REVIEW: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

*This review was written months ago immediately after I finished reading the book, however I have only just got round to posting it. Due to how busy my life has been recently, I was unable to write reviews for books 3-5, and so take the excitement and love in this review to be my opinion on the rest of the series- as I FREAKING LOVED THEM! :)*

Hello!

I only finished Percy Jackson and the lightning thief a few days ago, and I am already reviewing the second book. If anything shows my love for these books, that should! They are just so quick and easy to read. The only problem I have with this book is the fact that I got so sucked into the world of Percy Jackson, that I completely forgot to take notes, so everything written here is coming purely from memory (and if you know me, you will know that I may probably have the worst emory in the ENTIRE universe...) and so therefore, don't expect this review to be particularly long or detailed.

I have to say, despite the fact that this book has the same rating as the first in the series, I think I may have preferred it, which surprised me, as that is usually not the case. In fact, I will up my rating to 4.75 right now. In this book I felt that I became a lot closer to the characters- I LOVE the new character of Tyson- he is so adorable! I couldn't help but feel sorry for him throughout the entire book- which i'm guessing was intentional on the authors part. I loved how, despite the discrimination being thrown at him again and again by many of the other characters, he was completely accepting of anyone and anything. (Even if he inadvertently insulted them along the way) In particular, I loved the relationship between him and Rainbow- they were just so gods damn cute! Also- there was another toga joke! (Don't ask why I find them so funny- I have no idea!) : 'The other chariot teams had plenty of tricks up their togas'

Another thing that I love about Rick Riordans books is how he can *SUPER MINOR SPOILER - NO DETAILS GIVEN* make you love a character at the beginning of a book, and then absolutely hate them by the end. This is something that can either be done really well, or really badly- and Rick Riordan did this well. Again, much like the first book, I feel that my reading experience was affected by the fact that I had previously watched the film- causing certain events and betrayals to be not so surprising, despite the fact that I had forgotten most of what happened in the film.

Overall, I am really excited to read the next book- especially seeing as there was no film, and so I can therefore go into this book knowing nothing about the events that occur!)

~ Chey x

REVIEW: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Hello!

I want to start off this interview with a confession... I watched the films before reading the books-don't kill me! Believe me, there is nothing I regret more 😖 I am certain that, had I waited to read the books before watching the films, my reading experience would have been 100X better. Now don't get me wrong- I did like the films (I may be the only person that did- please tell me i'm not alone in this!) but, now that I have read the book I can see how fantastic they are in comparison- there is no competition. I gave the first book in this series a 4.5*/5- I am positive that it would have been a 5* rating had I not watched the films. Saying that, it has still made my favourites.

Before reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I had read some reviews, (good and bad) one of which compared the series to that of J.K.Rowlings 'Harry Potter'. I can definitely see where she was coming from with the characters. As she said, in both series there is a group of three friends; the main character that was thrown into a world that he had previously brushed off as being fictional (Percy/Harry) the smart and badass female (Annabeth/Hermione) and the loyal and funny, but sometimes goofy sidekick (Grover/Ron). However, I can honestly say that, in my opinion, that is where the similarities end.

This whole book was action packed, and kept me guessing right to the end (despite watching the film) I was really intrigued by the Lotus casino, and I hope we visit it again at some point in the next four books. I would really like to learn more about it, like who owns it? What is the purpose of such a place? I'd also want to see the three friends attempt to save the poor kids- what happened to their parents??

Another aspect I really liked was how most half bloods were diagnosed with ADHD/dyslexia, as I feel like this probably really helped younger readers who are in the same position through their dyslexia, and helped them to feel proud of it, rather than seeing it as a restriction of their abilities. (Please feel free to correct me on this- I have never personally experienced either of these, I just know many people who have, and so I am just going from what they have said)

The book was super easy to read and (at least in my copy) this was emphasised by the font and layout on the page- yeah, a small thing, but these things really can enhance your reading experience when done well. I also loved the length of the chapters, as they were relatively short, again making the book super easy to read.

Throughout the whole thing I was constantly anticipating the next fight, or the next monster encounter- making the book very enjoyable and exciting. This may have been my favourite thing about the book. Being a middle-grade, Rick Riordan had the freedom to go wild with his imagination, with very few restrictions, as I sometimes feel is the problem with books aimed at older readers. This is something I miss about being younger- having the imagination to simply accept the crazy things that could happen in books, without questioning how realistic it really is. Middle grade books are boundless, making them so much more exciting to read because literally anything could happen!

