The Sea of Monsters

I'm discovering that I have no issues whatsoever reading novels for the Bookworm Challenge; it's posting the reviews that I'm slacking on. I still have not written a review for Kite Runner, but at this point I doubt I ever will. I sort of consider including this book as "cheating," since I pro-rated the book toward the challenge when technically I had finished reading it two days before I signed up. I'll probably wind up adding one more book to my list to compensate for this.

I finished reading The Sea of Monsters about two weeks ago, but of course still have not gotten around to writing a review. So I'm going to write one right now, but I'll keep it short.

The Sea of Monsters is very similar to The Lightening Thief...in fact, in many ways, they seem almost like the same book, but with different quests and a few more added characters. Like the first book, it's enjoyable and easy-to-read. However, it is missing some of the character development and self-discovery that makes the first book so appealing. Furthermore, some of the quests, although interesting and fun to read, seem like they are thrown in there just to take up pages, and don't really contribute to the overall theme. I still am disappointed with Riordan's lack of character development with Annabeth...two-and-a-half novels now and she still bores me (in the movie trailer for Lightening Thief, Annabeth seems to be full of personality! Go figure. Maybe the author just couldn't figure out how to create a colorful, interesting heroine).

On the plus side, while the novel is not incredibly deep, it is unquestionably entertaining. And Riordan does give this particular installment a great, cliffhanger ending. He also does a great job of tying loose ends at the end of each book, while constantly weaving that underlying theme-thread that will continue through the rest of the series.