The Sea of Monsters is an American fantasy-adventure novel based on Greek mythology written by Rick Riordan and published in 2006. It is the second novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and the sequel to The Lightning Thief. This book chronicles the adventures of thirteen-year-old demigod Percy Jackson as he and his friends rescue his satyr friend Grover from the Cyclops Polyphemus and save Camp Half-Blood from a Titan's attack by bringing the Golden Fleece to cure Thalia's poisoned pine tree.
The Sea of Monsters was released on April 1, 2006, by Miramax Books, an imprint of Hyperion Books for Children and thus Disney Publishing (succeeded by the Disney Hyperion imprint). It was generally well–received and was nominated for numerous awards, including the 2006 Book Sense Top Ten Summer Pick and the 2009 Mark Twain Award. It sold over 100,000 copies in paperback with over one million copies total and was released in audiobook format on September 6, 2006. The Sea of Monsters is followed by The Titan's Curse, the third book of the five books in the series.
A film adaptation of the book, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, was released on August 7, 2013.
Plot
The novel begins with Percy dreaming about Grover being hunted by a monster. He wakes on the last day of his seventh-grade year, a peaceful year at Meriwether College Prep. There he has become friends with Tyson, a homeless child that the school has taken on as a form of charity. In gym class, during a game of dodgeball, Percy is attacked by a gang of Laestrygonians but is saved by Tyson and Annabeth, who was on her way back to Camp Half-Blood after having dreams about the camp in danger. The three take a magical taxi driven by the Graeae to Long Island. Upon reaching the camp, they see a group of campers led by Clarisse LaRue battling a pair of Colchis bulls. Tyson is granted permission to move past the camp's boundary to save Percy once again. It is revealed that he is a baby Cyclops and a half-brother of Percy, as he is also a son of Poseidon. An unknown enemy has weakened the protective walls of Camp Half-Blood by poisoning the tree of the demigod Thalia, leaving the campers vulnerable to future monster attacks. Camp counselor Chiron is accused of poisoning the tree and is fired. Before leaving, Chiron notes that only the Golden Fleece could save the camp. Shortly thereafter, Stymphalian birds attack during the chariot races, but Percy and Annabeth distract them with Chiron's boombox and Dean Martin's "Volare", enabling the Apollo campers to shoot them down.
Due to his charm and skill with a sword, Tantalus becomes the new camp counselor. As a reward for winning the chariot race, Tantalus sends Clarisse LaRue to find the Golden Fleece and forbids anyone else from leaving camp without his permission. After having a talk with the god Hermes about the fate of his son Luke, Percy leaves camp with Annabeth and Tyson to find Grover. With the help of the hippocampus that Tyson names Rainbow, the trio reach the Princess Andromeda, a cruise ship filled with monsters and demigods that allied with the titan Kronos. On the ship, they are captured by Luke Castellan and learn that he is working to revive Kronos. The trio narrowly escapes on an emergency lifeboat and takes shelter in a hideout that Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke built as children. There, a hydra finds and attacks them, but they are saved by Clarisse on her ship, the CSS Birmingham.
Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson join Clarisse's quest and journey to the Bermuda Triangle (also known as the Sea of Monsters). To enter the Sea of Monsters, the ship tries to pass between Charybdis and Scylla, who attack and destroy it. Clarisse gets separated from the others while Tyson is seemingly killed in the explosion so Percy and Annabeth board a lifeboat and head to the nearest island. Like Odysseus, after traveling through the narrow strait that Charybdis and Scylla guarded, the two land on the island of the witch-queen Circe. Realizing that she has turned dozens of men into guinea pigs, they escape on the famous pirate's ship Queen Anne's Revenge which Percy can control, while leaving Blackbeard and his crew to deal with Circe. Percy and Annabeth pass the Sirens, and Annabeth confesses her insecurities to Percy.