After a year spent trying to prevent a catastropic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson--a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any "normal" friends.
But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: The magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters--the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millenia--only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name...the Bermuda Triangle.
Now Percy and his friends--Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson--must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family--one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.
I stand by the fact that had these books existed when I was in middle school, Young Kal would have loved them. Heck, 36 year-old Kal loves them! If you are a mythology fan, chances are you'll be a fan of this beloved series regardless of your age.
I absolutely adore the narrative voice of the PJO series, and the audiobook narrator does an amazing job bringing the text to life. There's an air of snark and sarcasm that really resonates with me deep in my soul.
"We only came close to dying six or seven times, which I thought was pretty good."
Riordan does a fantastic job recapping critical information from The Lightning Thief without being repetitive or bogging down the story. Which is really hard to do! The book has a fast pace and is full of action, while also being descriptive of its surroundings so you cane visualize yourself alongside Percy and Annabeth.
