Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan, 2009 Hyperion

     In the last of Percy's adventures against Kronos the battle for Olympus has moved to New York City. Chiron shares with Percy the prophecy which has driven the Olympians and the son of Poseidon understands the role he is to play in the battle ahead.
     Percy and Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, travel to the Underworld for a chance to make Percy indestructible. The campers of Camp Half-Blood (without the Ares cabin) join the forces of Olympus with Percy Jackson at their head and the battle wages on.
     Elizabeth Dare, a mortal Percy, Annabeth, and Grover met at the Hoover Dam, appears and reveals Percy is not the hero of the great prophecy. She doesn't know who it is, but promises to help as best she can. She explains a monster brought by the Titans can only be defeated by a child of Ares--heralding the arrival of the Ares cabin.
     As Kronos inhabits Luke Castellan's body he must fight Luke himself to maintain the semi-mortal form. When Annabeth shocks Luke back to his normal self the demi-gods have a chance to defeat the Titan. Percy's decision to allow Luke to destroy the vessel Kronos has stolen from him has the power to turn the tide for or against the demigods and Olympians, and only he can make the decision.
     With the final battle Percy and his closest friends lose companions, friends, and great warriors. They face insurmountable odds in the hope they can maintain the world they've come to protect. Percy learns to respect the forces around him and recognize that he can share the burden and glory of his responsibilities. Intermediate through high school readers can enjoy Percy's adventures, as well as readers of all ages.

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, 2008 Hyperion Books

     After The Titan's Curse Percy, Annabeth, and Grover have separated for the new school year. Percy is dragged back into the fight between the Greek Gods and Kronos's army from his high school Freshman Orientation. When two demons disguised as cheerleaders attack Percy the young woman who can see through the mists, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, helps him escape.
     Back at Camp Half-Blood the danger is escalating. Kronos's forces are heckling at the boundary of the camp and the magic keeping the demigods safe begins to buckle. Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Tyson answer the call of Camp Half-Blood's Oracle and quest into the Labyrinth under the camp.
     Using Princess Ariadne's magic string Percy leads their adventure under camp into Daedalus's maze. The Labyrinth stretches under the United States and the friends encounter old allies and new dangers throughout their journey.
     The dangers mount as the inevitable crash between Olympus and the armies of Kronos nears. Percy and his friends continue to face obstacle after obstacle with the hope they will manage to rescue and protect their world from certain destruction. Like the first three books in the Percy Jackson series young readers will enjoy the mysticism and the adventure of The Battle of the Labyrinth.

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan, 2007 Hyperion

     When Annabeth and Artemis are kidnapped Percy and the campers at Camp Half-Blood team with the Hunters to find the two young women. The story starts six months after The Sea of Monsters when Grover finds two strong demi-gods at a school in the Northeast: Bianca and Nico di Angelo. They discover that the vice-principal is a Manticore and interested in the two demi-gods.
     Percy attempts to stop the Manticore from kidnapping the di Angelo children and is poisoned by one of his scorpion thorns. He is too weak to fight and is brought along with the demi-god children to the edge of a cliff where the Manticore's allies plan to collect them. Percy sends a message through his empathy link to Grover and the satyr comes to the rescue with Annabeth and Thalia.
     Suddenly silver arrows rain down on the Manticore and the Hunters of Artemis reveal themselves. The part-human-lion-scorpion monster attacks Percy and Thalia and Annabeth attacks him with her knife. The two fall off the cliff. Artemis appears and reveals plans to hunt a monster capable of killing the gods. She sends her hunters to Camp Half-Blood while she hunts and Thalia joins the crew leaving her brother in the care of Camp Half-Blood. When they return to camp Thalia and Percy are forbidden from rescuing Annabeth.
     After Chiron announces the camp would play Capture the Flag with the Hunters the campers scatter to prepare. Percy goes to the Oracle with a dream of Annabeth holding up the sky in the place of Atlas. The Oracle doesn't respond, but later goes to the Captain of the Hunters--she never leaves the Big House. It is determined Thalia, Bianca and several other members of the assembled groups will quest to save Artemis and Annabeth.
     Percy is kept at Camp Half-Blood, until a dream reveals Artemis has taken Annabeth's place and the questers only have until the Winter Solstice to rescue them. He wakes to find Blackjack (a pegasus) in his cabin asking him to rescue a sea-cow whom Percy names Bessie.  To stop Nico from following, and to further his own goals, Percy takes off on Blackjack to follow the quest.
     The quest encounters skeletal soldiers created from dragon's teeth, dirt, and blood; the Nemian lion; Apollo; the Erymanthian Boar; skeletal soldiers again; and Talos, a mechanical monster that Bianca defeats but that kills her when it lands on electrical lines. All the while they are moving westward and arrive at Hoover Dam to discover a girl who can see through the mist: Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Rachel helps Percy escape the skeletal soldiers and meet his friends, and the group escapes.
     In San Francisco Percy wrestles Nerus, the old man of the sea, and discovers Bessie is the creature Artemis searches for. With help from Dionysus and Posiedon they manage to get the sea-cow back to Camp Half-Blood. The troupe continues to where the earth meets the sky on Mt Tam to rescue Annabeth and Artemis. Percy fulfills his part of the prophecy and the demi-gods trick Atlas back into his prison between earth and sky. After a meeting with the gods on Olympus the heroes return home to Camp Half-Blood.
     Riordan's take on Greek Mythology in the modern world is fascinating, not only in how he interprets the creatures of the past into today's terms and technology, but in how he brings the characters to life with his stories. Percy's destiny still looms before him and his friends are but a single battle from being taken from him, but the son of Poseidon fights for the continuation of his world. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stand up for each other and defy both fate and authority to protect their friendship. The Titan's Curse is aimed at older elementary readers and may be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan, 2006 Miramax Books

