#62 The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Warning, this review has spoilers for The Lightning Thief, the first book in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. 
As Percy Jackson's seventh grade school year comes to a end, he's looking forward to spending his summer at Camp Half-Blood, a safe haven for demigods. Only things don't go so smoothly for this son of Poseidon. Camp Half-Blood is under attack. It's protection, provided by an enchanted tree, is breaking down, and the scent of so many half-bloods is drawing in dangerous monsters. Percy knows he must find a way to cure the tree and save his friends, but doing so may result in him getting expelled from camp forever.
The Sea of Monsters is the second book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and it reads very similarly to the first book, The Lightning Thief. Riordan once again does a fantastic job of updating and Americanizing Greek mythology, and the results are truly laugh out loud funny. Percy is quite likable protagonist. I love the fact the Riordan is writing from the perspective of a kid with ADHD and dyslexia, making Percy very easy for young reluctant readers to relate to. This is something I have seen first hand after doing an internship in a library.
At the same time, The Sea of Monsters is a flawed book. Riordan does a great job at creating likable characters, and exciting action sequences. Where he falls behind is in creating an original plot. On one hand, I am of the opinion that every author doesn't need to reinvent the wheel in order to create an appealing book They just need to bring their own touch to the genre. Still the problem here is not so much that Riordan is not bringing his own touch to the genre. It's that The Sea of Monsters resembles The Lightning Thief a little too much. On one hand, some repetition is inevitable. Just as every Harry Potter book began with Harry at the Dursley's, I suspect Percy's books to begin in the real world before being whisked off to Camp Half-Blood and later, adventure. But the parallels go much deeper. I often felt as if I was simply rereading The Lightning Thief, only with different monsters and challenges. As a result, the book is a step below the first in the series.
The Sea of Monsters faults lie in the fact that it is unoriginal and very predictable (there's a big “twist” at the end that most will see coming chapters ahead of time). Despite it's flaws, I feel as if I enjoyed the book on a whole. Riordan's knack for humor and brisk pacing kept the story moving quickly, and there were enough hints sprinkled around the books about what's to come to keep me happy. I also experienced The Sea of Monsters as an audiobook, and felt that the narrator did quite well with the voices, although I wasn't too fond of his portrayal of Tyson. I do plan on eventually reading The Titan's Curse, where I hear is where the series really takes off.
Rating: three and a half stars
Length: I was listening to the audiobook, but the print version is 279 pages
Source: paperbackswap
Challenges: This book is not part of any challenges
Similar book: Eion Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series and The Harry Potter Series ( read my reviews)
Other books I've read by this author: The Lightning Thief ( my review)
xposted to temporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads
As Percy Jackson's seventh grade school year comes to a end, he's looking forward to spending his summer at Camp Half-Blood, a safe haven for demigods. Only things don't go so smoothly for this son of Poseidon. Camp Half-Blood is under attack. It's protection, provided by an enchanted tree, is breaking down, and the scent of so many half-bloods is drawing in dangerous monsters. Percy knows he must find a way to cure the tree and save his friends, but doing so may result in him getting expelled from camp forever.
The Sea of Monsters is the second book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and it reads very similarly to the first book, The Lightning Thief. Riordan once again does a fantastic job of updating and Americanizing Greek mythology, and the results are truly laugh out loud funny. Percy is quite likable protagonist. I love the fact the Riordan is writing from the perspective of a kid with ADHD and dyslexia, making Percy very easy for young reluctant readers to relate to. This is something I have seen first hand after doing an internship in a library.
At the same time, The Sea of Monsters is a flawed book. Riordan does a great job at creating likable characters, and exciting action sequences. Where he falls behind is in creating an original plot. On one hand, I am of the opinion that every author doesn't need to reinvent the wheel in order to create an appealing book They just need to bring their own touch to the genre. Still the problem here is not so much that Riordan is not bringing his own touch to the genre. It's that The Sea of Monsters resembles The Lightning Thief a little too much. On one hand, some repetition is inevitable. Just as every Harry Potter book began with Harry at the Dursley's, I suspect Percy's books to begin in the real world before being whisked off to Camp Half-Blood and later, adventure. But the parallels go much deeper. I often felt as if I was simply rereading The Lightning Thief, only with different monsters and challenges. As a result, the book is a step below the first in the series.
The Sea of Monsters faults lie in the fact that it is unoriginal and very predictable (there's a big “twist” at the end that most will see coming chapters ahead of time). Despite it's flaws, I feel as if I enjoyed the book on a whole. Riordan's knack for humor and brisk pacing kept the story moving quickly, and there were enough hints sprinkled around the books about what's to come to keep me happy. I also experienced The Sea of Monsters as an audiobook, and felt that the narrator did quite well with the voices, although I wasn't too fond of his portrayal of Tyson. I do plan on eventually reading The Titan's Curse, where I hear is where the series really takes off.
Rating: three and a half stars
Length: I was listening to the audiobook, but the print version is 279 pages
Source: paperbackswap
Challenges: This book is not part of any challenges
Similar book: Eion Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series and The Harry Potter Series ( read my reviews)
Other books I've read by this author: The Lightning Thief ( my review)
xposted to temporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads