A review by foxo_cube
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Another fun adventure with our boy, Percy Jackson, and his friends.

I felt there was better character development in this one, maybe partially due to the appearance of Tyson and the character arcs that come with him. Tyson is a Cyclops child who Percy meets at his regular school and who everyone is mean to, seeing him as an ugly, mentally disabled kid who lives on the streets. Percy, not knowing he's a Cyclops, gets on with him well and tries to defend him from bullies, only to be defended by Tyson when it turns out monsters have infiltrated the school. When they end up at Camp Half-Blood, everyone is mean to Tyson because he's a Cyclops. Poor thing, he's a good boy! I feel like the book deals pretty well with Percy's mixed feelings of genuinely caring about Tyson, but still being embarrassed by him
particularly when it's discovered that they're half-brothers
- it's a difficult topic to do, but it didn't seem too ham-fisted, overly sympathetic towards Percy, or overly patronising towards Tyson.

As with the first one, the application of mythology to the modern world is fun and nicely thought-out. The thing that's really cool about these books is that there's some interactivity in placing the stories that are being referenced, and, as someone who's not hugely knowledgable on Greek mythology, I'm learning lots of interesting bits, too.

I was glad to see a return from Grover, as well as a lead for him to come back later on. Unlike the first book, I felt like the lead-in to the next book was less shoehorned in, too. Looking forward to seeing what happens next!
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