Friday, October 31, 2014

Review: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2)

My nine-year-old son and I have been working our way through the Percy Jackson series since the beginning of the summer.  We just finished reading The Sea of Monsters and found it to be just as entertaining as the first book in the series.  

This book starts out with Percy getting into an altercation at school.  Just when he thinks he will finally complete a full year without getting expelled...the monsters attack.  Percy and his friend Tyson flee to Camp Half Blood just in time to discover that Chiron has been relieved of his duties at the camp and Thalia's tree is dying.  This means the protective barrier around the camp is failing and it will no longer be a safe haven for the demigods.  The only way to save the camp is to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it to the camp, but time is running out.   

Once Tyson was allowed into Camp Half Blood it didn't take Percy long to discover his friend is actually his half brother and a son of Poseidon.  Tyson is a very friendly 8 year-old cyclops.  The two brothers and Annabeth set out on an unauthorized quest to save the camp and rescue Grover, who is being held captive in The Sea of Monsters by a nearly blind cyclops that wants to marry him.  It will take a son of Poseidon to find the island and Percy's connection with Grover to locate the satyr, but Clarisse is selected to complete the quest.  Rather than working together, the two groups set out on their own.  

This is a captivating story with a ton of action.  My son often loses interest in a story, but that has not been the case with Percy Jackson.  He even wanted to be Percy for Halloween this year, but unfortunately we couldn't find a costume his size.  Perhaps if we continues reading the series, and he decides earlier that he wants to be Percy, we will have time to make a costume for next year.  

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