Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

Title: The Sea of Monsters
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Children's, Fantasy, Mythos
Source: Library Paperback
Rating: 3 out of 5 paws


Percy Jackson and friends are back in a new tale of adventure and danger.  When Percy begins having dreams about Grover being in danger, he knew he needed to do something.  But at the same time Camp Half Blood has been attacked and Talhia's tree that is protecting the camp was poisoned.  No one knows who did it, but Percy and Annabeth have an idea of how to save it.  Add in a Cyclops half brother and a stubborn female and you have yourself a epic tale with thrills and drama.

So this one fell a little short for me.  I read the first book and enjoyed it more than I did this one.  There didn't seem to be as much mythos or danger or something.  It was missing something and I cannot put my finger on what that something is.  As someone who loves mythology, I think this book didn't have as much in as the last one did.  Sure there were short mentions of the Golden Fleece and Cyclopes but I think the last book delved more into the myth stories to make something new.  While this is something different, I don't think it played off the myths as much.  There was a little bit more humor in the first one as well and the absence of Grover was really prevalent.


We seem some familiar characters like Clarisse and Luke both still have the same personalities, though Clarisse seems to have grown up just a little bit and is learning how to play nice with others.  We don't see Charion, or any of the gods as we did in the first one so I was a little disappointed in that as well.  I loved Tyson, though I wasn't a little more from him and hope we see more from him in the next novel.  He was such a sweet character and so precious I wonder how he would change as the story progresses will he remain sweet?  I guess we will see.


I like that they sail to the sea this time, but it's the Bermuda Triangle.  I am not sure how I feel about ancient Greek gods centering around America, I get the books say the Pantheon follows civilization, but it seems wrong to me probably because there would be other Pantheons already in place.  While there were a few things that didn't sit so well with me this was a decent book.  It is good for the age range, but I think someone older, such as myself it's a little...simplistic, on the surface type of thing.  I want something with more depth and compels me to keep reading.  Not that this book/series doesn't have that, just in a different way that appeals better to a younger audience.  I would recommend it to young readers and some adult readers as well for a break from the norm.