The Lightning Thief

By Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is a problem child. He keeps getting into trouble and having to change schools. Diagnosed with dyslexia and hyperactivity disorder, he finds it hard to achieve even a passing grade, much less good grades. But his problems go beyond your average troubled child's because Percy is different. As is revealed to him when he is attacked by a harpy while on a class field trip. The harpy, disguised as a math teacher, comes after Percy but he is able to fight the monster off when his Latin teacher, arriving in the nick of time, tosses Percy a pen that changes into a sword.
Turns out Percy's mom got pregnant with him by the old timey Greek god Poseidon, making Percy a half-blood, half god, half human. And the old timey monsters like harpies, minotaurs, gorgons can smell him and they hate half-bloods and desire only to kill them. The only safe place for a boy like Percy is at a summer camp just for half-bloods. It is a protected location where half-bloods learn to defend themselves against the monster who are out to get them.
Meanwhile, things are not good on Olympus, which is located on a cloud above the Empire State Building in New York City. Someone has stolen Zeus's lightning bolt and all the fingers are pointing at Percy. Poseidon and Zeus are in a power struggle and Zeus figures Poseidon got his son to sneak into the throne room and snatch the bolt when no one was looking. All the gods are taking sides and if the bolt is not returned, and soon, their heavenly war will plunge the world into actual war.
So Percy goes off on a quest to find the lightning bolt and return it to Zeus and save humanity from a new world war, clear his name and Poseidon's name and rescue his mom from the clutches of Hades, god of the underworld, who snatched her for leverage against Percy and Poseidon. With Percy go two friends, Grover, a satyr and Annabeth, another half-blood. They will travel across America from the East Coast to the West Coast because the entrance to the Underworld is located in Los Angeles and Percy has to confront Hades as part of the quest. They have to face down various lethal monsters and Percy has to learn how to be a hero and complete his quest successfully.

This was a pretty good story. Very heavy on the Greek mythology, of course. I don't really like stories based on mythology and I pretty much didn't care for that part of the story. Greek gods, yikes, who needs them? Not me. All that mythological crap just leaves me cold, Greek, Indian, Celtic, I don't care, it all sucks.
But despite the mythology and the stupid Greek gods (and, wow, do they come off as stupid in this story), Percy and his two buddies have lots of exciting and weird adventures. And it was interesting to see how the author brings the Greek gods and other mythological creatures into modern times. Makes for an engrossing and captivating read.