where do I even start😭😭 this was fine, if this was just a fun demigod diaries-esque lil romp I would have read it, had a lil chuckle, said "aw" a few times and then moved in with my life. this does NOT need to be a trilogy. the stakes have literally never been lower but we get multiple times in the book where percy is like "wow.... I might actually die rn...... probably am....... I wish I could tell annabeth I love her......" wdym???? not you're not??????? in the main series and in other sequels there have been times where percy has been the same amount (or worse) of danger and he's just chillin. the stakes are so so so low in this story which would have been fine if it was a random side quest. turning this into a trilogy means that rick is constantly having to force sections where the audience waits with baited breath like omg is he going to survive when of course he is. he is never in more danger than the other books and it really annoys me that the author keeps pretending that he's about to die like we're going to believe it. it was so anti-climatic!!! like I'm not saying that i wish the stakes were higher, i was really happy reading this as just a chill low stakes story but percy keeps having these moments of clarity where he's like :((((((((((((((((((((((((( I'm about to die :((((((((((((( like wtf you're literally fine dude omg. it's just so unearned. 

this was also just dragged out way too long. ik this was middle grade but omg the text was BIG, this could have been a single book with 3 short quests and there was sooooo much filler and unnecessary scenes. I'm assuming this is so that he can release one book for each of the first 3 seasons of the show, I'm afraid mr riordan is selling out 😭😭😭😭

also the plot. what are you actually on about. this was just the main gang doing the most random stuff for no reason. with all the other quests there was natural and logical progression from one thing to another whereas for this one there was so much logic jumping going from point A to point B. Like I did not understand how they kept deciding what to do next it made no sense! Also Annabeth!!! what do you meannnnn. She's the plan girlie but all her plans only worked because of dumb luck!! Usually she has reasoning for why she does random stuff to beat monsters and stuff but she just kept being like "okay maybe if we do this totally random thing it will work" and then it does??? she's just doing random stuff every single time, not using her knowledge of greek mythology or anything. Also it felt so odd that they kept going to school in between everything. like it was so jarring and especially when the climax of the story is about to happen and then Annabeth just goes "okay good luck percy!" and then goes to school?????????? and then she doesn't show up for the rest of the book part from when they hang out and he recounts what happened at the end of the book??????? what do you mean????????????? 

I think what upsets me the most is that i really saw the potential for a really great story. I felt like I was reading a recap the main plot beats that he was trying to hit but then nothing really was driven home. like a draft where he was constantly writing "note: make this make more sense later" etc. I loved the themes of embracing old age and growing up, especially since the audience for these books are people that are my age and reading this because percy jackson is something that they loved when they were kids. but he just introduced these ideas practically out of nowhere and didn't dissect them! I can really see where he was going but then it just didn't happen. If he had a different editor or maybe wasn't rushed with this story, if he had longer to go through and actually decide where he wanted to take this story and make it make more sense it could have been so great and that upsets me. It was just floundering between wanting to be a small scale fun story while also being something massive and dramatic to follow the previous works. 

Despite all this, I still did really enjoy this book. I love percy's humour and it was so lovely to to see interactions between the OG gang again, it really felt like coming home. I thought that them getting caught in a literal nostalgia trap at the beginning of the story was hilarious and rick riordan is amazing at coming up with fun quirks for all the gods that still manage to seem fresh and original even after 20 years. I hope that when he writes the next ones he understands the place and identity of the novels and is able to give them the justice they deserve because these books and these characters really mean so much to so many people and I want these new ones to be good so badly. Anyway, if you're a fan I recommend reading this anyway just because it really is so much fun being in percy's head again, while I did not really enjoy the plot, at the end of the day we're all reading this book to see our fave characters acting like themselves and being friends and rick definitely gave us that! 

As you might have seen I read this book while sitting next to my sister as they also read the book. We stopped after every chapter to discuss and we had so much fun sharing our live reactions, it was like watching a tv show or movie with someone! Reading is usually an activity I do by myself and especially with this account and sharing my love for reading with my friends I've been able to experience and talk about books with people way more which is just such a lovely activity. I first read percy jackson on recommendation from my friend in 2015 and then I loved it so much that I forced jacinta to read it straight after me. jacinta and I have shared our love for media many times after this (jacinta forced me to watch voltron lmao and then I forced them to read/watch anne of green gables/anne with an e, they forced me to watch julie and the phantoms and then i forced them to read six of crows and i am also the reason jacinta knows far too much about taylor swift). but Percy Jackson is where all of this started!!!!!!! Sharing books I love with other people and sharing excitement is such one of favourite things ever I am literally the opposite of a gatekeeper. If i like something you're definitely going to know about it and I love it when people share the media that makes them excited with me. So this experience was definitely enhanced so much by being able to share this with jacinta so thank you for that cinty <3 This is definitely going to drum up hype for the show and I'm so so excited for dec 20!!!!!. 3.25 stars