“My dear young cousin, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the eons, it’s that you can’t give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it.”
─ Rick Riordan
“We figured whatever happened, we would not be staying another night aboard the zombie cruise ship, even if they did have million-dollar bingo.”
─ Rick Riordan
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Book Information
Title: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion, New York
ISBN 978-142310334-9
Genre: YA Fiction, Fantasy
Ages: 9-12
279 pages
Book Summary:
Percy Jackson has always had trouble in school, somehow his seventh-grade year has been surprisingly uneventful. Not a single incident or monster to speak of at the most recent school. One more day left of the school year, and he can return to Camp Half-Blood. One more day can’t be that difficult to get through. It proves challenging as monsters take over a game of dodgeball, turning it into a deathmatch for Percy and his classmates.
Annabeth arrives just in time to rescue Percy and his classmate Tyson, only to deliver more bad news, Camp Half-Blood is in trouble and may be destroyed. Percy and his friends look for ways to save Camp Half-Blood. The answer is revealed in mysterious dreams about his friend the satyr, Grover who is on a quest to find the long lost Pan. Percy and his friends travel to the Sea of Monsters, to save Grover and retrieve the item needed to protect Camp Half-Blood. Along the way Percy learns a stunning secret about his family, more about his powers, and more questions about what it means to be Poseidon’s son.
Book Rating 4/5
Riordan continues the twist on Greek mythology in the sequel to Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Giving more small details about the Greek gods. A large portion of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters focuses on Percy’s father Poseidon, his powers and personality, more importantly, what it means to be Poseidon’s son.
I liked the way that Riordan depicts Percy questioning his relationship with his father, and the underlying resentment he feels. The similarities between his feelings and how Luke feels about his father add another dimension to Percy’s struggle with Luke. This also leads to what I disliked about the book the most. It really didn’t elaborate on why Luke resented his father so much, for the same neglect that all the half-bloods experience.
Percy Jackson has only recently discovered who his father is, and is learning to accept what that means. He is still trying to cope with his feelings of Poseidon being an absentee father figure. Now that he has excepted that he is the only son of Poseidon, he is faced with a new family secret. The secret is making Percy question how much of an honor it is to be the son of Poseidon.
Percy still has friends and allies in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, while they help him in his fights and on the quest, the story seems to focus more on Percy’s internal emotional struggle with being a half-blood.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters has been made into a movie with the same title, released in 2013. I personally like the movie. I will note unsurprisingly that there were differences between the book and movie. Many of these changes speed up the momentum of the book by combining certain elements. Overall, it wasn’t an issue for me as I didn’t think it changed the feel of the story. If you are a person that gets upset if the movie doesn’t follow the book completely to the letter, you will notice.
The Sea of Monsters is book two in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series containing five books. The next book in the series is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse which I will be reviewing next.
For those interested in the author and discovering other books he has written you can visit the following sites for more information:
Riordan has written other series involving mythology, including the Greek, Norse, and Egyptian gods.
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Related Posts:
Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse
Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth