The Lightning Thief

It's interesting how cyclical culture can be. When Harry Potter first came out, I recall a lot of people being upset at the similarities between Potter and the Tim Hunter stories. Neil Gaiman, author of the latter, rightfully came to the defence of the Potter books, saying that both he and Rowling were just pulling from the same cultural touchstones and working in the same genre of YA heroic fantasy.

Now, reading a lot of the comments on the Percy Jackson books, I see a lot of people who read Harry Potter being upset that Riordan was copying what Rowling did. I'll admit that there are some similarities, but it's more that they're both modern urban fantasy based on a Campbellian model of the hero's journey, rather than any intentional ‘copying'. In fact, if I had to pick something to compare this to, it would be to describe it as a YA version of American Gods, albeit it one that focuses exclusively on Olympian gods rather than multiple pantheons.

The really selling point of the book, though, is the character of Percy himself. He brings a refreshing level of sarcasm and humour to what could have been a fairly staid story, and keeps you interested in the larger world.