     Percy Jackson is having nightmares. First he dreams his best friend Grover, a satyr, is being chased by a cyclopes and needs his help. But when he wakes and goes to school, Percy is in danger himself: giants are attacking and he is saved by his half-brother Tyson, a cyclopes in human disguise. Annabeth, the daughter of Athena and Percy's other best friend, brings Percy and Tyson to Camp Half-Blood, just in time to rescue the camp from two rampaging bronze bulls.
     Not only is the camp under attack, but Thalia's tree has been poisoned and the wards protecting the camp weaken as it does. Chiron, the centaur camp director, is blamed for the poisoning, fired, and the demigod Tantalus is released from Tartarus to replace him.
     When Percy dreams Grover has the Golden Fleece, Tantalus sends Clarisse (a daughter of Ares) to retrieve it to repair Thalia's tree. Hermes comes to Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth to send them after the Golden Fleece as well, he even provides them with travel gear and the trade winds. Poseidon sends three hippocampi (aquatic horse-like creatures) to take them across the sea.
     The hippocampi take the trio to the Princess Andromeda, a cruise ship owned by Luke Castellan and the Titan army. They escape only to run into the Hydra. It nearly kills them when Clarisse appears sailing the confederate ship CSS Birmingham and saves them. The group then sails for the Sea of Monsters in the Bermuda Triangle when the CSS Birmingham is broken up by Scylla and Charybdis. Tyson and Clarisse are presumed dead and Percy and Annabeth are shipwrecked on Circe's island spa and resort--where Circe turns Percy into a guinea pig. Annabeth rescues him and they sail away. They continue to the Sea of Monsters, but must pass the island of Sirens. Annabeth begs Percy to tie her up and let her listen to discover her true desires. He concedes, but forgets to take her knife and it is Percy's turn to save Annabeth.
     They reach Polyphemus's (the cyclopes who has captured Grover) island, are reunited with Tyson and Clarisse, find the Golden Fleece, and rescue Grover. But before they finally escape Polyphemus confronts them. He sinks their ship and the hippocampi return to ferry the group to the mainland. They rush back to Camp Half-Blood, but are kidnapped by Luke who admits to poisoning Thalia's tree clearing Chiron. Percy is injured when he and Luke grapple for the Fleece, and Percy is rescued by the Party Ponies, centaur friends of Chiron's.
     When they arrive at Camp Half-Blood the Golden Fleece removes the poison from Thalia's Tree, but also ejects Thalia (Zeus's daughter) who was turned into a tree when she died protecting the camp to prevent her soul from entering the Underworld. The adventurers realize it was Luke's plan all along and Thalia's return could affect the Great Prophecy.
     Despite their difficulties in working together and their parents' hatred, Clarisse, Percy, and Annabeth work together to save their home. Their journey resembles the Odyssey and Odysseus' journey through the ancient world, though there is more at stake in terms of the fate of the world. The petty disagreements such as who uses which weapon during training fade into the background when the demigods' world is threatened--they work together to achieve something greater than themselves.
     Like Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters is directed at a younger audience. Middle elementary readers will enjoy the quick pace and the introduction to classical mythology.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, 2005 Mirmax Books

