After I finished The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, I couldn't wait to move forward with the series to see where it went. I bought The Sea of Monsters
almost immediately after finishing the first book, but it's taken me a few months to get to it. At the beginning of this book Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood to discover that something has gone wrong. The tree guarding the camp is dying, which means the camp is ultra vulnerable. No one is sure why this is happening, but they do know that since it started weird things have been happening at camp and someone needs to do something about it. The solution is the Golden Fleece and Percy, being Percy, knows that he needs to find it.
One of the things I didn't like about The Lightning Thief was that it used some pop culture references that in my opinion are already dead (Hilary Duff? Seriously?). In The Sea of Monsters, Riordan seems to have gotten away from that, which I appreciated. On the other hand, The Lightning Thief started in on the action right away which I think is a perfect way to start a book like this. The second book in the series did start quickly, but it took me a little bit longer to get absorbed in the story. In fact, I'm not sure I ever really was absorbed in the story. There was no moment where I was on my toes wondering what was going to happen. I thought it was little predictable. When you create a character like Percy Jackson who can do superhuman things and has superhuman abilities you have to work extra hard to make us believe he has flaws, that he can fail. That just didn't happen in this book. If I don't think Percy Jackson has flaws, then how am I supposed to convince myself he might fail?
I did really enjoy the changes I saw in Annabeth this time around though. She seemed stronger than last time, more believable. I think Annabeth is actually my favorite character in the series, not Percy, who can be so bullheaded he doesn't even see how much Annabeth helps him. He appreciates her, but without Annabeth he wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things he pulls off. There were some nice moments in this book as well. I like how Percy's dad's absence is played out in this book and how he talks about him knowing that he does care about him. Even though his dad is a god that doesn't mean Percy isn't bothered by the fact he never sees him. There was also a nice message about being yourself and not caring what others think or say about you, which I think is a common thread in the Percy Jackson series especially since he is dyslexic and has ADD as well.
Overall I was a little disappointed with this one and I hope the next one in the series is better. I'm giving this one a C.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.