Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Sea Of Monsters Book Review

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters Book Review

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

 RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2006

 SERIES: Percy Jackson & the Olympians (Book 2)

 PAGES: Approx. 279 pages

 RATING: 10/10 STARS

 If I wasn’t already beginning to fall in love with the world of Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan has sealed the deal in this epic follow-up to The Lightning Thief. I picked up this book and was immediately sitting at the edge of my seat, watching as disaster forces Percy away from his ordinary school back to the safety of Camp Half-blood.

 Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, has never had an easy life. At his new school, being friends with the “school freak” makes him a target for constant ridicule, and when monsters come-a-knocking, who else is to blame for the damage they leave behind? Returning to Camp Half-blood should’ve been a relief – except things have grown more dangerous than before.

 Thalia’s pine tree, which has acted as a protective barrier for the camp, has been poisoned, leaving Camp Half-blood vulnerable to attacks. Chiron is fired for the deed, and the new Activities Director is making life at Camp Half-blood miserable for everyone, Percy especially. Were that not enough, upon his return, Percy uncovers a family connection that literally makes being the Son of the Sea God a total joke.

 Between the attacks on the camp and struggling to accept his newfound relative, Percy receives troubling dreams from his satyr friend, Grover, who while on his journey to find Pan, discovers the fatal secret behind the disappearances of his satyr brethren. Percy, alongside his friend Annabeth (daughter of Athena) and his new family member, set out away from Camp Half-blood and journey into the Sea of Monsters to rescue Grover from the danger of marriage, and to retrieve the one item that could save Thalia’s tree: the legendary Golden Fleece.

 Quite a few times while I was reading, I was trying to figure out what would happen next but as always, most of my predictions were proven wrong. Rick Riordan has brought these characters to life and again astounds readers with his ability to intertwine mythological histories with his own original characters and plotline.

 And I’ll say it now: this book’s twist ending was just about the greatest thing that could ever happen!

 No one who reads this book for the first time will be disappointed. Instead, they’ll do as I did when I finished that epic last sentence of The Sea of Monsters, and immediately start on the third in Percy Jackson’s adventures.

PS - Originally posted on my personal blog on January 13, 2016 @ https://thefandomsqueenblogs.blogspot.com/

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n01j6UKlgxk)

This is my first ever Youtube video.

I know that it has its flaws and mistakes, and I rambled during some segments, but I’m still proud of it and myself. And it was so much fun making this video!

I realize that this is only going to be the beginning, but I can’t wait to see where this new journey of mine will lead to. Is it naive to be too optimistic?

The perfect gifts!

It's amazing how much seeing these pics makes me want to know what the movie is about.

Redditor Is Turning Random People’s Photos Into Movie Posters.

Your_Post_As_A_Movie

Sherlock Pilot vs Study in Pink

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian Book Review

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian Book Review

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

RELEASED DATE: May 5, 2009

SERIES: Percy Jackson & the Olympians (Book 5)

PAGES: Approx. 381

RATING: 10/10 STARS

 “The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car.”

 And with that, I began The Last Olympian.

 For the past year, Percy Jackson and his friends have been preparing for battle and have successfully thwarted Kronos and his army from invading New York City. The odds, however, are still grim. With each monster, demigod and minor god that joins him, the Titan’s power only grows.

 Kronos will stop at nothing from destroying Mount Olympus and dethroning his children. With his father Poseidon preoccupied in battle with Titan Oceanus in the realm of the sea, Hades lurking in the Underworld refusing to help, and the remaining Olympian gods battling the Titan monster Typhon in the west, it’s up to Percy, Annabeth, Grover and the remaining demigod children to defend Mount Olympus and Manhattan from Kronos and his invading army. As if things weren’t grim enough, Percy’s 16th birthday approaches. The Great Prophecy is finally revealed. A single choice made by a child of the Big Three Gods (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) will determine Mount Olympus’s fate: to save it, or destroy it.

 Between protecting his friends, his family and his city from destruction, Percy has a lot on his plate. Out of options, and ever fearful of the spy in Camp Half-blood, Percy and Nico (son of Hades) journey into the Underworld to enact a plan, a most dangerous one, that could be the only way to save them all.

 The Last Olympian is a phenomenal success, with the mystery of the long-awaited prophecy concerning Percy’s 16th birthday finally revealed in full detail. As the last book in the series, it had a lot of expectations to fulfill, with many plot holes and problems that needed resolution and explaining. Rick Riordan delivered with his usual gusto. There were points here and there where the plot seemed to drag and I wasn’t as enthused to continue, but overall it was a great read. Not a fast read, because The Last Olympian is bit longer compared to the previous novels, but I enjoyed it immensely.

