Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters Book Review

Rawr Reader,

    This is the second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. The synopsis is provided by Goodreads:

 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.

Reference:

   The first book told me something about a second. ;)

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this book yet)

    Honestly, I should be reading Stephen King's Under the Dome, but it was so hard to stick with, I decided to take another break. And I'm so happy I did because I needed to continue on my journey with Percy and his friends. Because, amazingness! Purely amazing. These are intended for middle schoolers, and reading mainly young adult and adult fiction, I easily forget that this isn't meant for me. So putting expectations of anything aside and just reading to go on an adventure is what I feel I should've done in the first book so I could have enjoyed it a lot more. And it maybe is because I saw the movie first, but I needed to read this one before I saw the movie to avoid the same feelings. 

    Okay, I'm back in this world with half-bloods and Percy and his shenangins and now I have a good idea how this world is structured. I'm more or less used to the writing style and Percy's ubiquitous voice in my head and I just enjoyed the ride. From the beginning there's action and adventure and I love that it never slows from there. 

    Probably my favorite thing about this book was the relationship between Percy and Tyson. It was in this book I really saw their relationship bind them together to calling each other friends to family, whereas in the first book we're merely told that Grover is Percy's best friend and don't really feel much against Grover but comradeship. In this book, we struggle with Percy trying to accept Tyson alongside him and we experience both of Percy's conflicting feelings toward him as the story unfolds. Especially since Tyson doesn't act how he looks, it helped to show how Percy was compassionate, a trait he got from his mother who we know sacrificed so much for Percy.

    And just like the first book, this one is hilarious. I absolutely love Percy's wit and I only wish he were real because I'm sure we would hit it off well. Some have told me I'm funny and  a little sarcastic too, so I love to find characters that resemble me in that way. I'll put some quotes that I laughed aloud to in the appropriate section below. :)
    Something also I really enjoyed in this book as well as the prior is that I'm traveling across the country. I'm more or less familiar with some of the landmarks or of the locations mentioned, and while I don't live in any of them, I feel like I've been somewhere Percy has. And yes, that completely rocks! Going to the same place a fictional character, who wouldn't brag about that! ;)

    By the way, that ending! Oooo while the first book wasn't much of a cliffhanger, this one sure is. I'm just glad I bought the box set so I don't have to wait a year. I was genuinely surprised and I haven't read one in a long time. (Meaning I didn't even predict that could happen which I love to predict the endings of most books I read.)

    I love this series so much and I wish it came out when I was a youngin' so I could have been encapsulated by this purely fun and imaginative world. This is the kind of book I like to read now and I know I would've liked it when I was young. I would definitely recommend this series if you're a fan of Greek mythology, because who cares if it's for middle schoolers, the adventure is ageless. You can be 10 or 80, any one can enjoy Percy and his legendary quests. 

     

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Author's Quote:

"Would this be the super-dangerous prophesy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"
Nobody answered.
"Right," I muttered. "Just checking."

"What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework."
"I'm listening."

-Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters

My Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

Percy Jackson: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

    Okay, the ending, I didn't really know what it meant by the fleece worked too well. I really thought about what that meant instead of just reading on-- but when it said it was Thalia, I was like "oh my gosh!" I figured that girl would be important but I didn't register it with anyone and definitely not with her. (I read the first book a while ago and forgot what she looked like.)

    When Tyson "died," I was 99.9% sure he was going to come back. For one reason, this is a middle school book and I don't think author's of kids books are open to killing off characters, let alone characters that have the mental capacity of an eight year old. It's cruel and sad. I mean, how sweet Tyson was-- it would've sucked if he was the one to go. (While I'm not saying it's impossible, but in the first book he's introduced, that'd suck for him to leave so quickly.) So when he came back and explained how Rainbow the hippocampus saved him and had helped him find the Sea of Monsters, I was a little befoddled at myself for not predicting that earlier. I mean, the hippocampus's had to have come back sometime later, they're too unique and important to be introduced once and then never again. So-- my bad. 

   I'm a sucker for romances, so I'm starting to wonder when Percy and Annabeth are going to start liking each other. While I absolutely don't mind that the book doesn't concentrate on that, I think they'd be cute together. Starting off as "enemies" then becoming a couple is a cute story to tell the grandkids one day. ;D

   With the revelation of a prophesy that has something to do with Percy when he's sixteen (conveniently about the age he'll be in the last book of the series), and with having to do with a child of the Big Three (which he isn't alone due to this cliffhanging ending!), this book really opened the rest of the series for a massive case of epicness. I'm without a doubt starting the next book very soon! :)

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel