Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters – Ch 16

The Sea of Monsters may now get its driver’s license.

A cyclops that just won’t die, and a daughter of Ares that just won’t shut the **** up! All this and more (though not too much more) on the sixteenth part of Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters…

I Go Down with the Ship

So this one’s a pretty short chapter, which now makes me feel a little badly about taking so long to get this post up. (Sorry. I’ve been busy with preparations for the A Memory in the Black re-release.) It’s nearly all action, so it moves quickly, as will this post.

I didn’t actually expect they’d take the entire chapter on dealing with Polyphemus. (This is not a complaint, however.) I really didn’t expect that Polyphemus would still be alive at the resolution of that particular conflict, especially after what he pulled when he “surrendered” the last time.

Percy rushing back into the fry on the crest of a wave is a fun visual. When Polyphemus labeled Tyson a traitor I wondered if it might cause a bit of existential hesitation in Tyson, but he didn’t even blink. I do wonder if he brushed it off as swiftly as he seemed to. Will the subject come up again? I don’t think it’s fair to call him a traitor, of course, but it also seems like something that might eat anyone at least a little.

Clarisse is a great fighter, but she can really be quite aggressively dim when it comes to battle tactics, can’t she? It’s perfectly fitting for Ares, so far as I’m concerned, so it’s good characterization. That said, I’m assuredly identifying with Percy when he wants her to shut up. She’s going to get a lot of people killed if she’s not careful.

But then, that’s fine with Ares, I’m sure.

In this case, she just got the Queen Anne’s Revenge sunk. And, okay, so I’ll admit I was pleased when Tyson’s hippogriff friend Rainbow returned and saved everyone’s soggy bacon. There’s probably a “Friendship is Magic” reference I could make in there somewhere, but the concept of Bronyism eludes me, so I’ll resist. Except I guess I just did make a reference, huh? Oops.

Now they’ve escaped the island with the Fleece, and while Polyphemus is now Fleece-less, he’s overjoyed in his belief that he’s killed his ancient arch-nemesis Nobody. So, really, everybody wins.

According to my Kindle I’m now 75% of the way through the book. So now they just need to get the Fleece home. Call me crazy, but I’m begging Luke’s about to come back into play.

This chapter’s favorite line comes after Polyphemus hits Tyson with an uprooted olive tree:

“The tree struck him with such force it would’ve flattened me into a Percy pizza with extra olives.”

It just made me grin, because it’s an OLIVE tree, see, and… Oh, shut up. Don’t you judge me.

I hope to have the next chapter posted within a few days, but there’s some other fun stuff coming, too. Be sure to subscribe to the blog to keep up!