Review: The Sea of Monsters

Title: The Sea of Monsters
Author: Rick Riordan
Pages: 279
Rating: 4/5

After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson is finding his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson, a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any normal friends. But things don't stay quiet for long.

Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders that protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia. Only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name: The Bermuda Triangle.

Together with his friends, Percy must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family, one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or simply a cruel joke (goodreads.com).

I'm really enjoying this series by Rick Riordan, and I am so glad that I started them when I did. As each book ends, I have a mix of emotions - excited for the adventure had, and sadness that I'm one book closer to the end.

The Sea of Monsters starts off with a bang, and the adventure never really stops. Camp Half Blood has been poisoned, and it is again up to Percy to save his friends and the other demigods. However, during this adventure, Grover is in severe danger and Percy takes the chance of losing his best friend. Also, we find out that Percy has a half brother, a cyclops named Tyson, who is a pretty handy guy to have around. I really liked his character and hope to see him back in the remaining books in the series.

I didn't rate The Sea of Monsters quite as high as I did The Lightning Thief because I felt that the end of this book drug a bit. It seemed to me to take forever until we got to that jaw dropping, OMG you have to be kidding moment I was waiting for. However, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the first one. I still enjoyed hanging out with Percy and his friends and tagging along on their adventures. I think this sluggishness found at the end of the book might just be the curse of the second book. I've read quite a few series, where I've felt the second book lacked the little extra bit of oomph that the first book had.

All in all, I'm quite please with this series and look forward to reading the next book. I'm curious to see where Riordan takes the new twist he provided on the last few pages of Sea of Monsters. I have a feeling its going to create quite a story!!