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  • Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

  • Percy Jackson, Book 1
  • By: Rick Riordan
  • Narrated by: Jesse Bernstein
  • Length: 10 hrs
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (959 ratings)

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Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

By: Rick Riordan
Narrated by: Jesse Bernstein
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Puffin.  

Coming soon to Disney+!

Half boy. Half God. ALL Hero.

I was just a normal kid, I went to school (got expelled a lot, but that wasn't my fault), played sports and hung out with my best friend.

Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher.

Now, I spend my time at Camp Half Blood, battling monsters and generally trying to stay alive.

And now that Zeus thinks I've stolen his lightning bolt, staying alive is going to be even harder....
 

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PERCY JACKSON:

  • Monsters
  • Greek Gods
  • Laughs (and terrified screams)

Rick Riordan has now sold an incredible 60 million copies of his books worldwide.

©2006 Rick Riordan (P)2010 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"This is the stuff of legends." (The Guardian)

What listeners say about Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Average Customer Ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic and well placed

The narrator is truly fantastic and gives great character and memorability to everyone. Must read.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

8 year old boy loved it

My son and I listened to the book in the car over a period of a couple of months. I didn’t particularly like the narrator and I was a bit annoyed with the story and stereotypical stubborn hero, but my son absolutely loved it and that’s really all that matters!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Good Story

Solid story.
The voices of the gods could have used some variation but besides that. Good listen.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome Percy Jackson

I love how the story ends as the start to a new story. If you read he first one and you like it you can't stop you have to read the next book. Jesse Bernstein reads the book with so much expression and great character voices. I think this book is so good. I ❤️ this story.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

bad narrator,good story

I dont think the narraor was the right narrator for this story. He didnt do a good job with female voices and he couldnt pronouce the name Thalia correctly! The overall story is really good though. :)

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Vocie

I think Stephen Fry should have voiced for this because it would sound much better but Jessse Bernstein was very good to.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great reading from audible

A great story made better with the great reading done by the great people at audible.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Highly recommended

The Lightning Thief is fantastic. The amount of research which must have gone into creating the Percy Jackson series is crazy. Rick Riordan is inspiring by the way he combines the ancient Greek gods and there myths into modern society. The narrator was also amazing.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • .
  • 02-07-2021

Very good

This book is excellent this is one of the best series you will find I have listen to it multiple times and it is still as interesting as it was when i first listened to it

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

better than the movie!

100% this was way better than the movie, cant wait to red the rest of them!

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  • Katharina Thomassen
  • 11-04-2019

Terrible narrator

Good story, terrible narrator. I want to listen to the other books, but I cannot stand to make myself suffer through any more from this narrator, so I will not be buying the rest.

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  • John
  • 03-02-2014

Outstanding!!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson, Book 1 to be better than the print version?

Yes, I recall reading the print version in primary and I really did like it but never considered reading the other books. But when I listened to it I was hooked.

What did you like best about this story?

The action and adventure, the emotion. The precise use of greek mythology spun into it, all real myths.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene was when Percy, Grover and Sally were fighting their way to camp half-blood. It was action-packed, and very emotional.

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this book.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Tegan
  • 05-06-2012

I love young Adult Non Fiction (31)

Very entertaining and a great action book... I definately have learnt more about Greek Mythology and am committed to listen to the entire series, if it keeps up the pace...

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1 person found this helpful

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  • Grazjyna
  • 20-07-2023

It doesn’t get better than Percy Jackson

This story is perfectly structured and is extremely relatable! The thought put into this book 📖 and each of its characters. I am reading heroes of Olympus (highly recommended by the way 😃)

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  • Mina H.
  • 12-07-2023

Yes yes

I’ve reread the books several times and I love it, a good twist to Greek/Roman mythology if you read the entire series

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 16-06-2023

Love this universe!

I love this universe, and it’s written in a way that just pulls you into it. Also the readers take on the different characters is spot on in my opinion. Just lovely!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 19-04-2023

Enjoyed it a lot

This book in general is really well written in my opinion, and I found the narration to be good. However the narrator did struggle with some characters.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 22-12-2022

Way better than the movie.

Loved it! We listened to it on our 8 hour road trip. Afterwards we watched the movie. The movie sucked in comparison.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 25-11-2022

Good story but narrator struggles with characters

The narrator sounds bad when it comes to adult characters and emotional dialogues. It sounds like a kid impersonating his parents' voice on a telephone call to tell his teacher he is sick. Emotional lines also lose some of its effects due to a monotone delivery.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Louis Fitzgerald
  • 14-08-2022

why not just one?!?!?!

I love the whole Percy Jackson series, especially this one, but why are there three of the same english audiobooks voiced by the same guy in the same way??? Like, has no one else noticed this?!?!?! AUDIBLE PLEASE FIX THIS OR ATLEST REFUND ME!!!!

