The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Short Summary:
After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson is finding 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.
My Review:
I was hesitant about starting THE SEA OF MONSTERS. Why? Let me talk a little bit about Percy Jackson.
I love Greek Mythology, one of my favorite Disney movies is Hercules. I’ve always been fascinated by Athena and Zeus and several other well-known names. With that said, I was fascinated by Rick Riordan’s treatment of mythology and thought it interesting.
The problem I had with Percy Jackson and the Olympians was that… I just got bored about half-way through. It felt as if the battles were too stretched out and the book just.. too long. But this isn’t a review about Percy Jackson, it’s about The Sea of Monsters – a book that did a little better.
I was much more entertained in this book – and I owe that completely to Tyson. What a fantastic sidekick – Percy was more of the same old, and I did enjoy getting to see a little bit more of Clarisse, but both Annabeth and Percy seem cookie-cutter male and female leads. Tyson, however, was not a cookie-cutter sidekick and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the “monster” he was.
The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
Summary:
When the goddess Artemis goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped. And now it’s up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess?
My Review:
Everything THE SEA OF MONSTERS did for me, THE TITAN’S CURSE managed to undo.
I just cannot figure out why these books start to bore me about half-way through. Maybe it’s a lack of connection I have to Percy, irresponsible, cocky little kid that he is; maybe it’s that the action scenes seem too contrived? I don’t mind action and suspense in a book – but it’s a constant roller-coaster in these books and by the time I’m halfway through I start to get a bit.. well.. motion-sick.
Here’s the thing though. I did like the story, I loved the mythology. Really enjoyed the scene with Atlas, but the in-between parts and the various battles and joking and surfer-dude gods just kind of made the whole thing blah for me.
So I’m stuck in the middle on rating this book – because technically, there’s really nothing wrong with it. I’m just lukewarm on the whole thing.
