Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, books #1&2

        Percy Jackson and the lightning thief book #1

 Percy is a twelve-year-old New Yorker who has dyslexia and ADHD. For reasons unknown, he often finds himself in unique situations that get him kicked out of school. During a school trip to a museum, a bully, Nancy Bobofit, bullies Percy’s friend Grover. At the same time Percy defends his friend, the fountain that they were next to grabs Nancy. However, Nancy believed that she was pushed into the fountain, and lies about the incident to Mrs.Dodds, Percy's pre-algebra teacher. Mrs. Dodds separates Percy from the rest of the class before she transforms into one of the Furies from Greek mythology and attacks him. Mr. Brunner, Percy's Latin teacher, tosses a pen to Percy, and when uncapped, it transforms into a sword. Percy kills Mrs. Dodds, and when he returns to the class, no one seems to remember the pre-algebra teacher. Only Grover seems suspicious when Percy confronts him.

Percy seeks Mr. Brunner for extra help on Latin for the final the following week. However, he unwittingly hears Grover and Mr. Brunner talking about him, and about a stolen item that was important.

Percy goes home on the last day of school, and his mother Sally takes him to the beach house where Percy's parents met long ago. Unfortunately, that night, a storm rages, and Grover warns them to flee. They are attacked by the Minotaur while driving to the countryside, and in the ensuing fight, Sally disappears in a gold flash when the monster grabs her. Enraged, Percy kills the Minotaur and passes out soon afterwards.

Three days later, he wakes up in the infirmary of Camp Half-Blood, where Grover and Mr. Brunner - who is Chiron, the camp director – tell him that he is a demigod - half-mortal, half-god - but his godly parent is unknown. For this reason, he is sent to the Hermes cabin, which receives all the unclaimed demigods. During his time there, he befriends Luke, the cabin leader and son of Hermes, becomes an acquaintance of Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and an enemy of Clarisse, who is a daughter of Ares. Through a series of events during Percy’s stay at camp, Poseidon claims him.

However, just as the trident that claimed him fades away, a hellhound bursts into camp and sends the campers into panic, as these monsters supposedly are unable to enter. To protect the camp, Chiron sends Percy on a quest.

Percy is eventually tasked by the Oracle to retrieve Zeus' stolen lightning bolt, mistakenly believed to have been taken by Poseidon. Poseidon, however, blames Hades for stealing it, in hopes of starting a war. Annabeth and Grover go west with him in order to retrieve the stolen items. However, upon reaching Hades’s lair, Hades accuses Percy of stealing his helm, threatening to kill him and his mother before releasing the dead into the world. Percy and his friends escape, and they find out that Ares had the stolen items all along. Percy fights the god of war in a duel and surprisingly wins. Percy returns the helm to Hades, and in return, Hades returns Sally safely.

After Percy returns the lightning bolt to Zeus, Luke reveals that he was the thief and is working for Kronos, the Lord of the Titans. He tries to kill Percy by calling on a pit scorpion, but Percy survives. At the end of summer, Percy ultimately chooses to return home for the school year before he comes back for the next summer.

Percy Jackson and the sea of monsters book #2

American author Rick Riordan’s novel, The Sea of Monsters, was published in 2006. Blending adventure, Greek mythology, and fantasy, it is the sequel to the best-selling The Lightning Thief (2005), which was the first of the five books in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. The first two books were made into major motion pictures. Riordan first came up with the story while inventing bedtime stories for his daughter. Themes in The Sea of Monsters includes the power of friendship, deceit, and family secrets.

