Graphic Novel Review – Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Middle Grade
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Size: 128 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Release Date: October 12, 2010
ISBN-13:  978-1423116967
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in Percy and the Olympians Graphic Novel series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the first in the graphic novel series retelling the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Riordan.  This graphic novel was well-illustrated and did a good job telling the story; the story is darker in tone though and had less humor in it than the books.

Anyone who is a fan of Riordan’s works knows the story already.  Percy Jackson finds out that he is a half-godling and gets blamed for the theft of Zues’s lightening bolt.  Then he and some of his new friends from Camp Half Blood set out on a quest to find the lightening blot and clear Percy’s name.

The illustration was well done and matched the tone of the story.  It is in full color and represents the characters well, the only character that was a lot different from the series is Grover…he is not pictured at all how I imagined and doesn’t need his crutches to get around.  Although it was well done there isn’t anything really stylistically or artistically unique or compelling about the illustration.

The story hits most of the main story points; although there wasn’t as much humor present as in the book series.  Percy is a bit more brooding and the atmosphere is darker.  In general it is a good translation of Percy and the Olympians to a comic-book like style.

Overall I enjoyed reading this to relive the series; I didn’t find anything especially compelling about either the illustration or the story itself.  The illustration is well-done but a bit darker; the story is also darker and less humorous than originally.  The author/illustrators did a good job of converting this story to something that has a more comic book feel to it.  I will probably read future installments just because I like the series so much.  I would recommend reading the original books first because they are just hands down better, but this graphic novel does a great job of representing the series and helping readers to relive it.  For those who are interesting in middle grade level graphic novel I have to recommend The Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi and Bone by Jeff Smith…both of these are absolutely spectacular.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novels Challenge List
– 100+ Reading Challenge