Percy Jackson & The Sea of Monsters Book Review

Plot: When Thalia’s tree is mysteriously poisoned, the magical borders of Camp Half-Blood begin to fail. Now Percy and his friends have just days to find the only magic item powerful enough to save the camp before monsters overrun it. The catch: they must sail into the Sea of Monsters to find it. Along the way, Percy must stage a daring rescue operation to save his old friend Grover, and he learns a terrible secret about his own family, which makes him question whether being the son of Poseidon is an honour or a curse.

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Thoughts

Percy is back, and this time he's heading to the Sea of Monsters, or the Bermuda Triangle, as it is known to the mortal world. Coming off the back of an excellent debut novel in the Percy Jackson series, The Sea of Monsters had some big shoes to fill; it needed to expand the well-crafted world, continue to feed its overarching plot, whilst delivering a brand new adventure worth sucking new readers in. Whilst it doesn't hit the same heights as The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters is still a worthwhile adventure that's kept me invested in Percy's ongoing struggle in this new, more emotional tale.

This second novel wastes no time thrusting Percy and friends into a new adventure with an endangered Grover reaching out for help and Camp Half-Blood losing its activities director, Chiron, after Thalia's tree is poisoned, allowing monsters to break through and attack the camp. All of this is set up incredibly early on and gets the action moving almost instantly.

Just as before, Riordan's writing style is excellent; the way he captures Percy's personality and inner thoughts pulls me into his quest just as before, granting me a greater understanding of his feelings and conflicts. Riordan manages to elevate the threat whilst also keeping the same tone and humour there, but this time around, the action is amped up with some bigger battles and beasts to contend with.

One of the best parts about the book is the newcomer, Tyson, a classmate at Percy's new school who just so happens to be a cyclops. After things quickly go awry at his school, Tyson joins Annabeth and Percy on their new adventure. The fresh dynamic of the group works really well, and seeing how people treat Tyson's kind, whilst also seeing his relationship evolve with Percy in particular, leads to some of the novel's best moments.

The main quest is an enjoyable tale, with many monstrous altercations coming at the hands of the sea of monsters, each challenging the group in different ways, while Polyphemus, the towering cyclops and main antagonist of the novel, acts as a solid big bad for the story, but his moments alongside Grover's story never seemed to hit home as much as I wanted.

Still, Riordan continues to build the bigger narrative incredibly well, keeping me hooked for what's to come, as Kronos and Luke weave their way into the main quest, whilst throwing up a few big questions for the following books.

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Sea of Monsters is a good time. I was content reading a chapter or two at a time, rarely being pulled in to keep reading until the very end. Riordan's writing is still as excellent as before, delivering some more emotional moments whilst recapping the mythical modern world without getting bogged down in exposition. It's a good adventure, but it just wasn't as gripping as the first. Ultimately, it felt more like a stepping stone in a longer journey, instead of an exciting adventure in its own right.

3.5/5