PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: SEA OF MONSTERS
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Miramax Books
Age Range: 11+
Summary:
The Underworld is good but the Sea of Monsters is an even better place if you want to battle monsters. And that's exactly where Percy goes in this book. The camp is in danger because the magical barriers are weakened since Thalia’s pine tree was poisoned by someone. Camp Half-Blood is now open to monster entry, and the only way to protect it is to get the Golden Fleece, that is in the Sea of Monsters — and that's not a place where you would go for a picnic.
Review:
Rick Riordan made a really strong debut with Percy Jackson : The Lightning Thief so, obviously, there were high expectations for the sequel. Well, the expectations were not let down, since Rick Riordan managed to release a solid sequel.
Being a demigod means your life can never be normal. And Percy just proves it. Like a middle dodgeball game getting interrupted by a monster who throws fireballs is definitely not normal. Percy manages to escape and goes to Camp-Half Blood only to find that monsters are attacking there as well. Not a great way to start summer but nevermind. After defeating those Colchis bulls (crazy wild demigod-blood-hungry bulls) Percy learns that Camp Half-Blood, the only safe place for demigods, is no longer safe and that Chiron, the mentor who had been training demigods for centuries was fired. In his place, Tantalus was hired (which I find crazy because in Greek Mythology, this guy *GROSS ALERT* cooked his son and fed him to the gods)
Anyway, despite that attack the game of capture the flag is held. Like “Hooray! We battled bulls and the camp is in danger. Let's play a game!” Clarisse won the game and she got a reward. I don't think that usually Capture the flag has any rewards (hot-water showers perhaps) but since new dude, Tantalus was the counselor, things changed. Clarisse’s reward was her own quest to find the Golden Fleece, the only thing that could protect the camp borders.
Percy doesn't get the quest but if it wasn't a Percy adventure then this book wouldn't have existed. So despite the camp rules that nobody is allowed to go outside, Percy, Annabeth and a new character, Tyson (who is actually Percy’s half-brother) sneak out to find Grover because Percy was having a feeling that he was in trouble. Their own “quest” happens to collide with Clarrise’s official quest and they both end up in the sea of monsters (Bermuda Triangle according to mortals) Good news, they find Grover and the Golden Fleece. Bad news, they encounter the cyclops, Polyphemus.
Will Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson and Clarisse manage to get the Golden Fleece? And if they do, will it work without causing any side effects?
"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone
You shall find what you seek and make it your own
But despair for your life entombed within stone
And fail without friends, to fly home alone"
~Avani Endait
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