The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) (Paperback)

by Rick Riordan (Author)
Key Phrases: seaweed brain, golden fleece, cabin eleven, Camp Half-Blood, Matt Sloan, Half-Blood Hill (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9–In this sequel (Miramax Books, 2006) to Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief (Hyperion, 2005; Listening Library, 2005) 13-year-old Percy is just finishing up his school year and is looking forward to another great summer at Camp Half-Blood with all the other demigods. But even before school ends, things start happening, and soon Percy is at camp along with Tyson, a homeless kid adopted by Percy's school. At camp, Percy not only discovers that Tyson is a Cyclops and a son of Poseidon, which makes him Percy's half-brother, but also that the camp is in trouble. There's a quest to rescue Percy's friend, Grover the satyr, and to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The plot zips along with plenty of action; lots of mythological monsters, titans, and gods; and a leavening of humor. Jesse Bernstein does a good job of giving Percy a youthful voice in this first-person narrative, while at the same time creating appropriate voices for the other characters. Listeners who have not read or listened to the first book in the projected trilogy will want to do so before the next installment is published.–Sarah Flowers, Santa Clara County Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. In this second adventure in Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Percy is anticipating the end of seventh grade and a summer at Camp Half-Blood with kids who are the offspring of Greek gods and mortals. He dreams that his pal Grover, a satyr, is in danger. After monsters attack in his school gym class, Percy and Tyson, a homeless kid, are picked up by Annabeth, a half-blood friend, and rushed to the camp, which is under attack. The tree that guards the camp is dying, and Chiron, the activity director, has been dismissed. Another dream reveals that Grover, whose peril is increasing, is on the same island as the legendary Golden Fleece, which may be the cure for the troubled camp. With the help of Hermes, Percy and his pals set off to the Sea of Monsters, where they encounter legendary dangers. Riordan's clever mix of classical mythology, contemporary teen characters, and an action-packed adventure will bring new readers to the series. Diana Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Miramax (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423103343
• ISBN-13: 978-1423103349
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (128 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #590 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lightning DOES strike twice, June 25, 2006

By	Amanda Richards "Modest to the extreme" (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) (Hardcover)

Rick Riordan comes through again, and this follow up to The Lightning Thief is just as entertaining, informative and action-packed as the first book. This time Percy (son of Poseidon) is at school in New York when things start to go downhill fast, beginning with some bad dreams about his friend Grover the satyr, followed by an attack by cannibalistic dodge ball players.

When Annabeth (daughter of Athena) arrives on the scene with more bad news, Percy has to embark on another quest, this time unsanctioned, to save Camp Half-Blood, which is vulnerable to attack since its defenses have been breached. He also has to save Grover, who's found himself in an inter-species entanglement in which he doesn't quite see eyes to eye with his suitor.

Accompanying them is Percy's class mate Tyson, a street kid who counts Percy as his only friend, but who is much, much more than he seems. The three travel to the treacherous Sea of Monsters in the face of insurmountable odds to capture the Golden Fleece, which hopefully can counteract the poison and restore the magical protection of the Camp.

Steeped in Greek mythology, yet written for young readers, this one is highly recommended for developing the imagination with its combination of thrilling adventure and legend.


Amanda Richards, June 25, 2006

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better (funnier, more action-packed) than Book 1, May 19, 2006

By	bensmomma "bensmomma" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) (Hardcover)

"Sea of Monsters" is a sequel to Riordan's "Lightning Thief." Percy Jackson (you may or may not know from Lightning Thief) is the son of the Greek God Poseidon and a modern American woman, living in 21st-century New York. In Book Two, he returns to Camp Half-Blood (a secret camp for the children of gods and mortals, most of whom have secret powers), to learn that the Camp's protective veil has been broken by monsters and evil beings bent on destroying the half-blood kids. To save the camp, he and his friends the wise and brave Annabelle (daughter of Athena), Grover (his nerdly centaur sidekick), and a new character Tyson (who turns out to be a cyclops in need of a haircut), must seek out the Golden Fleece.

Which turns out to be in....Florida, I believe!

