The Sea of Monsters

Hello, and welcome to Notes from the Oracle.

I'm Connor, and together with Jack, my co-host from Cabin 6, we're going into uncharted waters as we explore the monstrous mythology of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2, The Sea of Monsters.

Hey, everyone.

Before we start today's episode, I want to quickly jump in here and let you know that Notes from the Oracle has created an official Patreon page.

They escape on a lifeboat using the first of their magical gifts from Hermes, the thermos of wind.

This takes them to the demigod hideout in Virginia, where they encounter the Hydra.

And of course the ever important monster donut before meeting up with Clarice, they hop aboard her boat, the civil war era CSS Birmingham, which takes them to the edge of the sea of monsters where they encounter skillet and.

That goes fucking terribly.

It really defies conventional logic.

So the book that comes in at the very bottom, effectively number six on our list, is The Sea of Monsters, which is the second book in the series.

Book two, dead last.

Right.

It is.

The phenomenon is so creatively taxing that it often results in pacing issues, rehashed plots, or characters that just feel slightly off-center.

So the fact that The Sea of Monsters lands last might actually just be a textbook reflection on an author transitioning from a solitary creator to the manager of a massive, heavily scrutinized franchise.

That makes total sense when you break it down like that.

Yeah.

Whereas I'm like, Rick, if I had to wait three years in between Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters, I would be like, what are you doing? It's like

300 pages.

Sure.

And in this recent IGN interview, journalist Michael Payton, he sat down with the architect of that entire universe, Rick Riordan.

This was right as they were in the thick of adapting the Sea of Monsters storyline.

But our mission today isn't to just recap a television promo tour.

No.

Right.

The mechanism of creation shifts from cost-free imagination to high-stakes physical engineering.

Suddenly, Sea of Monsters isn't a clever chapter title.

It is thousands of pounds of fabricated steel, miles of wiring, and a daily catering operation designed to feed 300 crew members.

Music-wise, I [laughs] went home and listened to Epic: The Musical after I watched The Odyssey, because it reminded me how much I love Percy Jackson.

[laughs] Um, and if you know Percy Jackson, I think The Sea of Monsters...

I think some of the Percy Jackson books were based on The Odyssey, and so like watching The Odyssey, I was just like, "Oh my God, this is Percy Jackson." [laughs] They're both obviously based on the text.

I know that The Odyssey movie was not based on Percy Jackson.

Yeah.

This book truly with the finale of this chapter and the finale for the book on the whole has that problem.

It does.

Cause you and I weirdly, we've been talking about the inevitable end is that Thalia comes back at the end of this book the whole time.

Yeah.

and earnestly it doesn't feel like it's mattered basically the entire book there's no interesting hints that make you go wait that's what they meant no it's pretty obvious upon a reread that it's like oh that that's what luke meant yeah that's fair enough sure but it's not interesting especially i think when you know what thalia's fate is to become Of course, the series is called Percy Jackson

and the Olympians.

Not called Percy Jackson in that time Thalia Gray showed up and stole my prophecy.