On top of all of this, we have the great characters. The three main protagonists, Percy, Grover and Annabeth were all so likeable, I loved them all right from the beginning! It is rare that in books you instantly like the characters, but this is one of those exceptions (for me, at least). They were all just overall great characters with really distinct personalities, again something that is unfortunately lacking in many other books I have read.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! (SKIP TO PAST THE LINE TO AVOID SPOILERS)

Even the side characters were great. I loved Chiron! He has such a lovely character, and I can see him becoming a kind of father-figure to Percy, in pace of his absent godly father, Poseidon. I even quite liked Hades. When we first meet him, he is seemingly a villain, however you soon see that he does have good intentions. I almost felt sorry for him by the end- he really is the typical misunderstood character. I am really excited to read more about the three's encounters with Hades.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and am planning to start the sea of monsters immediately after writing this review (UPDATE- as I type this written review up, I am currently on the third book!) I was really quite surprised at quite how educational this book was in terms of Greek mythology. Obviously, I knew I would learn a bit due to that being the main focus of the story, however I can now say that I know a LOT more about this subject than I did beforehand.

FAVOURITE QUOTES:

• 'Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?' - Don't ask why I found this so funny- I honestly couldn't tell you 😂
• 'Even from far away I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or' GODS FORBID 'listen to opera music' 😱
• 'I had to become one with the plumbing' - again, no reason why I found this so funny- I feel like it was just the most stupid line in the whole book 😂

ALSO:

In Percy Jackson, ichor= God blood. In The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare ichor= demon blood... suspicious much??? 😕

~ Chey

I'm back! kinda...

Hello!

So it's been a while.... and by 'a while' I mean the completely unacceptable YEAR I haven't posted on here... Yeah, I don't really have an excuse.😕

I feel like everytime I have posted on this blog, I have been apologising for not uploading regularly, and I understand now that that is just not going to happen. So, I have decided that I am just going to post on here whenever I can- whether that is every week, once a month, or three times I year. So, if you are looking for a completely reliable blog that has a set post schedule, then unfortunately you are going to have to look elsewhere.

However, for all I know, I might end up posting all the time- in fact, I hope that is what happens. I am currently at college now, and I am looking to study English at university next year. So, in an attempt to prepare myself for that, I have decided that I am going to try to review all- yes, ALL of the books I read. I feel like this will help me get closer to my goal of working in publishing in the future, as I hope to slowly improve my reviewing skills through this process.

So, I guess you could call this my own personal book reviewing project- I am pretty sure no-one reads any of these posts anyway 😂

--Chey

May wrap up and June TBR

Hello!

I read a lot more than I expected to last month, and i'm not sure whether to be happy or worried about it... Bear in mind I am in the middle of my GCSE's and everything... woops :/ What I am happy about is that I (kinda) read all of the books I said I would in my last post!



The first book I read was Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson. The first few chapters are about a little girl called Jane who's only friend is thirty year old imaginary friend called michael. Further on into the book, Jane is 20 years older and the impossible happens; her and Michael are reunited. I really enjoyed this book, and gave it four out of five stars. The characters were really likeable, and there were some plot twists that completely took me by surprise. If I am going to be honest, I can't really remember much about what I thought about this book, as it was about a month ago that I read it, and you know how bad my memory is XD.





The next book I read was Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. This is a hugely popular book, and I had heard so many amazing things about it, so I was excited to give it a go. At first I was a bit disappointed- I actually found it a bit boring (don't kill me!) Luckily, however, as the story went on, I got more and more engrossed in the story. I had heard so much about the crazy plot twist at the end, but I accidentally spoiled myself when going to the back of the book to see how many pages there were. (Why do I always do this to myself?!) Regardless, I was still quite surprised, as it hadn't given everything away. in the end I gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. It was super fast paced, and there was always something going on. I can't wait to read the next book in this series! :)





My TBR jar challenge for may was to read a random book from my shelf. For this, I ended up getting Out of Sight, Out of Mind, by Marilyn Kaye. If I am going to be totally honest, I don't know why I picked this book up at the charity shop- maybe because it was so cheap? It is the kind of book that I would have read when I was about 10, but now? Not so much. Because of this, I decided to go into this book with the mindset of 10 year old me. I actually found it to not be too bad. In the end I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. It is about Middle-school queen bee, Amanda Beeson, and the day she gets transported into the body of the schools most unpopular girl. The story follows her as she is trying to get back to her normal body, and realising that popularity isn't as important as she originally thought.




