The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
'That's right', he said. 'Humans don't exist on the same level as the immortals. They can't even be hurt by our weapons. But you, Percy - you are part god, part human. You live in both worlds. You can be harmed by both, and you can affect both. That's what makes heroes so special. You carry the hopes of humanity into the realm of the eternal. Monsters never die. They are reborn from the chaos and barbarism that is always bubbling underneath civilization, the very stuff that makes Kronos stronger. They must be defeated again and again, kept at bay. Heroes embody that struggle. You fight the battles humanity must win, every generation, in order to stay human. Do you understand?'
'I . . . I don't know.'
That is what is the speciality of our mighty demi-god Percy Jackson, you can never drop a book once you start reading of his adventures. Cheers to Rick Riordan for cooking up such a world entangled with Greek mythology, friendship, family, heroism, love and life. I guess it is pretty obvious that I loved The Sea Of Monsters. How can I not love it? It is fresh, witty, sarcastic and gripping from cover to cover.
I am liking the direction the story is taking. A Prophecy by the Oracle is soon going to seal the fate of Olympus (which happens to be hanging above The Empire State Building) and the Titan Lord Kronos. Kronos is desperate to regain his body to destroy Olympus and the Western Civilization as we know of it. In his visions he is using Luke, the estranged son of Hermes who is angry on the gods for abandoning their mortal children. He is not even aware of the fact that the vicious Titan Lord does not care about anyone and will chuck out Luke from the scene once his wishes have come true.
Kronos plays his cards and the Golden Fleece once lost in history is revived by Percy, Annabeth, Tyson (Percy's half brother a.k. a Cyclops) and Clarisse and is used to heal the tree of Thalia, who had died protecting her fellow campers. But unknowingly the Golden Fleece works its magic and Thalia, the daughter of Zeus is reincarnated. Now two players have been introduced as baits in the game. Two children of the Big Three, now what happens next is for the readers to find out.
There is no use going into details about the adventures of the campers of Half-Blood Camp in this book. It is for each and every Percy Jackson lover to find out. I am mesmerized by Percy's half-brother and a Cyclops Tyson. I am interested to find out what role he is destined to be playing in the rest of the books. I am sure he will be coming back soon. Another thing which I liked was that the old animosity in between the Gods for stupid reasons are being resolved by their 21st Century children. They are learning to fight as a team especially Percy (son of Poseidon), Annabeth (daughter of Athena) and Clarisse (daughter of Ares).
I am looking forward to read The Titan's Curse soon enough as I need to know what happens next like just at this moment.
P.S. I would die to have a teacher like Chiron but alas I have never met one like him yet.
Buy it:
Amazon (India)
Amazon (US)
More Bookish discussions:
Goodreads
Twitter
Tumblr
View all my reviews
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
"Safety from what? Who's after me?"
Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."
What happens one day when you wake up and learn that all that you have known to be true in your life is exactly the opposite of the reality?
That is what happened with Harry Potter when a touch of magic and a big burly half-giant named Hagrid changed his mundane life. The things that never made sense suddenly started to make sense. This is what created a generation of Harry Potter fans. Well Percy Jackson is somewhat similar but with a little twist.
Unlike Harry who is just a wizard Percy Jackson is a demi-god commonly known as a half-blood. But Percy had no idea about it. He has always considered himself to be weird. He is dyslexic with ADHD (later which turns out to be are his special powers prone to each and every half-blood) and he has been changing schools forever as something funny always happens in his schools which he is unable to explain. He lives with his mother Sally who is the most kindest woman on Earth and her husband Smelly Gabe who can't stand Percy and abuses his mom. The feeling's mutual. Percy is frustrated with how his life has turned out to be and blames his unknown father for abandoning his mother and him. Suddenly one day a Fury (yeah you heard that right) sent by the Greek god of the death Hades changes his life.
He is suddenly shipped off to a special place for kids like him called Camp Half Blood. A summer camp for the offspring of the twelve Olympian gods and mortal humans who are trained by none other than Chiron, the centaur. It turns out that Percy is the son of one of the big threes and it is none other than Poseiden, the sea-god. There Percy makes friends a satyr named Grover and Athena's daughter Annabeth Chase and together they go on a trust to retrieve Zeus's master-bolt. It is their first quest and a whole lot a events take place.
Well, that was brilliant. Don't know why I waited so long to read it. I am glad that I finally picked up the series. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is brilliant, gripping and a page turner. I was so consumed in the adventures of Percy, Annabeth and Grover that it was hard enough to put down the book for bare necessities. The world Rick Riordan has built is just going to get better, bigger and a whole lot more adventurous. Can't wait to pick up the other books.
I loved Percy. He is cool, intelligent, a kindred spirit which Poseidon claims to just run in the family. He loves his mother, Sally and can make quick decisions at times of problems. He is not the one to just blindly sacrifice himself. He assess the pros and cons of a situation and makes the right choice. He is not reckless. Like in the scene where he has only three pearls from Poseidon but there are four people to save. He realizes that his mother would never be happy if Percy was left behind in the underworld because that would mean a war among the gods and the destruction of mankind. He takes the right decision and saves Annabeth, Grover and himself.
Annabeth is everything the daughter of Athena, the Greek goddess of knowledge and warfare can expected to be. Loved her so much. The other characters of the story were interesting as well. It was fun to see all the ancient Greek mythological characters in present day US fully adapted to the US lifestyle. After all the gods need a change too. The story is not yet finished and I can bet that it gets interesting and gripping.
I can't wait to get my hands on The Sea of Monsters.
Buy it on:
Amazon (India)
Amazon (US)
More Bookish discussions:
Goodreads
Instagram
Tumblr
View all my reviews