In the first book, Percy Jackson is a 12-year-old boy who doesn’t yet know that he’s the son of Poseidon, and thus a demi-god. In The Sea of Monsters, Percy becomes aware of his half-immortal status and his super-powers, and confronts Luke Castellan (son of Hermes), who stole a lightning bolt that would have allowed the evil Titans to break out of their prison. The novel opens on a peaceful year at Camp Half-Blood, the prep school for demigods where Percy is in the 7th grade. The world seems stable enough, and Percy’s only real challenge is Tyson, his very tall, mentally limited half-brother, who considers Percy to be his best friend. Because Percy is kind, he doesn’t tell Tyson to leave him alone, even though Tyson’s constant presence makes finding friends a little difficult. However, Tyson, who’s actually a baby cyclops, is a useful friend to have around. He saves Percy’s life twice: once from a gang of laestrygonians (giants that feed on humans), and once from a horde of Colchis Bulls (massive, fire-breathing creatures made by the god Hephaestus). His friend from the first novel, 13-year-old Annabeth brings some bad news. An unknown enemy has weakened the protective walls of Camp Half-Blood by poisoning the tree of the demi-goddess Thalia. Time is of the essence: unless the young people can find a way to stop the walls from crumbling, there will be no protective space in the entire world for demi-gods like Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson. Chiron, a wise centaur, is accused of poisoning the tree. The only evidence of his guilt is that his father is Kronos. Percy has a dream that suggests that the Golden Fleece, a powerful object in Greek mythology, can cure the poisoned tree of Thalia. It doesn’t take long for Annabeth to realize that Grover, a satyr who was sent by the Gods to guard Percy, has the fleece.

 Dionysus becomes the new camp counselor, replacing Chiron. Dionysus sends Clarisse La Rue to find the Golden Fleece, while Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson strike out on their own to find Grover. They distrust Dionysus and don’t tell him their real intentions. The god Hermes helps them reach the ship Princess Andromeda, which takes them closer to Polyphemus, where they believe the Golden Fleece to be. But once on the ship, they notice that all of the tourists are zombie-like and live among monsters without any objection. Luke Castellan captures them, and they learn that he is working to revive Kronos, the original God, who was cruel to most living beings and is considered the enemy of his son, the ruling god, Zeus. The trio escapes on an emergency lifeboat, and take shelter in hideouts that Annabeth and Thalia built as children. Later, while sailing through the sea, a hydra finds and attacks them, but fortunately, Clarisse La Rue is nearby and defends them from her ship, the CSS Birmingham.

Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson journey on the CSS Birmingham to the Bermuda triangle (aka the Sea of Monsters). Unfortunately, the mythic figures from the Homeric tales, Charybdis (a terrible whirlpool) and Scylla (a female monster who resembled a massive hawk) attack and destroy the ship. It appears that Tyson and Clarisse are killed in action, so Percy and Annabeth board another life raft and head toward the nearest island. Like Odysseus, after traveling through the narrow strait that Charybdis and Scylla guarded, the two land on the island of the queen-witch Circe. Realizing she is not to be trusted, and seeing that she has turned dozens of men into guinea pigs, they rush to leave the island. They escape on the famous Queen Anne’s Revenge, a former pirate ship. Percy and Annabeth pass the Sirens, and Annabeth confesses her insecurities to Percy. They reach the island of Polyphemus, which is ruled by the notorious cyclops, Polyphemus, who happens to be Poseidon’s son and Percy’s half-brother. Before journeying to the center of the island, Percy and Annabeth meet Grover and learn that Clarisse and Tyson are alive. They also have the fleece! The group returns to the mainland, vanquishing Polyphemus along the way in a bloody battle. Clarisse, in possession of the Golden Fleece, takes a plane to Camp Half-Blood, but the others are soon captured by Luke Castellan. However, Percy manages to send a message to Camp Half-Blood in which Luke admits to poisoning the three of Thalia; the elders see their mistake and reinstate Chiron as the camp counselor. When Luke finds out, he challenges Percy to a duel. As Luke is one of the best sword masters in the world, he wins easily. He’s about to go on a rampage and murder the rest of the group, but the centaurs, led by Chiron, appear and whisk the group away. Back at Camp Half-Blood, Chiron’s position as camp counselor is officially restored. The Golden Fleece is applied to the tree of Thalia, and the poison is reversed. Camp Half-Blood is safe.