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  • Jeremy Fisher
  • 05-03-2018

The book is a reasonably good read... but the narration is absolutely abysmal

Although I would give the books story a 3/5 the absolutely terrible narration from Jesse Bernstein means this audiobook is an absolute recommended to miss this one, if you have the time pick up the book and read it for yourself and you may have an enjoyable time.
However, I can only recommend you listen to this audiobook if you enjoy listening to Jesse Bernstein’s thin range of voices, mispronounce basic English words like “music” and “elevator” (which sounded something like ‘elvatoire’). And that’s basic English not even taking into account the Small Amount of Greek found in this book.
I understand that some of these words are hard to pronounce, but this is a professional audio production and I can’t let the mispronunciation of basic English go.
Sorry Rick Riordan but whoever hired this man, has messed up your whole audiobook collection.

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30 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 23-06-2018

poorly read

i could barely listen to this audio book and i admit i did not finish listening, the guy reading it just does not sound right.

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23 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • R B.
  • 19-10-2014

Hooked!

Would you listen to The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson, Book 1 again? Why?

Bought this to pass the time for my 10 year old daughter on some long journeys on holiday. Picked it mainly on the grounds that it was one of the longest books on offer, but we were all soon hooked - really enjoyed the story and the performance. Will have to listen to it again, as daughter kept sneaking into the car to listen to it by herself!

What other book might you compare The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson, Book 1 to, and why?

We have enjoyed the traditional Greek and Roman myths, Harry Potter and the Philip Pullman books. All have the same way of creating a whole world you can become absorbed in.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The whole bok was great - hard to single out a particular element.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Percy Jackson - half boy, half god, All hero! (has that already been done?!)

Any additional comments?

Loved this book, now read the paper version, and are moving on through the whole series.
Thoroughly recommended.

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21 people found this helpful

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  • Debbie
  • 25-06-2015

Loved it

Really loved the book, great characters and storyline and loved the narrator's portrayal.
Re listen regularly.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Emma
  • 02-04-2011

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

A brilliant story which will appeal to teenagers, young Percy Jackson is struggling at school with his dyslexic and ADHD if thats not enough his math teacher turns into a monster and trys to kill him!
This book is much better than the film. After listening to this I was pretty sure my dyslexic was because I was also a demi god!
A wonderful story which will inspire young minds!

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16 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Book Queen
  • 01-10-2017

Bad reading of an amazing novel

I absolutely LOVE the Percy Jackson series, and Rick Riordan’s novels generally, but sadly the narration on this audio book sounds like it’s being delivered by Percy’s extremely confused, and slightly slow, great-great grandfather which utterly ruins the experience.

Any novel that relies on first person needs a convincing narrator and this audiobook’s narrator is so awful that he’s almost as bad as the atrocious film versions of the series.

My advice would be to buy the original (and utterly amazing ) book series and read it for yourself.

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13 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Lynn Worton
  • 13-03-2014

A Fantastic YA Series!

This is the first book in the Percy Jackson series. I loved it!

Percy Jackson is a fantastic character. He is a normal young boy with a learning disability. Or is he? He finds out that he is really a demi-god and the son of Poseidon, but his life is about to get even more complicated when he is accused of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt. I really liked this young man. He is not necessarily the strongest person, but when faced with a God's wrath, he certainly is the bravest!

I have watched the movie, but had not read the book, so I decided to get a copy to read. I downloaded a copy in audio format so that I could listen to it whilst doing chores.

I started listening to it and was quickly pulled into the story. I began to really enjoy the tale, but it was a little strange to note all the differences between the movie and the actual book. I understand that making a movie out of a book is not necessarily the easiest thing to do - logistics and time etc., but there were whole scenes that were chopped out in the movie, and others written in that were not in the book. The narrator of the story, Jesse Bernstein, did a wonderful job reading the story and bringing the characters to life. I couldn't help but envision the characters as portrayed by the actors in the movie; it made it easier to imagine.
However, I may be the only one to say this, but I think I preferred the movie to the book. This is not my usual finding after watching a movie, and then reading the book the movie is based on. The book is a lot darker than the movie, and I liked the feeling the movie had. Nevertheless, the story was really engaging and I found myself listening intently. I am looking forward to continuing the series.

Rick Riordan has written a wonderful and exciting novel (and series) for children that brings the old Gods to life. The mythology has been well researched and presented in such a way as to be educational, but have a modern take that will appeal to today's young readers. His writing style is fast paced, but not rushed, and is easy for young readers to follow.

I highly recommend this book to young readers aged 12 to 16 and to adults who love reading Young Adult novels. - Lynn Worton

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Nathan
  • 10-10-2016

Good story, weak performance

The book itself is quite fun, though aimed at a younger audience, obviously. The reading is awful though - I noticed way too many incorrectly pronounced words throughout it.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Gull
  • 13-07-2016

Demigod Mayhem

This is a fast-paced, action-packed story that starts off well, but the excitement dwindles a little as it progresses. While the target audience seem to be children (and perhaps young adults), I was surprised by how nonchalant the characters were about battling intimidating and mythical creatures.

There are some issues with the performance, namely the far too frequent mispronunciations and his attempts at accents (Luke).

Despite the drawbacks, the series has potential and I will read (or listen to) the next book.

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8 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • George A Bear
  • 14-06-2015

Enjoyable

Percy Jackson and his friends get into all types of trouble as they go on an heroic quest. Greek Gods and mythical creatures in abundance.

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