Percy Jackson’s Next Adventure

On September 26th, 2023, 18 years after the first, Rick Riordan published the sixth book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series: The Chalice of the Gods. It focused once again on the original trio: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood. In a blog post from October 18th, 2022, Riordan explained how this book came to be: "I pitched three ideas for new Percy books when we were initially trying to entice Disney into making Percy Jackson a TV show. It turned out we didn't need to use those ideas, but once the show was in progress, writing the new books seemed like a good way to celebrate Percy's 'rebirth' with my readers."

As The Chalice of the Gods was published 14 years after the final of the first five books of PJO, which ended in 2009, the timeline can get confusing. This large gap was due to the other series and spin-offs Riordan published during that time, such as The Kane Chronicles; Heroes of Olympus; Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard; and The Trials of Apollo. The Chalice of the Gods takes place after the first five books of PJO and all of HoO, but before ToA. Percy and Annabeth are in their senior year of high school after a messy junior year and are working towards attending New Rome University. But the gods have something more in store for Percy, as they always do: to get into New Rome, Percy must get three recommendation letters from different gods by completing quests. Back at it again with Annabeth and Grover, Percy will embark on three more quests, not to save the world, but rather his education.

The Chalice of the Gods follows the trio's expedition to obtain 1 out of 3 of Percy's necessary recommendation letters by retrieving Ganymede's lost chalice. Its sequel—Wrath of the Triple Goddess—was then published a mere three months ago on September 24th, 2024. It follows their journey of earning the second recommendation letter. In this volume, Percy and his friends Annabeth and Grover must agree to a new challenge—pet-sitting for the goddess Hecate while she's away over Halloween week. They just need to follow her simple rules:

1. Look after her pet polecat and hellhound (very large mastiff) like their lives depend on it (because they do).

2. Don't touch anything—especially Hecate's magic potions!

But when Grover's curiosity gets the better of him, the friends find themselves with a giant goat, a destroyed mansion, and Hecate's (terrifying and potentially deadly) pets on the loose in New York City. Now the trio have only days to find the pets and restore the mansion to order—or face the full fury of Hecate and her horrifying three heads—hence—triple Goddess. It's going to take luck, demigod deception, and both old and new friends to hunt down the animals and set things right again.

The Review

Wrath of the Triple Goddess is a well written, fast-paced, action-filled story with heartwarming and mythological plots that fully immerse oneself into the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. As a 16-year-old who was first introduced to this series while exiting first grade—exactly a decade ago—this novel has brought back memories and emotions I had long forgotten. Rick Riordan has built a world able to be connected with so well that, after a decade of these books, I continue to easily slip back into the mythological realm and feel as if I had never left.

Part of the reason for this easy transition every time is the fact that when I first read The Lightning Thief, I was a six-year-old child who was just as immature and naïve as Percy. He had the same habits as I did and always made the decisions my six-year-old self would have if I had been put in his position (though now, I realize he could have handled the whole Medusa's-head thing a little differently). Now, I am a junior in high school, going through the same stress as Percy regarding college and university struggles, and I feel as if I have grown up and matured with him and his crew as they now make decisions in ways that my sixteen-year-old self would make.

I remember looking up to Annabeth, striving to be as passionate about something as she was about architecture, envying her gray eyes, and purchasing her Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and baseball cap. She felt so much older and more mature than me at the time, and now, as I watch the live action show on Disney+, I realize how young she was and how brave she had to have been in order to go through all of these intense struggles.

I am beyond connected to these characters and stories. Since my youth, this was the story that I turned to in my own times of struggle. They comforted me in ways those in real life couldn't, serving as a constant that will never alter in any way. Percy will always be his witty and sarcastic self, Annabeth will always be brave and quick thinking, Grover will always be cheerful and empathetic, and the stories will always end in a mix of sacrifice and celebration.

Personally, I can see bits and pieces of myself in each and every one of these characters (yet another confirmation of Rick Riordan's brilliant writing!) and am relieved by the fact that, as this series continues almost two decades later, Riordan can easily create new books with new storylines and further develop the depth of each individual character with the same quality as he did in 2005. Though his books are created at the reading level of middle graders, those of all ages are easily able to fully enjoy, appreciate, and become immersed in this world of mythology, as it teaches Greek myths with complete depth and complexity in an easily understandable way.

What makes Rick Riordan's books differ from other fiction authors is the fact that he combines our modern-day Western world with the complicated matters, myths, and worlds that originated throughout history—such as Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse mythology—rather than completely brand-new worlds, educating the youth about ancient affairs in a fun and immersive way.

The Wrath of the Triple Goddess is a seamless continuation of the multitude of series written by Rick Riordan, and I wholeheartedly believe that anyone who has read any previous Percy Jackson and the Olympians book will love it as much as I do—even if you have not read any previous books in the series, the first couple chapters will catch you up on any important information you need to fully enjoy the adventures of this particular book—though l'd always recommend reading the series in its entirety!

Thank you for reading this and acquire Wrath of the Triple Goddess at your local bookstore or library and stream Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+!