In which I merge two chapters into an unholy union of blogging!
Or something like that.
I had only two chapters left to go, and the momentum of Chapter 19’s chariot race just flung me headlong into Chapter 20, and I couldn’t stop to write an entry! So, that’s right, this time you get a two-for-one-deal! Okay, so I suppose that means you get half as many posts as you would have otherwise, but I’m putting the two-for-one spin on it anyway.
So anyway, without further ado, it’s time for Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters…
The Chariot Race Ends with a Bang
&
The Fleece Works Its Magic Too Well
First of all, I enjoyed these last two chapters a lot more than the previous. (Whew!) 😀 As to why…
For one thing, Hermes returns! He’s my favorite god in this series so far. He’s friendly, and encouraging, and he seems to have his heart in the right place. I was glad to see him again, and was pleased to see him giving some fatherly advice to Percy, even if it is, more accurately, er, cousinly advice. I think it’s something that Percy really needed after this adventure, and it’s good to see him get it, even if it might frustrate him that it wasn’t coming from Luke’s father rather than his own.
Especially considering how brief the message from Poseidon was. “Brace yourself”? Geez, how frustrating must this be for Percy?? Darned gods and their limited communication. (As a side-note, is it wrong that I’m now considering sending anonymous postcards that say “brace yourself” to people I know? Though with my luck it would turn into some sort of criminal incident.)
As a reader, however, the note is excellent: it re-heightens the tension of the narrative and energizes the final two chapters. I didn’t know if Percy was meant to brace himself for something to come in the next book, or something that would happen before this one ended. It’s a big part of why I kept reading into the next chapter before blogging again. I didn’t want to stop.
The chariot race itself, though I have little to say about it specifically, was a fun read. It was great to read about a race that wasn’t interrupted by death-pigeons (which is not to say I didn’t enjoy the death-pigeons the first time), well-written, and exciting. And of course it was nice to see Tyson get some positive attention. (I’m just sorry Apollo’s chariot didn’t win, but then I’m biased.)
And then we find out why Percy needs to brace himself, and I admit that I totally did NOT see coming that the Fleece would restore Thalia! (I’m excited to meet her in the next book, and eager to see just how different she is from my own Thalia from Zeus Is Dead, given that the latter is a Muse who’s most assuredly NOT into combat.) Yeah, so I suspected/hoped she might be de-treed somehow, but for whatever reason I didn’t even think that the MAGICAL LIFE-REGENERATING FLEECE would be the cause.
In hindsight, I feel a little silly for that, but it’s fun to be surprised!
My excitement and curiosity for this turn of events makes me think Chiron’s being a bit of a stick-in-the-mud for being more worried than happy that Thalia is alive again. I can understand where he’s coming from, but if he continues to treat her being alive as a BAD thing, especially to her face, all he’s going to do is drive her away from the side he wants her to take in the coming conflict.
So, hey, lighten up, folks! You were said she’d died before, weren’t you? New character! Get on the optimism-train!
Random Comments:
- The Party Ponies would have liked Dionysus’s incarnation in Zeus Is Dead a lot more than Mr. D.
- Why does Percy have to find another private school? I forget if there’s a reason he can’t go back into the public school system.
- I confess that I kept wanting to womp Percy with a heavy pillow or something when he was so slow to realize that the girl on the ground was Thalia. You’re smarter than that, kid. Then again, I guess he had been woken up in the middle of the night, so I should probably go easy on him, huh?
My favorite quote/line from this chapter is from Hermes:
“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related, for better or worse… and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”
A perfect description of the Olympian pantheon.
A double chapter, right for me birthday! 😀 Thank you for a wonderful gift!
Anyway, here we go – Thalia enters the stage! I’ll be honest – up until “The Son of Neptune”, Thalia was my favorite character in the series. And don’t get too much hope for Percy – he is known to be kind of a goofball.
Anyway, onwards to “The Titan’s Curse”! I wonder, will we see the predictions by the end of this week?
You’re welcome! (Careful of the spoilers, though – you just told me that Thalia lives up through at least The Son of Neptune. Not a major deal, of course, but I’m spoiler-paranoid.) 🙂
And yes, I hope to have predictions for The Titan’s Curse up by Friday or Saturday… I’ll go through my Sea of Monsters predictions, too. I forget what I said. I’m curious to see how badly I missed the mark. 😀
I only said that, until I met a certain character in “The Son of Neptune”, Thalia was my favorite 🙂 I never said anything about her being alive or dead.
That’s a very good point. 🙂
Oh, forgot to ask – do you think you could do those a teeny-tiny bit longer? I’m not saying “Mark Oshiro” long or narrating each scene moment by moment… but maybe including some of your favorite scenes, dialogues etc. I’m really interested about your thoughts about it and to get any comments or question for discussion in the comments 😀
I’ll see what I can do. (And thank you for asking!) The challenge is trying to get these posts done amid working on other posts, dealing with some of the marketing tasks I need to do with my own books (I’m headed to Norwescon soon), working on finishing A Dragon at the Gate, and my day job on top of that. (Also I try to eat and sleep once in a while.) 😉 I definitely couldn’t best Mark Oshiro, but I’m always looking for ways to make these posts more engaging, too. (I love getting comments, even if it takes me a little bit to respond to them.)
Hopefully I’ll improve my “Michael Reads” skills as time goes on…
Simply amazing, i was especting this moment for a while… THE RANDOM COMMENTS RETURNS!! haha
I feel the same as you when i finished this book, i mean, Thalia is alive and then… the book ends. I’m happy that i didn’t have to way for the next book or i would probably drive crazy and start bugging Riordan in Twitter (not that it would actually bothers him xD). As i said before, the books are gradually becoming greater. Hope see your predictions for next book, i’m willing to read them xD
Btw, Percy needs to search a new school because of the mess with Tyson at the beggining of the year, you know, when the gym was destroyed…
But wasn’t the school from the beginning of the year also a private school? (Or had he been kicked out of the public school system in The Lightning Thief?)
Yeah, Yancy Academy was a private boarding school. In my opinion, Sally picks private schools for Percy because they’re less populated and, therefore, can reduce accidents involving mortals?
You are totally right, they never mention why he is only in private schools but i think that the fact that he is kicked out every year since he was a child could make us think that a public school is implied in the list?
Whatever, the thing is that the guy needs another school xD
Let’s hope the next school would be… good… *wink, wink* 😀
Ares & Athena’s Military Reform School! (That’s just a joke. Please don’t tell me if I’m actually right.) 😀
Haha probably could be good… or not?… *wink* xD
Btw Michael, i’m not sure if a school between Ares & Athena could work and if it actually works well… we can expect military enginners haha
Seeing their children during Capture the Flag,I don’t think the school would not prosper very long… They would kill each other over a design of the place already 😀