The Sea of Monsters

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The Sea of Monsters
Author Rick Riordan
Country United States
Language English
Series Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Genre(s) Children's Fantasy novel
Publisher Miramax Books
Publication date 2006
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Preceded by The Lightning Thief
Followed by

The Sea of Monsters (2006) is a fantasy novel by Rick Riordan. It is the second in the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and is the sequel to The Lightning Thief. It is followed by The Titan's Curse and The Battle of the Labyrinth.

[edit] Plot Summary

In The Sea of Monsters, the 13-year-old demigod Percy Jackson goes on a quest with his friend Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and Tyson, a Cyclops. They go to save Thalia's pine tree, which has been poisoned mysteriously, and to save Grover, Percy's best friend. In order to get the Golden Fleece, which will heal the tree, they must travel across the ominous Sea of Monsters (a.k.a. the Bermuda Triangle) to an island guarded by Polyphemus and his man-eating sheep, where Grover is trapped. Throughout the journey, Percy, Annabeth and Tyson face many challenges, such as Circe, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the Hydra.

Percy has finally made it to his last day of school without anything crazy happening to cause him to get expelled, but he has been having nightmares involving Grover. Matt Sloan, the school bully, is picking on his large, slow classmate Tyson, as usual, but when Percy insults the bully he swears to kill him. Gym class starts and Percy is stuck playing dodgeball against Sloan and his goons. The goons transform into giants and completely destroy the gym. Percy is only protected by Tyson, whom he later discovers to be a cyclops.

Back at Camp Half-Blood Clarisse, a daughter of Ares, is fighting off metal bulls. Percy finds out Thalia's tree, which protects the camp, has been poisoned, so the camp is constantly on the look out for attacking monsters. Chiron, the assistant director, has been fired because he is suspected of poisoning the tree, and Tantalus has taken his place. Tantalus decides to re-introduce the Chariot race, which Clarisse wins. During the celebrations, Percy and Annabeth ask Tantalus to send somebody on a quest to find the Golden Fleece. Under pressure from the whole camp, he agrees, but decides to send Clarisse, instead of Percy.

Percy sneaks out to the ocean to calm down and think things over. He meets up with a jogger, who is Hermes in disguise. Hermes assigns Percy the task of trying to convince Luke to return to the side of the Gods. He also gives Percy some useful gifts. After Hermes leaves, Percy tells Tyson and Annabeth what has happened. Harpies arrive to eat them, but they sneak onto a passing cruise ship, which is soon revealed to be owned by Luke. Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth are captured, and they learn that Luke is trying to bring Kronos back to life using a golden sarcophygus. They manage to escape, but are then attacked by the Hydra. They are saved by Clarisse, who has a boat of her own, given to her by her father, but the boat is destroyed on entering the Sea of Monsters and the adventurers are separated.

After being attacked by Circe, who turns Percy into a guinea pig (temporarily), and steals a pirate ship, Annabeth makes a plan to listen to the Sirens. After a disastrous attempt, Annabeth tells Percy that her fatal flaw is deadly pride. They soon reach the island of the Cyclops, and save Grover, with the help of Tyson and Clarisse. They recover the Fleece and make their way to Florida. Percy sends Clarisse to camp, with the Fleece, on an airplane.

Soon after, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson are captured by Luke. Percy manages to contact camp with an Iris-message, tricking Luke into admitting he poisoned Thalia's tree. In a fight with Luke, Percy is nearly killed, only saved by Chiron and and his centaur family. Chiron is re-hired and everything seems to be perfect.

When they return to camp, the Fleece is placed on the tree. The next day, they find out that the Golden Fleece also brought Thalia back to life back from a tree , thus giving Kronos another chance to control the prophecy which states that a 16-year-old child of one of the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon or Hades) will either destroy or save the gods.

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