The Sea of Monsters

Riordan, Rick. The Sea of Monsters. Percy Jackson & the Olympians. 2. New York: Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children, 2006.
[Book cover credit: librarything.com/work/1491561]

Awards:
BookSense Top Ten Summer Pick (2006)
Child Magazine Best Book (2006)
Kirkus Reviews Best Fantasy Sequel (2006)
Cooperative Children's Book Center Choice Award (2007)
Mark Twain Award (2009)

Booktalk:
Percy almost makes it through the seventh grade without incident. Then he's attacked by man-eating giants on his last day of school. Luckily Annabeth shows up to help, and Tyson, Percy's new and only friend at school, is really good at fighting giants. Another year, another odd friend who Percy doesn't realize is mythical until he does something magical. Same old, same old, right? It would be if it weren't for Percy's persistent dreams of Grover in a wedding dress, scared out of his mind, and some serious security issues at Camp Half-Blood. All of this adds up to another quest for Percy and company, hopefully to save both Grover and the camp.

Review:
The Sea of Monsters is the opposite of second book syndrome. Though it is clear that all of these books are leading up to the last book, Percy's 16th birthday, and The Prophecy, so far the books are all compelling on their own. The second book wouldn't quite stand on its own, I don't think, because readers need information from the first book to understand/appreciate The Sea of Monsters, but I didn't feel like this book was filler on the way to 16 while I was reading.

But the best part was this:

"I'll be next door, " Annabeth said. "You guys don't drink or eat anything."
"You think this place is enchanted?"
She frowned. "I don't know. Something isn't right. Just be careful."
We locked our doors.

p. 115

I have felt like I've been going crazy lately. Coraline and, I think, Another Faust have kids going into other-worldly places and sitting for lunch. I thought the cardinal rule of fantasy (cause there is totally such things as cardinal rules of fantasy...) was that you couldn't eat or drink fairie (or mythical monster or Other Mother or Satan's) food and expect to go back to your world like nothing ever happened. It was so nice to see that this cardinal rule was upheld in The Sea of Monsters. That alone would have made reading this book worth it for me right now. Luckily it has a lot to offer to other readers as well.


Sequel to: The Lightning Thief
Book Source: College Library