Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief: Book and Show

 Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief 
By Krishna Jaswal

I’m sure many of you have heard about the book Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Many kids read it in elementary or middle school. For me personally, Percy Jackson was my childhood. I remember being introduced to the book right before COVID hit and I read all the books throughout the pandemic. I’m sure some of you have also heard about the new Percy Jackson series on Disney+. In this blog, I will dive a little deeper into both the book and the show as well as the differences between them!

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The book is set in the United States (they go on an adventure so the city or state does change often) and involves lots of Greek mythology. The book starts with Percy, a 12-year-old boy who starts to learn more about himself. Percy finds out that his father is Poseidon, one of the big gods of Greek mythology. To make things even more complicated, he's thrown into a quest. A quest to find something that has been stolen and prevent a war. He’s been blamed for stealing the lightning bolt that belongs to Zeus because Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades had made a promise to not have any more demigod children. So since Poseidon has now broken the oath, Percy is to blame for the stolen weapon because Zeus thinks Poseidon is using his children to plot against him. Because who, if not Poseidon, would steal the lightning bolt? To clear his name, Percy and some newly made friends from the demigod camp, Camp Half-Blood, must go find Zeus’ lightning bolt before a war breaks out between Zeus and Poseidon. Without much of a choice Percy sets out on his quest and along the way makes new friends (and some enemies), runs into mythical creatures, and learns how to use his unique abilities gifted from his dad.

The show also follows a similar storyline with a few differences here and there. Percy finds out he's a demigod, goes on a quest to find the master bolt, and experiences many things along the way. The show is a 5 season series that follows all 5 of the books from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. As of the date of publication of this blog, the first season of the show is still airing and can be watched on Disney+!

However, like every show or movie adaptation, there are differences. The appearances of some characters are different from the book in the movie. For example, Percy in the book has black hair but in the show, he has blond hair. There are other differences in the appearances of characters but the actors were hand-picked by the author of the books, Rick Riordan. From what I’ve seen of the show so far, the actors may not look completely the same as in the book but I do have to say they do embody the characters really well! Rick Riordan did an amazing job at picking the characters out! Another big difference that I feel like comes with most adaptations of books into shows or movies is some scenes being left out or new scenes being included. In the show, there are multiple scenes from the book that have been left out and some that have been added. There have also been some alterations to the plot but not huge changes to the point the whole story has been changed. 

If you are debating whether to read the book or watch the show, I would highly recommend you read the book first. I personally think it’s better to read the book and then watch the show because you can see the differences or similarities. Whereas if you watch the show and then read the book, you might be confused about some events that may have happened in the book and not in the movie or vice versa. I do have to say, both the movie and book do have funny scenes or moments that always make me laugh. So if you’re looking for a laugh or just something to check out, I recommend the Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief both the book and show!