Reviews with content warning for Violence - Percy Jackson e gli dei dell'Olimpo. Il Calice degli Dei

This one was so cute! My husband and I have both been Percy Jackson lovers forever, so I read this aloud to him while he drove. I still vividly remember The Last Olympian coming out when I was in fifth grade. I wish I could tell a VERY distraught Kamryn that there would be more pure Percy Jackson to come. 💗 I thought this series was over then and it was so fun to revisit this series literally fourteen years later.

It was interesting to see so many modern references when this doesn’t take place much later than TLO. I mean he was sixteen, and then seventeen. I definitely felt the time jump in references, though. Boomers and man buns galore.

We both laughed a lot, and the quests were fun. A light, quick read that still had heart. Also, it seemed like more is to come . . . I will always, ALWAYS preorder any Percy Jackson books! We have about three copies of each of the other book in this series since we were both such huge fans, and it’s sweet we get to share a copy now. But who gets to have it on their shelf?

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annamorgan27's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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caoimhe9876's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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barda's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I adore the Percy Jackson series and all of Rick Riordan's mythology books, and this new one was no exception. If you are looking for a good replacement to Harry Potter, but with much better diversity and an author who takes great care in portraying people of all genders and races, these books are it.

This book is more lighthearted compared to a lot of his other books in the mainline series, but it works well for the overall tone, as this time Percy and his friends aren't trying to save the world; they're just trying to get Percy into college. It's nostalgic in a good way, with the characters reminiscing over past adventures at times, but the book never falls into the trap of becoming too bogged-down in nostalgia. The plot is simple and as we know the characters well already they don't really change or develop in, but complexity really isn't warranted in a book like this either.

My main complaint would be Percy using some really modern language like "deepfakes" - I thought that as Percy was only 17, the book would be set a few years in the past to make it line up with when the books started in 2005 (though it has been a while since I read the other books so there might be an explanation I missed).

In any case, if you're looking for a fun read with loveable characters, this book (and, by extension, the rest of the Percy Jackson books) is a great one to pick up.

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ghulsona's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

As Percy Jackson's biggest fan, 2023 has really been my year. This was a fun read that I breezed through. Something that I really liked was the focus on the more grounded and simpler moments in Percy's everyday life!!! I just adored the little scenes he had with Sally, Annabeth and Grover, they were so sweet and touching.

I thought that the chapter where his family and Annabeth help him write his rec letter especially was so cute <3

I also like how many scenes there were between Percy and Grover that highlighted how strong their friendship was, some of them genuinely made me tear up. Percy and Annabeth are so sickeningly in love, they will always be the blueprint of romance to me <3 The humor was a lot more on point than it was in the Nico novel that came out this year, I was laughing constantly. There's no doubt that Riordan's writing is at its best when he's in Percy's head and working with the original trio.

My main gripe with this book is how it seems like Riordan barely brushed up on any previous canon. It's obvious he looked through 'The Lightning Thief' before writing this, because there were a lot of references to it (some being a bit too in your face about it), and even then, I only think he did that because of his involvement the upcoming show. However, it doesn't seem like he looked through any of his other books, because the amount of info in this book that conflicts with previous worldbuilding/characterization is a bit staggering.

One of the biggest contradictions was Percy talking about how as demigods got older, monsters are more likely to leave them alone, which was so?!?!? I clearly remember that somewhere in the original series, it's mentioned that the older demigods who leave camp rarely survive past a couple of years. In 'The Son of Neptune, one of the things that strikes Percy the most about New Rome is the amount of older demigods he sees milling about because the thought of living past your teenagehood is so foreign to him as a Greek demigod. In fact, one of the main reasons why Percy wanted to go to NRU is because he doesn't want to be constantly fighting for his life as he gets older!!! Riordan adding this little tidbit of info not only goes back on his previous worldbuilding, but also invalidates why Percy wanted to leave CHB in the first place. If he's safer from monster attacks the older he gets, what's the point of Percy going through so much trouble to get into NRU, a place where he'll undoubtedly get more entrapped in the mythological world, when he so clearly just wants a normal life for a bit?

Another thing I did not like was how Riordan's gut instict was to play a scene for laughs when it could've worked as a vehicle for some character/relationship introspection and development. I think there were so many lost opportunities because of this. Okay, rant incoming about this specifically.

Percy's beneath-the-surface anger and loss of control over his powers comes up a couple times in this book. During one chapter, Percy gets so angry when a minor river god thrashes him around that he blacks out for a bit and explodes an entire river out of rage. When he comes back to himself, he's scared for a moment that he's accidentally harmed Annabeth, and Annabeth is comforting the now trembling river god by saying "He can get scary when he gets worked up".

