Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditt

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Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel
by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti

Having recently earread this book, the graphic novel version caught my eye while I was volunteering at the library last Tuesday (also catching my eye was a particularly violent Batman graphic novel marked adult fiction that had been put in the juvie graphic novel section).

I read this in two sittings. It was strange, as I had certain images of things in my head. Chiron didn't look anything like I'd pictured, nor did Percy, for that matter. Nor did Ares or Mr. D or Clarisse. In fact, the Grover in my head was black, but I totally took a liking to him instantly here. Apart from the fact that actually NONE of the characters looked anything like the ones in my head, I liked the drawings and thought they were good representations. I especially loved the settings and objects--those were spot-on perfect. Everything from the camp to the underworld were perfect. It was beautifully done and appealing.

The story was abridged a bit, skipping over some of my absolute favorite parts of the quest (mattress store, Medusa's sculpture shop, abandoned water park reality TV). And there were a few shortcuts made as well to advance the plot without getting sidetracked. I thought the story wasn't as much fun but the book on a whole flowed excellently and if I hadn't known those parts were in the original, I wouldn't have missed them. I was glad they'd kept the Las Vegas hotel in there, especially as that pops up in future books.

I really enjoyed this version to read and hope that they do the whole series with the same artist and style.