Lisa the Nerd

In a sentence or so: Percy tries to save Camp Half-Blood from being poisoned into oblivion and saving his best friend Grover from marrying a Cyclops. He is a total badass while doing so.Percy is at YET ANOTHER new school after all the drama that went down last summer. He's not the best at making friends, but he's totally honey badger about it because he has other things going on. Like being a son of Poseidon and such. He does manage to make a surprising connection with a charity case named Tyson that all the other kids pick on. Percy is more than a little surprised when Tyson defends him like a champ when monsters get all up in the school trying to take him out. Clearly, there's more to this kid than meets the eye.Percy is soon reunited with Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and discovers that things at Camp Half-Blood are seriously amiss. Luke is still trying to destroy the camp because he's all bitter his dad Hermes ditched him. He's even going so far as to try to bring Kronus back together. Listen, if the olympians destroyed this titan because they were scared of what he would do - it is NOT a good idea to put humpty dumpty back together again. I wish Luke were reading this.Percy has more amazing Greek mythology adventures in The Sea of Monsters. We get many nods to the Greek myths we know and love while seeing Percy grow and develop as a character. He is strong, smart, sensitive, caring, all wrapped up in a surprisingly snarky and badass package. I kind of love Percy Jackson a whole helluva lot. Annabeth, Tyson, Grover, and the rest are certainly fun to read about too and add depth and drama to the story.Here's the deal. I am firmly Team Percy. I love middle grade books and I love Greek mythology and The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan marries them perfectly. He gives me a hero I can root for and a story I don't want to put down. I loved that this went a bit darker with the whole Doom Of The Whole World thing lurking on the horizon. I place my trust for survival into Percy's capable 13 year old hands.Fave Quotes: "But you, Percy - you are part god, part human. You live in both worlds. You can be harmed by both, and you can affect both. That's what makes heroes so special." (252) - TEAM PERCY, YO."His sandy hair, which used to be so unruly, was now clipped short. He looked like an evil male model, showing off what the fasionalbe college-age villain was wearing to Harvard this year." (125) - YEAH SNARK."I could smell the thing - a sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird sour body odor that only monsters have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food." (3) - MIDDLE GRADE FOREVER.Fix er up: There were quite a few deus ex machina moments in this, but really, I am so enamored I was willing to let just about anything slide.Title: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and The Olympians #2)Author: Rick RiordanPub Info: Disney Hyperion, 2006Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy