• The Lightning Thief

  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1
  • By: Rick Riordan
  • Narrated by: Jesse Bernstein
  • Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (31,751 ratings)

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The Lightning Thief  By  cover art

The Lightning Thief

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

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he's not even sure he believes himself.

Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp.

Suddenly, mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. The gods of Mount Olympus, he's coming to realize, are very much alive in the 21st-century. And worse, he's angered a few of them: Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy has just 10 days to find and return Zeus's stolen property, and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. On a daring road trip from their summer camp in New York to the gates of the Underworld in Los Angeles, Percy and his friends, one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena, will face a host of enemies determined to stop them. To succeed in his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of failure and betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Don't miss the other titles in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
©2005 Rick Riordan (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

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What listeners say about The Lightning Thief

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

Love it, and the audio is great but oddly hilarious

In scene with hades (sorry if incorrect spelling) hades was given a Squidward voice, which lightened the mood insanely. Aside from that the story is amazing, I heard a few spoilers, but it’s entirely different than In thought. It’s so good, it’s all I hoped it was. The scene with hades was way to funny for what it was.

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

Good story! meh narrator

I love Percy Jackson. That's the only reason I was able to finish listening. I'll admit I'm a bit picky, so I tried to look past all that for the sake of the story...BUT, this guy needed a director. I don't know if someone listened to his reading before uploading it, but there were several parts that his tone and inflictions DID NOT MATCH the words! (i.e. it literally says "voice turned shrill" and the narrator kept it level, made it even deeper if anything!) It feels like the author's vision wasn't quite met, and that bugged me the whole way through. His voice is fine and he tries to do different voices, though how fitting they are? eh...

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

😊,and🚤🚶🚲⛽🚶🚶⛽⛽⛽🚶🚶

Great book,one of the best for middle schoolers.could not have done better. Big Cliff hanger.

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

Loved It!

Started reading so I can catch up before the show releases. Couldn’t stop reading, the fastest I ever gotten through a book.

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

Still a great story!

I read this book in school and now my son is reading it so I decided to buy it and listen while working. Great story and the narrator did a great job as well

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

Good book but need better narrator

It is a really good story but it’s needs a better narrator
But I still like this book

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Great read!

My 8 year old loved it! He would constantly ask for it while in the car. My only negative would be the lack of differences in the authors voices.

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

Great story. Not a great narrator.

The narrator needs to not try accents. They aren't good at all. I'm not sure what accent Charon was supposed to have, but he sounded like a really bad cowboy impression. And his pronunciations of some things were just wrong. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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

Stands The Test of time

A great, fun middle grade read even over ten years after the first time I read it. The narration was so good actually sounded like kids. Such a fun way to experience the book in a new way.

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

The narrator truly effected the story

The narrator’s lack of range and character voices took me out of the story at times. Multiple mispronunciations and just lack of passion for the story had my attention waning at times.

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