This is the book I should have reviewed in the very beginning and, for some reason, never thought of -- Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. The most amazing series began with this book and I have been reading and rereading it so often that the book is coming apart at the seams. I will read anything Riordan writes; luckily for me, he continues to write books that are sort of set in the Percy Jackson universe, just with different pantheons. The Lightning Thief began it all and, if you are a reader (or not a reader, I've seen both), you definitely read this in middle school. If you haven not read it, then you are probably lying.

For those (in the minority) who haven't read it, The Lightning Thief starts with a warning from Percy Jackson himself cautioning us that if we feel any connection to the story, then we could be a demigod and it is not something he would ask for. With that slightly ominous feeling, he tell his story of how he embarks on a quest for the Zeus’ (yes the Zeus, king of the Greek gods) master lightning bolt with his best friend and satyr (half-goat), Grover, and experienced demigod and the best character in the entire world, Annabeth, after receiving a prophecy from the Oracle, who is a skeleton dressed like a hippie. The Oracle is a lot more menacing than it sounds. After arriving to the demigod camp, Camp Half Blood, and losing his mother to the Minotaur in the most impressive way, Percy finds out that his father, whom his mother never spoke about without being upset, is actually a Greek god named Poseidon. This puts him in an awkward and potentially dangerous position as the “Big Three,” of Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades, made a pact after World War II to never have children again. Given the pact and Poseidon's claim on Percy soon after Zeus’ bolt was stolen, Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the bolt to get more power, using Percy to steal it from him. Percy has no clue about where the bolt is and must find it before the Winter Solstice or Zeus will have a hissy fit and start a war with his brother. In the prophecy, the Oracle spoke about “the god in the west.” Grover, Annabeth, and Percy (mistakenly) believe it is Hades who took the bolt and must travel to the Underworld, currently residing in Hollywood, California. Percy also knows that Hades was the one who took his mother, so he intends to get her back. Along the way, the three battle monsters and gods, like Ares and Hephaestus, before finding themselves in the Underworld. They discover that Hades's power item, the Helm of Darkness, has been stolen as well. Percy realizes that one of the gods, Ares, had been manipulated into stealing the items to cause a huge war that could destroy the earth. The person behind it was Luke, Annabeth's oldest friend, and a generally delightful guy up until this point. He hopes to revive Kronos, the Olympians’ father, who they casted into Tartarus because of his evilness. They defeat Luke (for the time being) and return the power items to their respective owners, saving the world without even a thank you, though Percy does get his mom back. They go back to camp to predict Luke’s next move and prepare for what comes next.

I love this book with a burning passion, if you haven't noticed already. I love the female characters in it. Annabeth, who has spent her whole life fighting monsters and training to be the strongest demigod, and Sally Jackson, Percy’s mother, the epitome of the best mother, who put up with an abusive husband for years to keep her son safe and then turned him to stone using Medusa's head, are the most badass characters of the entire series. There are also female antagonists, like Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares and bullies Percy, and Mrs. Dodds, math teacher from hell, literally. Riordan continuously makes amazing female characters in his later books and the second series of Percy Jackson (my personal favorite is Reyna).

There is apt representation of mental illness and abuse in the series as well. All demigods have dyslexia and ADHD and are not view as “dumb” or “stupid.” Rather, it is explained that these make the demigods stronger and react faster, as well as enable them to read ancient Greek. Sally must enter an abusive relationship with a man named Gabe, nicknamed Smelly Gabe by Percy because of his extreme body odor. She is given a means to leave the relationship, Medusa's head presented to her by Percy, and she doesn't hesitate in using it. She even sells it as a sculpture to make money for herself so she can realize her former passion for writing and go back to college.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is the pinnacle of fiction from the characters to the plot to the mythology behind it. Riordan takes ancient myths and brings it into the 21st century in the most fantastic way.