The next book wasn't on my TBR for the month, and this is because I didn't realise that it was coming out this month. My brothers and I have always loved David Walliams' books. Every time he brings out a new book, we automatically buy them, and although they are aimed at younger children, I still find them really entertaining and funny. This book is called The World's Worst Children, and it is slightly different to the books he normally writes. It is a book of 10 short stories about bad kids. I have to say, it isn't my favourite of his, and I think this is because the stories were only about 15 pages long each, which means you don't really get into the story properly. Nevertheless, I still found it funny, and so I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.




Now for why I only 'kind of' read all of the books on my TBR. The last book I read in May was The Finisher by David Baldacci. I started this book in May, however I ended up finishing it today, the first of June. Does that count as me reading it in May? I don't know- but I'm still putting it in here anyway :p. This was a reread for me, as I wanted to have a recap of what happened before starting the next book in the series. I remember absolutely adoring this book the first time I read it. It was the same this time round. Although it was a really slow start, it picked up a lot just under halfway, and then I just couldn't put it down! This book is set in a small village called Wormwood, which is surrounded in a huge beast-infested forest called the Quag. One day Vega Jane (The main protagonist) Gets a message from her friend Quentin Herms, who had escaped the town into the Quag. The story follows her as she slowly starts to discover the dark secrets the leaders of the village have been holding from everyone. I gave this book 4.5 stars, and it will definitely be staying on my favourites list!


Because I will be finishing my exams this month, I won't have too much time (still) however, I will finish before the end of the month, and therefore will have a lot of time on my hands, so I hope to be able to read quite a lot. As I am sure I have said before, I haven't read the Harry Potter series before (whaaat!?) But don't worry, I am planning to read it  after my exams, so I can fully appreciate the story without stressing about revision on top of it. Here are the books I want to read:

-Harry Potter and the philosophers stone- by J.K. Rowling
-The Keeper- by David Baldacci
-The Accident Season- by Moira Fowley-Doyle

My TBR challenge for this month is to read a standalone, and so I have decided to read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

My TBR jar book for this month is The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

Hopefully I will be able to read most of these books this month! :)

~ Chey xxx

My (late) April wrap up and May TBR

Hello!

I actually read quite a lot in April, considering I was meant to be revising for my GCSE's- meant to be revising...




The first two books I read were 'World After' and 'End of Days' by Susan Ee. These are the last books in the 'Penryn and the End of Days' trilogy- and they were amazing! One problem I had in 'World After' was the fact that you didn't really see much of Rafe. I feel like because of this it was quite slow, as throughout the whole book I was wondering when the two characters would be reunited. I'm not saying I didn't like it, I just think it was a bit of a letdown in comparison to the first book.
 Because of this, I was a bit hesitant to start the final book, 'End of Days'. It also didn't help that a lot of other people were also worried about starting the book, as the series was originally meant to be 5 books, but it was shortened to 3. Fortunately, I did decide to pick it up- and I am so glad I did! Because they shortened the series, it meant that 'End of Days' was super fast paced, and there was constantly something going on in the book. I don't think there was a single point while reading this that I was bored. After finishing the series, I can definitely say that my favourite was book three, then book one, and my least favourite would be book 2.





The next book I read was 'The Elites' by Natasha Ngan. This book was a complete shot in the dark, as I had heard absolutely nothing about it prior to buying it at a charity shop. I was really excited about this book, as the summary sounded really interesting, however after finishing it, I was disappointed. This book had such potential to be amazing, but whilst reading it, I found myself to be bored. I felt like a lot of what happened was incredibly convenient, and I didn't particularly like the characters. Originally, I thought the idea of the main protagonist's best friend having butterfly wings was a really interesting concept, however now I feel like it was a bit irrelevant, and wasn't really necessary to the story.





