Title: The Sea of Monsters
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Camp Half-Blood Chronicles
Publish Date: June 3, 2014 (originally published April 1, 2006)
Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books
Format: Paperback
Goodreads Summary:
The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read installment of Rick Riordan’s amazing young readers series. Starring Percy Jackson, a “half blood” whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan’s series combines cliffhanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each installment.
In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book’s drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.
Review: Percy just can’t catch a break, I swear.
In this edition of “why my summer vacation is more amazing compared to yours,” Percy learns that he’s related to cyclops’s, has a half-brother named Tyson, plays some part in a major prophecy that no one will tell him about, and he really needs to just go on a vacation. I hear the Bermuda Triangle is lovely this time of year.
The thing that makes this book fun is that it’s clear that Percy has learned from the events of the previous summer, but he’s still just barely a teenager. He still makes mistakes and he still has to deal with the consequences, but he’s also more aware of those mistakes. He’s also willing to work with people that he really really doesn’t want to, in this case Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares. They come to a begrudging respect by the end of the novel, but they are in no way friends (which is fine).
Annabeth joins Percy on his God given quest (thanks Hermes), and learns more about herself than she could have ever believed. She has the opportunity to hear the Siren’s Song, and make peace with a part of her past that caused a minor wedge between Percy and Tyson before his almost-death early in the novel.
One aspect of this novel that I enjoyed was that choices and decisions mattered. The simple act of poisoning Thalia’s tree almost destroys the entire camp. This causes Chiron to be fired (because Dionysus is still a jerk), and in his place comes Tantalus from the underworld. Percy goes after the Golden Fleece, which is successful, but using it to heal Thalia’s tree ends up freeing her from it, which means there are now two Half-Bloods that are related to the “Big Three”. It’s a dangerous prospect.
I was sad to see that both Luke and Grover were pretty underutilized in this. Luke is now a henchman for Kronos working to revive the Titan. He’s pretty much all talk, though there is one fight scene with Percy that shows he still has his skills. Grover, on the other hand, is completely reduced to being just a plot device, there to be saved. It sucks for him, but there’s nothing for him in this novel.
All in all, a satisfying continuation of the series, one that I haven’t read in almost fifteen years.
Rating: 55/5
Goodreads Goal 4/52
[Edit Update: This novel was originally read on March 18, 2022.]