     Percy Jackson has always had a hard time with school; his ADHD and Dyslexia make reading difficult and sitting still nearly impossible. During a field trip to the Greek exhibit at the New York City Percy is attacked by one of the Furies, but somehow he escapes. Percy is expelled from his sixth school with the incident.
     After the close call Percy and his mother take a vacation from his stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, a man who can be best described as a chauvinistic stink-pot, his repulsive odor overpowers everything. When Percy's friend Grover, a fellow student, appears at the cabin he brings tidings of danger. He is revealed to be a half-man, half-goat satyr and close on his hooves is the Minotaur. Percy's mother drives the pair to Camp Half-Blood, but the Minotaur catches them as they reach the camp boudaries. It captures Mrs. Jackson when she cannot pass through the boundaries because she is completely mortal, she dissolves is a shower of gold dust. Percy attacks and defeats the Minotaur with its own horn, fueled by a boiling rage--it attacked his best friend and killed his mother! Percy stumbles into camp dragging Grover and the horn.
     When he wakes, Percy is moved to one of twelve cabins at the camp devoted to each of the major gods of Greece, he is under the care of Luke Castellan in the Hermes cabin. He meets Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and learns he is the son of one of the gods (but because he has yet to be claimed he is gets shuffled into Hermes' cabin). The camp is a training grounds where the demi-gods can learn to fight and develop their god-given talents, as well as be protected from the mythical creatures wandering the world looking to destroy them.
     During a game of Capture the Flag Percy is injured by the Ares cabin. He steps into a river running through camp and is healed. Then, after the game is won, he is attacked by a hell-hound, but saved by arrow-wielding campers. He steps into the river for healing and Poseidon's trident appears over his head to lay claim; Percy is announced the son of Poseidon and moved to his cabin.
     One of the camp's directors, a centaur named Chiron, explains that Poseidon has broken a treaty between the three greatest gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) that they would not have more demi-god children as they become too powerful and tend to start world-wide conflicts. He also reveals to Percy that Zeus's Thunderbolt has been stolen and Zeus suspects Percy. He is granted a quest to find the missing bolt and clear both his own and his father's name. Chiron points to Hades as the culprit and Percy begins his quest.
     After a visit to the Oracle Percy, Annabeth, and Grover go on their journey. Luke provides them with a pair of flying shoes, and the trio travels west to find the underground entrance to Hades before the Summer Solstice. They run into creatures of mythology including the furies, Medusa, the Chimera; encounter Ares who reveals Percy's mother is still alive; and are lost in the Den of the Lotus-Eaters in Las Vegas for several days. They escape to find there are only five days left until the Summer Solstice and their deadline.
     In Hades the trio must first bribe the ferryman to allow them to cross the river Styx, then escape as Luke's shoes try to drag Grover into Tartarus, and convince Hades that Percy did not steal his Helm of Darkness. They find Mrs. Jackson, but must leave her when they find the Lightningbolt in a backpack from Ares. On their way to return the bolt to Zeus, the travelers encounter Ares again and defeat him to retrieve Hades' Helm of Darkness, which they return via the Furies (witnesses to the battle).
     Percy risks entering the realm of Zeus by flying back to New York where Olympus has moved to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. Zeus is pacified and Percy returns to camp where he is a normal camper.
     On the final day of camp Luke reveals he was the one who stole the bolt, on orders from Kronos who is rising from Tartarus. Luke summons a pit scorpion and Percy is nearly killed. Chiron saves him and Percy decides to live with his mother rather than stay at camp. Annabeth decides to try living with her father again, and Grover is granted the quest to search for Pan, a rare opportunity and dangerous task from which no satyr has returned.
     Percy evolves throughout the story from a young boy who has no confidence in his ability and has lived his life criticized and put into a box based on his inability. When he goes to Camp Half-blood Percy realizes he has been judged by a scale that he wasn't compatible with. In the new world of demi-gods Percy becomes a hero; he has superior warrior abilities, he is humble despite his accomplishments, and still he is a likeable person. Like many people, Percy doesn't believe in himself and it isn't until the entire mission depends on him that he realizes he can accomplish his goal.
      The Lightning Thief is an intriguing adaptation of ancient Greek mythology in the modern world. The story is suited to readers in grades three through seven, and Percy's adventures continue in The Sea of Monsters.