After this, I read 'All the Bright Places' by Jennifer Niven. For some reason, I was a bit hesitant to read this book- maybe it was something to do with the heavy topic of suicide, however I was completely wrong in thinking that it was all going to be doom and gloom. This book was a huge rollercoaster of emotions- I felt everything from sadness to pure joy. I have to say I have never personally experienced anything similar to this, and so I can't really say how true it is to the topic of suicide, however what I do know is that I really, really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone.






The next book was completely spontaneous- meaning I picked it up expecting to read a couple pages, and ended up reading the whole thing. 'The Art of being Normal' by Lisa Williamson is a touching story about a boy who, for his whole life knew he was meant to be a girl. It follows him trying to fit in, whilst knowing that he is not being his true self. There were so many plot twists in this book that completely took me by surprise- I just couldn't put this book down!







The sixth and final book I read in may, was 'The Geography of you and me' by Jennifer E. Smith. Again, for some reason I was hesitant to read this book, but I am so glad I did. It was the perfect contemporary book to stop my incoming reading slump. There were so many times throughout this book, where I just had to look up for a second, and smile like a crazy person. I loved the idea of communication through postcards, and how it was set in places all over the world. I also liked that the author didn't make it super easy for the characters, and that it wasn't predictable at all, unlike a lot of other contemporaries. I feel like this is a book I will reread hundreds of times!





I knew that I wouldn't be reading much in the next few months, due to exams, but here are the books I aimed to read:

-The Red Queen- by Victoria Aveyard
-Sundays at Tiffany's- by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet.

My TBR jar challenge is to read a fantasy book, so I decided to reread 'The Finisher' by David Baldacci (I really need to reread this, so I can read the second book!)

I also decided that because April's challenge was to choose a random book, (and I ended up writing down all of my unread books and putting them in a jar) that I will choose a random book each month, just to lower my TBR's. This month, I got 'Out of Sight, out of Mind' by Marilyn Kaye.

I know this was super late, but GCSE's... need I say more?

~ Chey xxx

February and March Wrap Up and April TBR

 Hello!

So, I haven't posted for a while, and this is because right now I am in the middle of some huge exams, and so I am trying to focus on revision. This should all be over by July, in the summer holidays; from then on I hope to post regular blog posts. Obviously, I have been saying this for a while, but this time I am pretty sure this will happen, as I will have finished school, and therefore have a lot more free time.

Anyway, on to what I read.

The first book I finished was the 5th wave, by Rick Yancey. When I finished this book, I remember being a bit on the fence about whether I enjoyed it or not. Now I am pretty sure I did like it, however it was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be. I rated it 4 stars, which is actually quite high, but (As im sure I have said before) I have a terrible memory, and can honestly say, I don't really remember too much about this book. I know, this is sad, but it means I can easily reread books! 

The next book I read was the Martian by Andy Weir. I loved this book! It is definitely not the kind of book that I would usually read, however I had heard so many amazing things about it, that I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did! Mark (The main character) was so funny, despite being stranded on mars, with everything pointing towards his imminent death. All of the 'chapters' were different lengths, which I really liked, and it made it so quick and easy to read. I have to say, I think that this is officially one of my favourite books of all time! 

I also tried to read my TBR jar book for February, which was to read a book with a same initial as me. I chose to read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I think that if I had maybe read this when I was a bit younger, I would have enjoyed it, however, as I was reading it, I just couldn't get into the story. This is weird, because it was a book about books- who wouldn't enjoy this? I ended up DNFing this book, which is extremely rare for me. I doubt I will pick it up again, as I found it quite boring and very slow.

My TBR jar book challenge for march was to read the first book of a currently uncompleted series. For this I chose to read Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. For a debut novel, this was incredible. Again, it was super quick and easy to read, and I couldn't put it down. The one thing I would say about this book, is that it could have probably been twice the length. There was so much left out, for example, a two month chunk was taken out of the book! I feel like there could have been so much more information in this book, that just wasn't included. However, I am still really excited for the next book to come out.

I also read The Messenger of fear by Michael Grant. I have read the first book in Michael Grant's Gone series, and really enjoyed it, however I can't say the same about this book. It was so confusing, and I don't think I really understood what was going on until the book was almost finished. I found myself to be really bored whilst reading this book, and I wanted to just put it down. I have an annoying habit of finishing books that I really am not enjoying, which is what happened with this book. I can honestly say that I will not be reading the next book in the series.

