^ Claude Brodesser (2004-06-23). "'Lightning Thief' strikes Maverick". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Claude Brodesser (2004-11-17). "'Lightning' to strike for scribe Stillman". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Peter Gilstrap (2007-04-17). "Columbus struck by 'Lightning'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Percy Jackson and the Olympians homepage". Rick Riodran. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-06-28.