Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief is the first book in this series. I really wanted to like this book. Actually, I did like it until about halfway through and then I got annoyed and bored. Sad but true.

Why was I annoyed? One, because I was seeing similarities to Harry Potter that I felt were cheap imitations. Even the way the title is presented; Percy Jackson and... is exactly the same. Also, the three main 'child' characters are two displaced males and a bookish female. Come on, some originality, please. Second, I really dislike glaringly obvious mistakes that an editor, proofreader, someone within the process to publication should have caught. For example, at one point in the book there is a reference to something that happened 'two weeks' ago. Two or three pages later, the same event had occurred 'one week' ago. I know it's kind of petty of me to be annoyed by this sort of thing but I can't help that I am.

When I got annoyed, I also found myself getting bored. I finished this book and it was all right but not so great that I want to read the rest of the series. I actually think the movie looks better than the book and I never feel that way.