Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & The Olympians, #2)

"I'll come rescue you," I promised. "Where are you?"
"The Sea of Monsters, of course!"
"The sea of what?"
"I told you! I don't know exactly where! And look, Percy . . . um, I'm really sorry about this, but this empathy link . . . well, I had no choice. Our emotions are connected now. If I die . . ."
"Don't tell me, I'll die too."
"Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live years in a vegetative state. But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here."

[Click here to see my review of book 1: The Lightning Thief]

With the movie adaptation of this particular book in the series rapidly approaching, I cannot be the only one who has been rushing to get a move on reading this series . . . or at least finish this book before the movie ruins it for you. (As excited as I am to see Logan Lehrman *swoon* reprise his role as Percy and as much as I love the casting of Tyson, I highly doubt they'll be able to do the book justice. But that's most movie adaptations, isn't it?)

Percy can't wait for the end of school and the beginning of this new year at Camp Half-Blood. He hasn't seen Annabeth since camp ended last summer and, though he won't get to see Grover (who is away searching for Pan), he's eager to get back to his friends and his own kind. It's the last day of school and Percy has managed to make it through the entire year without even one monster attacking him, but things change when a group of cannibals show up for dodgeball and it's up to Percy and his new friend Tyson to save their classmates from being eaten.

It turns out this is only the beginning of a very eventful (and highly dangerous) summer. Upon reaching Camp Half-Blood, Percy learns that Thalia's tree has been poisoned, which means the defenses around Camp Half-Blood are lower than they've ever been. It's practically an invitation for monsters to come feast on young demi-gods. Not to mention, Zeus is furious.

The Golden Fleece is their only hope for saving the camp and the demi-gods inside it. The problem? A Camp Activities Coordinator (literally) from Hell, a Cyclops, an old friend who has proven to be less than friendly, and a sea full of monsters. What could possibly go wrong?

I mentioned before that I am in love with this series and that fact remains strikingly true. As someone who has been deeply interested in Greek mythology since I first learned about it in elementary school, this is a dream come true. It's rare for any fiction based on the mythology to fit in so much accuracy, but Rick Riordan somehow manages it and all without sounding textbook. Kudos to him.

Percy, Annabeth, and friends are just as believable and thoroughly entertaining as they were in the first book. I look forward to taking more adventures with them and learning more about this crazy world that has it out for the young heroes.

 Rating: ★★★★★

Hermes gazed up at the stars. "My dear young cousin if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it."