This summary illustrates the way in which Riordan ramps up two aspects of the earlier book: its humor, and its superficial similarities to the Harry Potter books. Riordan has a real sense of humor and an ear for witty kid-like dialogue (I loved the bits where Grover is captured by a larger Cyclops and talks his way out of marrying the big brute). A Voldemort-like character also takes shape in this 2nd volume - but he has not the physical strength to come back in full form yet, and will require the treachery of some of the half-bloods (presumably continued in future volumes) to come back to full power.

As in the first volume, readers will uncover a lot of entertaining bits of Greek mythology, embedded in the book like nuts in a brownie. Another delicious volume.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the gods must be crazy..., July 27, 2006

By	Karusichan "Karusichan" (Lansing, MI. USA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) (Hardcover)

The gods of old keep having kids. Hephaestus, Ares, Apollo, Hermes, Dionysus, Athena, Aphrodite, Hera, Artemis (who, technically is a virgin and doesn`t have any kids), Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon all have children roaming the earth, stirring up the order of things and trying to keep humans from destroying themselves. These demigods, or half bloods, congregate in a camp in New York called Half-Blood Hill, where the activities are run by Chiron (the trainer of Hercules) and Mr. D, the infamous Dionysus, who is serving a sentence of sobriety for chasing after the wrong wood nymph.

The thing is that three of these gods should not be siring any more children. Since the debacle of World War II Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon have sworn an oath on the river Styx that they would not father any more children, seeing as how their children are infinitely more powerful than the other gods. All but one has broken this oath, and one of the offspring to be born from Poseidon's dalliance is Percy Jackson (Perseus).

Percy, known to many reader's from the first book "The Lightning Thief" is adjusting to the fact that he is the son of Poseidon, the Sea God. His Mother has sent him to a progressive school for troubled kids, Meriweather College Prep. Here he has befriended the school's charity case for the year, an overgrown teenager who happens to be homeless, named Tyson. Tyson has gotten Percy into many scrapes this year because of his sensitivity, his brute force, and his ability to break down into convulsive sobbing. Everything is going fine until a game of dodge ball one gym class turns into a fight for their lives as Percy and Tyson realize they are up against a race of cannibals called the Laistrygonians, and they are saved by none other than Annabeth, daughter of Athena and friend of Percy's from Half-Blood Hill. She takes them to the camp where all Hades has broken loose.

For one thing the protective barrier of the camp is weakening thanks to a the Pine tree of Thalia. Thalia is the daughter of Zeus, a half blood who some years before had been changed into the tree to protect the others from certain demise. Now the tree has been poisoned and the activities director, Chiron, has been fired because of this. In his place is a starving man named Tantalus who sees Percy as nothing more than a puffed up brat. Even when Percy reveals that he has been having dreams of his satyr friend Grover and how his quest has led him into a perilous place, the Sea of Monsters, Tantalus does nothing to help Percy save him. In fact when it is revealed that the legendary Golden Fleece is on the same island as Grover Tantalus assigns Clarisse to quest for it before Percy. It is believed that the retrieval of the Golden Fleece will save the camp, but Percy is more concerned that his friend Grover may end up as a meal for the cyclops, Polyphemus, and wants to rescue him. Together with Annabeth, Tyson, and some aid of the gods the three set off into the unknown, and learn a few new secrets along the way.

This is a fantastic sequel to "The Lightning Thief". Percy Jackson is simply the fantasy character to watch in the next few years. This book has everything in it one can wish for. The characters are deep and flawed, the quest is compelling, the drama oozes on every page. I found that this was a compulsively readable book, one that I had a difficult time putting down in the three days it took me to read it. I marveled at the introduction of Tyson, because he is such a sweet and sympathetic character, and the connection between him and Percy is just a great touch. The mythos surrounding Thalia heats up in this book too, and I am aghast at the role she will seem to play in the following books. Even the emergence of Luke as a villain is perfect, as he is the ideal character to have as a rival, and Kronos is a nemesis to be feared in the future. My biggest gripe is that the cliffhangers, the introductions of new characters (and the implications of said characters and prophecies surrounding them) will make it very difficult for me to wait for the next book to be published... this is, for all accounts, my "Harry Potter" series that I would wait in line at midnight for. I am on pins and needles to see what Riordan dreams up next for Percy Jackson and the Olympians.