The Lightning Thief
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is on the most dangerous quest of his life. With the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena, Percy must journey across the United States to catch a thief who has stolen the original weapon of mass destruction—Zeus’ master bolt. Along the way, he must face a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. Most of all, he must come to terms with a father he has never known, and an Oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend.
Also by Rick Riordan
What you might want to know about The Lightning Thief
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is kicked out of yet another boarding school and learns that his absent father is the Greek god Poseidon. At Camp Half-Blood on Long Island, Zeus's lightning bolt has gone missing, and Percy and his friends Annabeth and Grover have ten days to return it.
The original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series has five books. Rick Riordan has written several connected series in the same universe: The Heroes of Olympus, The Trials of Apollo, and The Sun and the Star, plus shorter Percy Jackson novels and graphic novels.
The Lightning Thief is middle grade, aimed at readers 9 to 12. The protagonist is 12 and the writing is accessible, while the Greek mythology and humor have made it popular with adults too. There is no explicit content.
Yes. A 2010 film adaptation aged the characters up and changed many plot elements. Rick Riordan publicly criticized the films. A more faithful TV adaptation premiered on Disney+ in 2023, with Riordan involved as showrunner.
Read the original five-book Percy Jackson and the Olympians series first: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian. Then move to The Heroes of Olympus, then The Trials of Apollo.
The Lightning Thief was written by Rick Riordan, published in 2005 by Graf.
The Lightning Thief is 384 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Lightning Thief takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
The Lightning Thief is a standalone novel by Rick Riordan, not part of a series.
The Lightning Thief is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
