By Chad Morris
(WARNING: This post does contain spoilers if you are part of
the 17% of the world’s population who has yet to read the book. They aren’t
huge spoilers, but they’re there.)
Many of us read the Lightning Thief forever ago, but I think
it has some valuable lessons other than the obvious “you might not want to take
pit stops in Medusa’s home,” and “don’t go to Hades.”
A GOOD PREMISE GOES A LONG WAY. Frankly, I think the premise of putting Greek myths in a
modern context is brilliant. Riordan creates decent characters and his plot is
fine, but at the end of the day, I think it is the premise that really makes the
book a success. Demigods on earth, monsters, minotaurs, a pen that becomes a
sword, a satyr who covers his legs and uses crutches, a centaur hiding his
bottom half in a magical wheel chair (that must be some magic), Mt. Olympus at
the Empire State Building. . . it is all entrancingly fun. It is easy to get
caught up in. Oh, and of course the gate to hell is in L.A.
YOU’VE GOT TO LIVE WITH YOUR PREMISE. Though the premise is
genius, it comes with a little baggage. In this case, the implications of Greek
gods having illegitimate kids on earth I find a little dicey for a younger
kids. Not bad, just a little uncomfortable at times. I’m sure it’s fine for
teens, but I haven’t read it to my kids yet for that reason. I think it is good
practice to consider if a premise may limit your audience. If it does, make
sure you calculate the risk ahead of time. It obviously worked for Riordan.
DELAYED REVELATION IS GOOD, JUST DON’T DELAY IT TOO LONG. The
book gradually lays out clues as to who Percy’s father is. However, in my
opinion, it takes too long for Percy, the experienced teachers, and crowds of
other demigods to figure it out. It gets a little taxing. I realize that Percy’s
father had to “claim him,” but to me, it drags on a bit. Let’s see, Percy’s
shows undeniable control over the water several times . . . .whose son could he
be? It seems like the equivalent of asking, “Whose son is the kid with the
quiver full of lightning bolts? If only we had a clue. And whose kid seems to
have dominion over the dead? This is just too hard to figure out.”
BE CAREFUL ABOUT HAPPENSTANCE PLOT POINTS. While the
majority of the adventure flows beautifully, a few events happen by chance . .
. and I just don’t buy it. It makes sense when monsters attack Percy, searching
for the lightning bolt. But when he just happens to stumble into the home of
one of the most infamous villains in history while he journeys all the way across
the United states, it just doesn’t work for me. Really, what are the chances? And
then he does it again. Either he also inherited superhuman bad luck, or it is
just too much.
AND THE FUNNY? There is one line in the Lightning Thief that
made me laugh for days. It explains that Percy can’t use a cell phone because
monsters can track it. I just couldn’t help but picture a Minotaur hacking into
cell phone records trying to work the keyboard with his hooves, banshees with
blackberries, and Cyclops with blue teeth (You know what I meant).
Even with the few criticisms, Riordan is very successful and
for good reason. The good outweighs the bad. That’s one final lesson. Maybe we
can delay revelation a bit too long, or use happenstance occasionally, if it is
all swallowed up in something that works well as a whole.
