Rick Riordan is apparently better known for writing mysteries than children’s novels, but this is the second book in his Percy Jackson series. Book 1 was reviewed here; book 3’s review will probably be within the next week, and book 4 is set to be released in a couple months.

Percy, if you will recall, is a school troublemaker sort with ADHD and dyslexia; those are both the result of the fact that he is the son of a Greek god. Which god, I won’t reveal, for those who haven’t read the first book, but it’s not exactly a secret (if you look at the packaging of any book). He now spends his summers at Camp Half-Blood, for heroes like him, and he has almost made it through his seventh-grade year without horrible things happening — until the last day. The school bully somehow has Laistrygonians (large monsters) who volunteer to be on his dodgeball team, against Percy. Luckily, Percy has a friend, Tyson, who manages to help him not die. His friend Annabeth (one of Athena’s daughters) comes to rescue him from the melee and takes him to Camp Half-Blood, where something awful has happened: the tree, that is a guardian of the whole camp, has been poisoned. There is a way to save the tree, but it requires a difficult quest — can it be accomplished, and can they do it in time?

The characters in this book are just as delightful as they were in the last volume. I feel that some of them are even more delightful than they were previously; I liked Percy better, now that he had more knowledge. Annabeth still functions as the Hermione, but she’s not oppressively so. Some of the new creatures introduced are wonderful, as well. I had a minor issue with the hippocampi; I kept thinking of the brain part rather than the fish-horse thing. I also adored the centaurs who are not Chiron: they call themselves the ‘Party Ponies’ and are just a riot.

The humor was actually better in this novel than the last one. There’s the Party Ponies, of course, but also a wild cab ride through New York by the Gray Sisters — the ones who have one eye and one tooth between them. You can guess that their driving is a bit exciting. Tyson, Percy’s friend, is also a source of humor; while generally he’s a foil for most characters, he also says some things that are just howlers. He names his hippocampus ride “Rainbow”, for example.

The plot moved along at a fairly good clip; there were events such as chariot races, escapes from different ships, and chases populating the pages. Rarely was there a dull moment. I wasn’t entirely sure if I agreed with Riordan’s choice of pacing, but I don’t know that he could have done it any other way. There is, unfortunately, a cliffhanger ending. I was sort of expecting it, but it made me very glad that I had book 3 at hand.

I enjoyed the book very much; it’s probably just as good as the previous volume. It’s got more action and less explanation than The Lightning Thief, and fewer appearances of gods. The conflict between the campers is different than in the previous books, which is definitely good; there’s only so much inter-cabin rivalry I can take before I start screaming, “HOGWARTS!” In any case, these are probably very good boy books, and very good reluctant reader books, but generally speaking I think anyone would enjoy them. I would NOT recommend reading book 2 without having first reading book 1, but it’s still recommended. 4/5 stars.