A review by sarahdm
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
Before diving into the Percy Jackson series I had read a lot of online discussion asking "When does the series get good?" The consensus seems to be that book 3 is where the series really starts to get good. I agree that book one is really weak and I had complaints about it: juvenile dialog, paper thin characters, jumpy pacing. Picking up book 2, I expected more of this and thought I would just have to plow through it till book 3 when the series "gets good."
I'm honestly so shocked at how good Sea of Monsters is. All of my complaints from book 1 are gone. The dialog and internal thoughts are emotional and feel genuine. The characters (especially Percy) are now fully rounded and have depth to them that feels like we are just skimming the surface of something deeper. The pacing is still a little off as I found the beginning of the book a little slow, but once it picked up it was perfect. And the things that were good in book 1 are even better here. The world building is still so amazing. Percy's new powers and weapons were honestly just so cool and I loved it. I really love all of these characters and I especially love Tyson. I'm really glad to hear that he shows up more in the series.
As soon as I finished The Sea of Monsters I wanted to immediately start over and read it again. I loved it. Its so good. I'm 30 years old and this absolutely whips ass. Do Not Sleep On Percy Jackson. Read it now.
I'm honestly so shocked at how good Sea of Monsters is. All of my complaints from book 1 are gone. The dialog and internal thoughts are emotional and feel genuine. The characters (especially Percy) are now fully rounded and have depth to them that feels like we are just skimming the surface of something deeper. The pacing is still a little off as I found the beginning of the book a little slow, but once it picked up it was perfect. And the things that were good in book 1 are even better here. The world building is still so amazing. Percy's new powers and weapons were honestly just so cool and I loved it. I really love all of these characters and I especially love Tyson. I'm really glad to hear that he shows up more in the series.
As soon as I finished The Sea of Monsters I wanted to immediately start over and read it again. I loved it. Its so good. I'm 30 years old and this absolutely whips ass. Do Not Sleep On Percy Jackson. Read it now.