The Quest for (Recommendation) Letters: Returning to PJO

Here's to my first literature post on here (yay!), and to finally returning to the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians for the first time in years.

(You can see Mt. Olympus, right?)

Nostalgia has been making a big impact in so many lives recently, including mine. So when I heard there was a new PJO book on the shelves, obviously I couldn't resist.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover haven't been on a quest together since their debut in the first novel, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Of course, they've been joined by fellow campers amongst others since then, but this time around it's just them. My elementary school self could not be more happy right now.

Soon, the new Disney+ series will take audiences back to the world of Camp Half Blood and its mythology (and this might be an unpopular opinion, but even though the movies are nostalgic, they don't do the books the justice they deserved).

So of course, when I saw the announcement that Mr. Rick Riordan would be releasing this new book, The Chalice of the Gods, I placed an online order and drove 45 minutes to my nearest book retailer just so I could read it without spoilers. With it being fairly short (just under 270 pages) I was able to finish it within a day. Let me say I was not disappointed in the slightest.

*From here on out, I will try to stray away from any spoilers for those of you who have not had a chance to read yet, but I won't make any promises. I'm sorry.*

It started out with the typical set-up of the problem, and we even got to see a slight reunion between Percy and his dad. It remained short, just like most of their reunions, and we got right into the action. (I will say though, we do get a wholesome moment between them somewhere else in the book).

As for Percy and Annabeth, New Rome University is the end goal for both of them as far as college goes. It can never be normal for Percy, of course, so when his new guidance counselor tells him he has to receive not one, not two, but three recommendation letters from three different Greek gods, he almost decides to give up on the spot.

That is, until he receives his first quest.

From here, he takes his girlfriend and best friend respectively on this action-packed and hilarious mission to retrieve Ganymede's chalice, where we as readers get to see some new gods we might not have seen before (I'll bypass the names here, have fun reading!)

Most of the story takes places within New York City, but even though the story never leaves the city, it feels like we are transported into so many different places in such a short amount of pages. I say short because I know some of you have seen these other books and they're bricks compared to this one.

There are a lot of new settings, and with that comes new characters that I'm sure most of you will enjoy just as much as I did. The descriptions of these places felt like I was right there experiencing it with the trio the entire time, which is one of the biggest reasons why I love reading Riordan books; he always kills it with the descriptions. Anyway.

If you're looking for some good old-fashioned PJO humor, very cute "Percabeth" moments, as well as a lot of fourth-wall breaks might I add, look no further. I had many genuine laughs throughout this read, and it was just fun overall. I have a feeling it is setting up for this story to leak into another book, but don't quote me on that. It's just a feeling...maybe.

(My intuition was right! An update following the last paragraph, there will be a book following this one. It's scheduled to release on September 24th of next year, and the rumored title is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Wrath of the Triple Goddess! Hecate is most likely going to make an appearance, as well as our favorite hell-hound, Mrs. O'Leary)

Now that the Percy Jackson series is all I'm thinking about, I might go re-read the original series. Now might also be a great time to finish the third, fourth, and fifth books of the Heroes of Olympus series (no, I haven't finished it, and yes I regret it, and yes I've already gotten dozens of spoilers).

For now, I don't have anything else to add, but if Mr. Riordan does confirm there will be another book following this one, this line is subject to change to display that news. My review will be up on my GoodReads page soon (my name shows up as lexie v, so do with that what you will if you wish to find me on there).

©Rick Riordan/Disney Hyperion

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of The Gods is available now on https://rickriordan.com/ as well as Amazon and most bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million.

And now for a closing poll that is totally not related to any subject matter of the book at all...Maybe.

Which would you rather fight?

• 0%A horde of mythical chickens
• 0%A horde of mythical snakes