And it's a pretty darn good adventure.
We start off, much like Harry Potter in reverse, with Percy finishing his school year before returning to
Annabeth appreas and helps save his bacon, although the end up taking Percy's friend, Tyson along with them. Turns out Tyson is a baby cyclops, one of the sons of Poseidon and a nature spirit.
Whcih leads to camp, which is under attack, and something about the land being poisoned.
(Yes, skipping around in plot line a bit.)
Which, given Percy's dreams of Grover being trapped by Polyphemus (the cyclops from Homer's Odyssey), who also has the Golden Fleece...
Much happens in this book, most of it directly lifted from The Odyssey. The order's a bit off from what I remember of the last time I read through Homer, but most of the big events are in here. Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, Circe, Polyphemus... Heck, Grover's keeping himself from being eaten by pretending to be a female cyclops and delaying the wedding by unraveling his wedding train every evening. About the only event that doesn't get mentioned in here is the seven years Odysseus spends cavorting with Calypso.
Also, Tantalus shows up, and I giggled at how his curse worked outside of Hades.
And it still manages to work in Values We Want Installed in Young People like any good YA novel should. Things like being nice to special needs children, particularly if you're related. Don't hog all the glory, allow other people to take care of a quest.
It's a quick read, but it's a fun read. I'm still smiling about how every time the hydra loses a head, 2 more Monster Doughnut stores open some place.
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