Book three of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. This book is another high one on my list. I could read this one just on its own—you know without the rest of the series. I love it!

No read dates available.

Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Middle-grade, Teen
Book contains: mass murder/destruction, betrayal, manipulation

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The True Meaning of Strength

Now along with Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Percy goes on a mission to help Grover escort a few new demigods to camp, but along the way, they’re attacked by a powerful monster—because a demigod mission isn’t complete without everything going terribly wrong. They’re saved by a group of monster hunters, but not before one of them is kidnapped and a dastardly bit of information is shared about the stirring of monsters. What’s more, with the winter solstice and Thalia’s sixteenth birthday coming up, the gods must decide her fate—whether she may live to fulfill the prophecy or be destroyed. However, the gods can’t make a decision without all twelve of them present, and thus Percy and the others must embark on a quest to rescue the goddess trapped by Luke and his mysterious new ally… If only Percy was invited.

This book, unlike all the other books in the series, takes place in the winter, which really confused me as a kid because I couldn’t figure out how Percy went from twelve to sixteen in five books. I always thought five books meant five years. Nope! It’s because the third book takes place only a few months after the second, and the fourth a few months after the third.

Percy is still thirteen years old in this book, and his cousin Thalia, daughter of Zeus, is fifteen. Therefore, she’s the new child of the prophecy—which was exactly Luke’s plan from book two. Throughout the book, Luke, who was once very close with Thalia, is trying to turn her to his side so that she may help him destroy the gods, but he certainly has a strange way of going about it. Thalia in turn is a headstrong new character who I took a liking to early—she’s an excellent mirror to Percy, and she brings out some of his insecurities; she inadvertently pushes him to prove himself.

Some other new characters introduced in this book as well are the Olympians Artemis and Apollo, as well as Nico di Angelo, a new camper with a heart of gold and an unnamed godly parent. I name these characters specifically because I’m posting this review on the last day of Pride Month and these characters are all part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I want to celebrate them. Spoiler alert—sorry, not sorry. (Artemis is aro/ace, Apollo is bi, and Nico is gay.) Nico also has an older sister named Bianca, and she is such an underappreciated character in my opinion. We don’t get to see her as much as I would’ve liked. Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, is one of my favourite characters of the whole series, and I admit that as a child I really looked up to her as a character—which I understand better now because my own sexuality somewhat mirrors hers. She is a strong female character, and while she is a bit stubborn, bullheaded, and the like, by the end of the book, she comes to respect Percy, and I love the character growth there.

In this book we also get to know Blackjack, the Pegasus that Percy freed from Luke’s yacht at the end of the last book, though, to be forewarned, Blackjack is now a stallion instead of a are as originally described in Sea of Monsters. I’m completely fine with this change because he has such a personality—he easily steals the show in this book for his witty comments alone!

Yet again, Uncle Rick is a master author in this book. He really takes you into the mind of Percy, and his action sequences are always riveting and entertaining. The re-readability of this book—to me—speaks highly of his fun and comedic style. Percy may be a hero, but he’s still a bit of a dork and kind of a klutz and so hilariously funny and lame at the same time. This book also birthed the best dam joke of the fandom (if you get it, you get it).

I liked the mystery Uncle Rick is able to spin into his stories as well. There’s always some sort of twist coming at the end that you don’t expect. In book one, it was about Luke being the traitor; book two had Thalia come back to life; now in book three—well, that would be spoiling it for you. Throughout the book, there are scenes in which you wonder “how does this end?” or “how will they get out of this one?” and Percy delivers. His creativity and ingenuity save them all more than once as they face threat after threat along the way to the titans’ mountain where the sky meets the earth.

My absolute favourite part of the book is near the end, in a scene where Percy has a tough decision to make. Throughout the book, he’s been jealous of Thalia because ever since she came back, she’s been the one in charge, the one people look to for guidance. In this scene, Percy has the chance to fight the big bad guy and prove himself, or he can admit that he isn’t strong enough to face the enemy yet and leave it to someone more qualified. I think his decision really speaks to his character and how far he has come from book one and where he will get to by book five (and beyond).

Overall, this was an enjoyable read—honestly one of my favourite books of all time. I recommend this book obviously to people who read the first two. It’s a great story about hard sacrifices, overcoming insecurity, and human decency.

Related Reviews:

Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 1: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 2: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 3: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 5: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 6: The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 7: Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan
The Trials of Apollo Book 1: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan
The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan & Mark Oshiro