TITLE: The Sea of Monsters
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
SERIES: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2
RELEASED: April 1st, 2006; Disney-Hyperion
GENRE: Fantasy
AGE RANGE: MG
SYNOPSIS: 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.{GOODREADS . AMAZON . BOOKDEPOSITORY}
book 1
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I somehow missed the Rick Riordan train entirely as a kid. I never read any of his books, never saw the Percy film(s), nothing – my first introduction to the world was last summer, when I picked up The Lightning Thief, and I thought it was cute enough, but I wasn’t super impressed, beyond totally loving the representation for dyslexia (which I’ve never seen in any other book) and ADHD (which I have, and never see rep for). This book, however, hooked me for good, and now I want to read every single piece of work that Riordan ever has released (or ever will).
I think it’s her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.
My favorite thing about the first book was Rick’s sense of humor and the ways it comes across through Percy’s narrative, and that was only further enhanced in this book. While the first one was cute, the second one actually made me laugh a few times – there’s so much more snark and sass, and it definitely feels like a slightly “older” sense of humor, despite Percy only being one year older. Percy’s outlook on the world is comical, a little cynical, and a bit self-deprecating, but never to the point of being a downer.
“You can’t give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it. It doesn’t matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don’t appreciate your genius for inventing the internet –”
I also thought the adult side characters were a lot more amusing and interesting in this installment, especially Hermes, who we get to spend a little bit of time with and who I really hope we see more of in the future. I loved his little snake sidekicks, and the fact that he talked to Percy like an equal, instead of being condescending or secretive like a lot of the adults in the first book were.
We only came close to dying six or seven times, which I thought was pretty good.
Of course, as always, there’s a lot of adventure, but I personally didn’t think the action sequences in this book were as harrowing as the first book’s, which was my only complaint – then again, this book was also a bit shorter (it’s the shortest in the series, at less than 300 pages), so there wasn’t as much room to fit in the extra monsters and fights. I still enjoyed the action scenes we did get, and we got to experience more of Percy’s natural ingenuity, as well as the cute “coincidences” in which his gifts from the gods assist him at just the right moments.
“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related for better or for worse… and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”
If I had to pick just one favorite aspect of this book, though, I think it would be Tyson, and the family/sibling rep shown there. Tyson is a Cyclops, and as we learn very early on, related to Percy, and we see a lot of this struggle that Percy goes through between determining whether he should worry more about his own reputation, or bonding with his newfound sibling. Tyson is such a precious and sweet character, though, with a lot of his own skills and capabilities to bring to the table, and I loved watching Percy grow close to him and learn to love him despite the reputation that Cyclopes have.
All in all, this book was a total delight to read, and I can’t wait to continue the series!
confessionsofayareader
February 10, 2018Have you read Kat & Meg Conquer the World yet? Meg has ADHD (and Kat has bad anxiety). Great review!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 12, 2018No, I have not – thank you for the recommendation, though!
confessionsofayareader
February 12, 2018You’re welcome. I thought it was a fun read and really enjoyed it. Especially since I have anxiety and panic attacks, too. I hope you like it.
Kelly | Another Book in the Wall
February 10, 2018Awesome review! I loved Percy and Tyson’s relationship too. ?
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 12, 2018Thank you! Oh my gosh, aren’t they so precious? I want more!
thehitchhikersguidetothelibrary
February 10, 2018I also missed the Percy Jackson train! Glad to know I’m not the only one. I have been going back and forth on whether i should go back and read them or to let it go. This makes me think its not to late to start them!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 12, 2018It’s always nice to hear I’m not alone in having missed that one! I definitely don’t think it’s too late, though. I’m enjoying them so much so I highly recommend giving the series a shot!
Plot Monster
February 10, 2018Wow! I will be reading this series soon. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 12, 2018Ooh, yay! Thank you. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
Elise @ Roaming Reader
February 10, 2018I’m glad your enjoying this series! It will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first series I remember binge reading so i love seeing new people falling in love with these characters and plots!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 12, 2018Awwww, I love that! I love hearing that people have special memories and connections to series. <3 This is such a wonderful series so far and I can't wait to see where it goes next. I'm halfway through book 3 right now and it's just so much fun.
Elise @ Roaming Reader
February 13, 2018Ah book three is when the series takes off into being really amazing! I usually call book 3 my favorite of the series (probably bc I immediately reread it after finishing the entire series… gosh I just didn’t want to walk away from Percy!) but both books 4-5 are great too!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 14, 2018I finished book 3 yesterday morning and really enjoyed it! I actually didn’t end up loving it quite as much as book 2, but I still gave it an easy 4 stars! I’m gonna try to get a review written for it today and start book 4 ASAP! 🙂
Elise @ Roaming Reader
February 14, 2018Can’t wait to read your review! Hope you enjoy book 4!
Aislynn d'Merricksson
February 11, 2018Great review! I need to reread this series. I prefer the Kane Chronicles and the Magnus Chase books more, but it’s a preference for mythology other than Greco-Roman myth.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 12, 2018What types of mythology are in those? I honestly know almost nothing about the other series, I just know that I want to read them all, haha!
Aislynn d'Merricksson
February 13, 2018Kane is Egyptian and Magnus is Norse. I’d love it if Riordan delved into Celtic myth!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 14, 2018Oooooh, too cool! I’m super excited, haha. I think I MIGHT be receiving the Heroes of Olympus series for Valentine’s Day… and if my guess is right, that means I’ll just still need to collect the Kane series and the current Apollo titles! And then I think I’ll have all of them! 😀
Ellyn
February 11, 2018I’m so glad you enjoyed this one, so many people don’t!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 12, 2018Dude, I feel like, when I started it, SOOOO many people DMed me or commented on my GR posts and were like, “I know this one sucks, but don’t DNF the series because book 3 is amazing!” and I’m over here like, “Wait… what? Where did book 2 suck?” LMAO
Ellyn
February 12, 2018RIGHT??? It’s one of my favourites tbh.
littlecuppatea
February 20, 2018In case you didn’t know, the movies totally SUCK. They are absolutely NOTHING like the books. Does it tell you how Percy and Tyson really met? nooooo. Also, they ruined it by letting Percy know the Great Prophecy in book #2, like WTF?
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 21, 2018Haha, thank you for the heads-up! I have heard that they’re really awful and I saw an article once talking about how Rick himself has basically disowned them, so I am staying FAR away!