The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (4/5)

The second installment in the Percy Jackson series starts when Percy Jackson enters summer vacation. He has just finished his last day of the seventh grade and plans on returning to camp Half-Blood, created for demigods such as Percy. However, he is unable to go back because his mother tells him she does not want him to go back. Percy and Annabeth had been having weird dreams about Camp Half-Blood and later realize that the magical borders of it had stopped working. Throughout the book, they venture off in order to seek the Golden Fleece, which can reverse the effects of the poison on Thalia’s tree (the tree that protects Camp Half-Blood from outside dangers). They gain aid from several gods along the way to fight off monsters they encounter, most notably Poseidon (hence the title Sea of Monsters). In the sea, they fight off a myriad of challenges, whether it be strenuous to the mind or the body. Percy and his friends race against the clock to save the tree before it dies. While some characters disappear from the main line of the story, others are introduced to it. My reaction to the book is that it was not quite as good as the first novel, but still deserving of a rating above 3. While there could be an argument made for 5, I believe there will be better books in the series that introduce more gods. I enjoy Percy’s character evolution throughout the book. There is a slight cliffhanger ending, keeping the reader engaged for the future books. I would highly recommend reading the first book before this one in order to gain context for it. I also would like to see more of Hermes throughout the series. While he seems like a side character at this point in the story, Percy and his friends could potentially use his swiftness in the future to conquer other sorts of challenges that lie ahead. Although there is a separate series created by Rick Riordan called The House of Hades, I also wouldn’t mind seeing him near the end of the series, tying it into the House of Hades books. Percy could utilize Athena’s wisdom and her expertise in warcraft, similar to Ares in the first book.