Sea of Monsters

Sea of Monsters, a 304 page masterpiece is wonderfully written by Rick Riordan. In the second installment in the series, Percy has bad dreams about his satyr friend, Grover (for demi-gods dreams are always warnings). It turns out Grover is stuck in a cyclops's cave. Things get even worse when a dozen cannabalistic giants start playing dodge ball with Percy for P.E. Fortunately, Percy's friend Tyson saves the day with his magic ability to touch fire and not get hurt for he is a cyclops. When they go back to camp, everybody thinks that Tyson is a monster/bad guy. But when Tyson is claimed by Poseidon, people start teasing Percy about his half-brother. Tyson looks up to Percy, but Percy doesn't like the thought of having Tyson as a brother because Tyson is a monster. Tyson gives Percy many gifts from the forge and they use these gifts during the chariot races and then they win. Percy, Annabeth and Tyson decide to go to the Sea of Monsters to try to rescue Grover. On the way, they meet Clarisse, a child from the Ares cabin, with her submarine full of dead confederates who are helping her. They rescue Grover and get the golden fleece that they found on the island. Then, they send Clarisse home and Luke, the person that tried to kill Percy last summer, shows up and tries to kill Percy again in a sword-to-sword combat duel. Percy wins with the help of centaurs and all ride home victorious. I recommend this book because again it is interesting in the way that he creates an empathy link between Grover and Percy, tying their fates together.

The Lightning Thief

Written by Rick Riordan,The Lightning Thief is a 375 page novel.Percy the main character in the story is a demigod, a half- human half-god, that goes to a camp for others of his kind when he is twelve. Before this , he is unaware that he is a demi-god. One day a fury who he has always known as his math teacher, Mrs. Dodds, attacks him on a school field trip and is turned into dust when Mr. Brunner/Chiron throws Percy a pen and tells him to uncap it. The pen elongates into a sword made of celestial bronze and Percy uses it to slash the fury, turning her into dust. When the school year ends, Percy and his mom go to Montauk. Grover, a satyr (a goat from the waist down and a human from the waist up) comes to their door bewildered. He tells Mrs. Jackson that she and Percy needed to leave the house, so they leave in her car. When they leave, they find a minotaur following them. Percy fights the minotaur but before he can save her, his mom "dies". He kills the minotaur who likes to eat half-bloods and enters the camp as directed by his mom but as soon as he does, he blacks out. When he wakes he sees a girl who is feeding him something. This girl is Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena, who becomes one of his best friends. At the camp, there are many things to do, like a rock-climbing wall that shakes and pours lava , an archery range, a sword-fighting arena, a chariot track and a volley ball pit along with strawberry fields. Percy learns at the camp of the Big Three, which consists of Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades, who swore not to have any more half-blood children after World War ll. When Percy is claimed as Poseidon's son nobody likes him because he is the result of a broken oath and he has to move to the Poseidon cabin which is vacant. This book has tons of Greek mythology.

Lots of Greek mythology is evident in this story in many ways. Chiron, satyrs, demi-gods, the Greek gods, minotaurs and furies were all part of Greek mythology.Riordan uses the Greek mythology and blends with a modern twist in setting the novel in New York and the surrounding country. This is effective for those who like to hear of folk tales and stories of monsters and heroes. The blending of modern and ancient is interesting because there are planes, submarines and all sorts of things that industrialize the gods territories. For example, Percy who is the son of Poseidon cannot fly in planes because that is considered Zeus's territory. However, Pegasi are neutral because they are horses and Poseidon supposedly created horses. This modern twist to Greek mythology is in all of the Percy Jackson and the Olympian books to come. I highly recommend them all because of the prestigious author's ability to catch a reader's interest and make them read more.