When I was reading this, I got really excited. In 'House of Hades', Annabeth is horrified when Percy uses his powers to torture a goddess out of rage and misery, to the point where she's backed away from him and sobbing. In 'Blood of Olympus', Annabeth states how that memory was the scariest thing she witnessed in Tartarus and how she can't get that image out of her head. However, the two of them never talk about this, and the series ends with them never resolving this huge point of tension in their relationship, which was really upsetting for me at that time because that was supposedly the last time we as readers would ever get their PoVs.

So, when I read Annabeth's line about Percy being scary in this chapter, it made me think Riordan was finally going to address this. Percy even gets bothered by the fact that she's implying she's kind of scared of him! Instead, all tension is broken by completely glossing over the implications of this scene when Riordan immediately goes back to a lighthearted and joking tone. What?!?!? This would have been the perfect scene to finally lead up to a conversation between Percy and Annabeth about the things they've witnessed in Tartarus and the trauma they're obviously harboring! And Riordan just let it pass!!! Why?!?!

There's also another part where Percy learns about his mother's pregnancy during dinner. Everybody's a bit tense when Sally breaks the news because they think Percy's going to blow up the plumbing or react very strongly somehow. This reminded me of a scene in 'The Blood of Olympus', where Percy blows up the ship's plumbing without even thinking because of how upset he is at the idea that Annabeth is going somewhere without him there to protect her. I thought this scene at the dinner table was in the same vein as the scene from 'The Blood of Olympus' - Percy's become so powerful where even the slightest hint of a negative emotion causes him to unthinkingly release an extreme burst of power. And now it's come to the point where his loved ones are genuinely a bit scared of setting him off . . . and this is never, ever addressed. This scene ends with Percy being happy about the news, and everyone is happy and relieved. Again, why?!? It's so depressing to think that his loved ones are just expectant of his anger now, and the extreme anger and anxiety Percy that has been feeling and that has been detrimentally affecting him will never be addressed, by the author or anyone close to him.

All in all, I did enjoy reading this. Percy Jackson is one of my favorite characters of all time, and it was nice getting him back after so long. And I genuinely think that Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are one of the best main trios of all time <333 But also, there were too many missed opportunities that I really wish the book had taken, and there was an obvious decline in quality from the original series. Sometimes, I feel silly for taking this middle-grade book series so seriously, but I have to remember that children's literature deserves the same care and thoughtfulness that goes into every other well-made media. I want to tell Riordan that just because it's a book for kids, it shouldn't be an excuse to let the quality of his work slip. It's been announced there will be 2 more books set after this, and I'm hoping those fulfill some of my hopes and expectations I had for this series - but I'm not holding my breath on that.

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hailstorm3812's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The chances of me not enjoying this book were so low, but I am so glad to report that I loved it. I cried multiple times... sometimes when Rick wanted me to. I think this book has an interesting job of marketing to new middlegrade readers and queer 20 somethings with mythology tattoos and it think it balanced it well. Like there were some over explaining and millennial humor that didn't quite land as well for me but overall I think it worked. I also think the first antagonist being nostalgia and the acceptance of old age was a great message and fun for Percy to face and held an interesting tension with this book made for nostalgia with the permanent 17 year old. That metatext honestly added to the story a little bit though. I had so much fun seeing the trio again, and Sally and Paul. I think it really caught the spirit of the originals. You can tell the characters have changed over the years from all their adventures but stayed true to who they are. I do wish they had unpacked all the trauma a little bit more, but this is a children's book so I get why they didn't. But yeah I loved it so much. Wrath of the Triple Goddess let's goooooo.

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Percy Jackson is back! And this time, his quest isn't focused on the world ending: it's focused on getting him into college. Honestly, the fact that the stakes were pretty low in this one (not that there isn't any imminent danger, this is Percy we're talking about), made this such a fun read. Reading from Percy's perspective is alwasy fun because he has some of the best commentary, but just the overall tone of this one was less serious than some of the other series set in this world.

Riordan already announced another book after this one, and I'm betting is going to be a trilogy (3 quests to get into college and all). It's great seeing Percy, Annabeth, and Grover get back together for quests, and I'm sure we'll see more of that in the next books!

If you're just staring your Percy Jackson journey and wonder where this one fits in: it takes place after the Heroes of Olympus but before the Trials of Apollo. Once this trilogy is done, I think it will be a nice little bridge between the two series!

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justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

"Sometimes it’s the smallest waves that knock you off your feet. Tsunamis—everybody knows they’re powerful. Tidal waves — big and impressive. But those small waves? They hold a lot of power. They prove what the ocean is capable of, even when no one is paying attention.”

This was a fun little addition to the series, although it could have been a novella.

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