 With The Last Olympian, many questions I’ve had while reading had finally been answered. What was up with the Oracle mummy? What role does Rachel Elizabeth Dare play in Percy’s world? Who is the spy that’s keeping Luke/Kronos informed? How did Nico and his sister end up in the hotel? What happened to their mother? What happened to Luke’s mother? How will Percy survive a prophecy foretelling his death? What is the choice he has to make that would determine Mount Olympus’s fate? And who is the Last Olympian?

 One of Rick Riordan’s most amazing qualities as a writer is that he was able to answer all of these questions and have it all tied in to the main storyline. Every revelation added something to the plot, and although it gave growth to regular characters like Percy and Nico, it also gave insight into characters like Luke and Hades that no one would’ve guessed.

 I’ve hated Luke since the end of The Lightning Thief, and each time his character appeared in subsequent books, that hatred deepened. But revelations made in The Last Olympian have turned my anger into sympathy, as information about his past and his relationships with his mortal mother and godly father are revealed via flashbacks and dreams. I can’t say that I wholly forgive Luke for his decisions, or that I even understand them – I mean, he isn’t the only demigod child that has great bitterness for his godly parent about their absence in life. On the other hand, when you’re raised by a mother like his, it’s not a surprise that he ran away so young, or that he’s angry that his father never gave his assistance. In the end, Luke had one redeeming quality, and that was his loyalty to his friends. As much as I still believe he should be held accountable for the bad decisions he’s done, he proved in the end that the only thing he ever wanted is the one thing that could’ve prevented the war in the first place: the knowledge that their parents – especially his – cared for their children.

 Nico’s storyline also came to a close with the revelations about his mother and how he and his sister Bianca ended up in the Lotus Hotel in the first place. It was one of the most shocking revelations I’ve read, and it gave a great deal of insight into Hades’ character and his past. The fact that Hades was the only Big Three God that hadn’t broken his oath of celibacy after the Great Prophecy was made had always struck me as ironic, but it hadn’t occurred to me until afterwards that Bianca, back in The Titan’s Curse, revealed that she and Nico had been stuck in the Lotus Hotel for over seventy years – and if that were true, she and Nico would’ve been alive just as the Great Prophecy was made. (Dun dun dun!) The only thing that made that part of the story even more exciting was the revelation that the Oracle who made the Great Prophecy was still technically alive during that time. When I found out what happened to her, well… (Cue sympathy music.)

 So many things have happened in The Last Olympian, and so many characters die. (Sob) From start to beginning, readers are introduced to new mythological beings and creatures – like the Titans Prometheus and Hyperion who, just as Riordan had done with the Greek gods, were given modernized personalities but retaining the essence of who they are remembered as in Greek stories – and reunited with old familiar ones, such as the Minotaur. Rick Riordan also made sure that every character – like Luke, Ethan Nakamura and Silena Beauregard – are given a say, so readers have a peek into their psyche and we begin to understand them and their motivations better.

 Ultimately, The Last Olympian was about family, or more specifically, parent-child relationships. This is a large theme that appears in each of the Percy Jackson novels. Kronos had been able to sway many of the demigods to his side and that was because half of the demigods were bitter toward their godly parent, and the other half were the demigod children of lesser unacknowledged gods. Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis, claimed allegiance to Kronos because he was promised that the minor gods would be recognized and given respect when Olympus fell. Many of lesser gods – Morpheus and Hecate, for example – aligned with Kronos because Kronos promised them the respect and prestige they were denied.

 Percy recognizes this and he understands it as well. One of my favorite parts to read throughout the series involved Percy and his continuous understanding of the gods and their children. He recognizes that the Olympian gods are nowhere near as perfect as they appear; recognizes that many of them are actually selfish and careless in regards to their children, and that they can and have done awful things, whether out of anger or paranoia. He doesn’t excuse any of it and doesn’t accept any of it; we see him get frustrated and horrified; we see him question himself and everything he’s told; we even see him get bitter and resentful toward the gods. But he never wavers from the loyalty he has for his loved ones. The interesting thing about Percy understanding all this is that his empathy for children like Luke and Ethan Nakamura leads him to make a decision to further prevent war and, hopefully, create a better future for the demigod children not yet claimed.

 Readers and fans of Rick Riordan will not be disappointed with The Last Olympian. Set against the Manhattan skyline, The Last Olympian is truly an epic end to a fantastical world and series, featuring battles, romance, treachery, and shocking twists that will leave readers wanting to know more and read more. The latter most especially, as in the end of this long book, Rick Riordan guessed – correctly – that five books just wasn’t going to be enough for us readers. The Last Olympian has one last surprise, and that surprise leads to a whole new set of adventures: the Heroes of Olympus series.

 And that, ladies and gentlemen and fandom lovers alike, is where my next journey lies!

PS - Originally posted on my personal blog on March 6, 2016 @ https://thefandomsqueenblogs.blogspot.com/