The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: October 12th 2010
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pacing: fast
Genres & Themes: Graphic Novel, Adventure, YA-MG, Mythology
DESCRIPTION:
You’ve read the book. You’ve seen the movie. Now submerge yourself in the thrilling, stunning, and action-packed graphic novel.
Mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking out of the pages of twelve-year-old Percy Jackson’s textbooks and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, he and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus.
Series creator Rick Riordan joins forces with some of the biggest names in the comic book industry to tell the story of a boy who must unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.
MINI-REVIEW:
I literally read this graphic novel in 30 minutes. It’s so fast-paced and there aren’t that many dialogs. In general, I didn’t find it bad but…the illustrations were awful.
The characters weren’t portrayed at all as I imagined them. While Percy and cie were supposed to look like kids, they were drawn as if they were 17-18 years old. Also, the world-building looked so cheap. More color than actual buildings or stuff here and there.
I didn’t feel the story’s deepness enough for me to be captivated. The personality of the characters was fine but in a graphic novel the appearance is very important in my opinion so when the face doesn’t go with the personality and your view of those characters, it’s not a good thing.
Also, I didn’t feel the friendship between Percy and Grover at all, only a small connection. No atmosphere, no chemistry, it was flat.
It does follow the story, or at least tries to. The most important lines are there but many things are missing still (which I guess I can understand.)
Overall, it was okay but you’re definitely not missing a thing by choosing to not read it.
View all my reviews on Goodreads.
Hit or Miss Books 
I completely agree with you.. It’s why I’ve stopped reading graphic novels. While it’s nice to see books come to life via pictures and such things, it’s just never the same (and awesome) as the book.
Also, have you seen the new book called Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods? It’s basically retellings of the Greek myths in Percy’s POV, 1st person! I don’t know if you’d like that, but I thought you might since you liked PJO 🙂
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But you know there are many GREAT graphic novels like Smile book 1 and 2, Drama, I also enjoyed the Twilight graphic novel part 1. 😛
Oh, I did not know that!! Thanks 😀 I’ll check that out for sure. xx
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Eh, I will rather watch the movies
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But there are only two 😦
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I liked the books its a shame these aren’t that good.
I nominated you for a Liebster Award http://perksofbeingreaders.blogspot.com/2014/08/liebster-award.html
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Yeah, I don’t know how Riordan could have approved this. Aww sorry, no time for the award.
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Ugh! Just nooo. Huhuhuhu. First, the film adaptations and now this. Why can’t people do anything right? It’s lucky that I am already contented with the books. Sigh. They burned trees and wasted a lot of resources just to produce crappy stuff like this?
Sorry that you had wasted time reading this one. Totally ruined the reputation of the PJO series.
I hope that your next read will be better than this one!
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WAIT, the film adaptations were good!!! I really liked movie 2. 😀 They did. We can say the same thing for so many other books! :O
Thanks, Charlotte!
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Oh a shame this graphic novel wasn’t actually too good, it could have been amazing because they had a lot to work with, but sounds like it didn’t translate too well. Great review though!
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You’re write, that Riordan guy is rich! H could have employeed someone more conpetent!! Thanks Jeann. 🙂
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Well, at least it was a quick read lol 😀 I won’t read the original series, if I’m going to read anything, it’ll be the spin-offs. Sorry it wasn’t all that much, Lola!
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WHAT? WHY?? The spin-off is the one series I didn’t enjoy. 😛
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I’ve never been a huge fan of this series but I saw this around and figured I might give it a try. Thanks for the review so now I don’t have to waste my time buying it 🙂 Nice post!
http://novellette.com
https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/12522799
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Me neither but I do like it. It’s not worth it but thanks. 🙂
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it’s difficult witht the illustrations aren’t good nor the story… but well at last it was a fast read
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Yup, hahaha, that’s what I keep saying to myself LOL
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I still have not read the first book in this series (even though it is on my kindle) and I don’t love graphic novels so I probably won’t read this. I think I’ve only ever read one graphic novel and I just couldn’t connect with it. Sorry you didn’t love this one, but at least you didn’t spend too much time on it!
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Oh, you totally have to read book 1! It was such an entertaining sotry. Loved it. ^^ This is so worthless so don’t go near it LOL Thanks 😀
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I wasn’t really a fan of the book to begin with. I mean I liked it, I gave it at 3 I think, but I’m not much for middle grade reading (I guess getting older got the best of me on that one)
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That is one thing we have to deal with. Although I appreciate the fact that I feel nostalgic while reading MGs or just am in a good mood you know? Love the feeling. 🙂
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Maybe I should reread some of my childhood favorites like Inkheart and maybe I’ll get that feeling to 🙂
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I tried to read that book but I didn’t like it ».«
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I never read any of the Percy Jackson books. I felt like I should have but I’d heard mixed reviews about it, and it wasn’t really my type of book anyway.
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I personally really liked the series. Riordan’s imagination is crazy. 🙂 But if you’re not into MG then there’s little to no point.
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Ugh, is there anything worse than a badly drawn graphic novel? Personally I’ve tried to steer clearly of the graphic versions of my favourite series (there are a few for the Harry Dresden novels and some Kim Harrison ones, to name a few) because they always end up being a disappointment. There’s a reason why writing a really good graphic novel is so hard – you have to say a lot with very few words! Sorry this fell so flat for you, Lola.
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I believe there isn’t.It’s so disappointing to see great series being so badly adapted. 😦 I prefer manga heh. ^^ Thanks Danya! xx
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Okay, so I enjoyed the novel (not this graphic one) a lot. But as I read through the series, I was bored. I actually abandoned this series.
Bummer. I thought graphic novels are supposed to be more readable. 😛 It sucks that the illustrations were bad, Lola. I don’t think I’ll enjoy it as well.
And yeah, Pecy is young. This one looks…. not young 😛 Haha!
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I abandoned the spin-off because, same, bordom.
Graphic novels are supposed to be well-illustrated!! He looked closer to 18 years old. It wasn’t realistic at all. ».»
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I didn’t know there was a graphic novel of this! I’m new to graphic novels, and am planning on re-starting this series and finishing it for the first time, so I’m not sure if I’m going to read this or not.
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Not worth it girl
But I’d recommend Smile (which I reviewed if you’re interested.) That one had nice graphics very unlike this one!!
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This has been on my wishlist for quite some time, as I really enjoyed Percy Jackson series. Def reconsidering to buy this. Perhaps better if I borrow it somewhere..
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Yeah, I HIGHLY recommend borrowing because the art…beuu
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