I am subscribed to a youtuber called Alfie Deyes (AKA PointlessBlog) and when I saw he had released his third book, I bought it instantly. I really enjoyed reading The Scrapbook of my Life, as it gave you an insight into his thoughts and feelings as he grew to be as successful as he is now. I read it within 24 hours of buying it XD. (Also, I read it whilst reading another book at the same time... whaat!? That never happens with me!)

The book that I read at the same time as The Scrapbook of my Life, was Angelfall by Susan Ee. I know I am a bit late, but I now completely understand the hype surrounding this book. I was originally a bit hesitant to read this, as I had previously read the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, which is also about angels. I had liked this series, but it wasn't something I was too interested in reading again. Well, I am so glad I decided to give angelfall a go! I loved that the romance in this book was almost non-existent (which is weird, because I tend to love romances in books) But I really like the fact that you didn't really know whether they were falling for eachother or not. I am currently reading the next book in the series.

Finally, I read Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell. For anyone who doesn't live in the UK, This book was released for 'World Book Day', which is a day in the UK, where authors publish a short (Around 60 pages) book to sell for £1. Most children get given a voucher, which allows them to get these books for free. It was a super quick read, but still just as good as all of Rainbow Rowells other books.

Although this doesn't seem like a lot of books to read in two months to most people, I am so pleased with this, as I have been really busy with exams. :)

Now for my April TBR:

-World after by Susan Ee

-Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

-The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

-All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

-The Finisher by David Baldacci

The TBR jar challenge I got for April is...

To read a random unread book from my shelf.

To do this, i am going to write all of my unread books onto a piece of paper, and (like my TBR jar) randomly choose a piece of paper.

For this TBR challenge, I got The Relic Guild by Edward Cox.

~ Chey xxx

January wrap up and February TBR

 Hello!

In january i read 5 and a half books, which is a lot more than usual- last year I didn't seem to read much, which was annoying, but I just didn't feel like reading much... thank goodness i'm back to normal now! :)


The first book I read this year was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. This book is hugely popular on booktube, and this is why I was incredibly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, Fangirl is good- but that's it. Just good. I don't see why everyone loves this book so much - I didn't find Cath that relatable, and although I liked Levi, I don't see why everyone is obsessed with him... wow i don't think I have said one good thing about this book XD It was very easy to read- I read it in one sitting. However, this may be the reason that I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. I have noticed that most books I read in one or two sittings, I don't like as much as I would like to. This is why I am trying to slow down, and try to spread each book I read over a longer period of time. I'm pretty certain that I will re-read fangirl, and so I really, really REALLY hope that I enjoy it more the second time around.






The next book I read- or I suppose I would have to say finished- was The summer I turned pretty by Jenny Han. I officially started this book in 2015, and it has taken me a couple months to read, as I was reading it at school. (My school has this read 20 minutes a week thing) Although it took me so long to read, it was definitely worth it. It was so good, and I wish I could start the next book in the series, but I haven't bought it yet and can't justify spending anymore money on books... (Book haul coming soon) I guess some people might not enjoy this book so much because of the love triangle... or square. I understand why people don't like these in books, but if they are done well, they are great! This is an example of that. I had no idea who Belly would end up with at the end of the book, but when I found out, I wasn't happy. Obviously i'm not going to say who, but it just really annoyed me. I reeeeally hope that this changes in the next books!






The next book i read was Carry On, also by rainbow Rowell. I LOVED this book! So much more than Fangirl- I completely understand the hype. As I was reading this, I just couldn't stop smiling. I read it super fast (making sure I didn't read it all in one go, as I said I would try after reading Fangirl) and I just wish that this was part of a series rather than just a stand-alone. One thing that I don't understand is the fact that just because Harry Potter is so famous, every single other book about wizards/magicians is compared, or even criticized for copying J.K Rowling. I can't really say much though, as (sorry!) I haven't yet read Harry potter :O Don't worry though, I have just recently bought the whole series, and plan on reading them later on in the year.






The fourth book I read in January was The lovely bones by Alice sebold. this was the TBR jar book for the month, and I have to say I was right in not wanting to read this. The only character I liked in this was the dad, and I really didn't like any of the others. It felt sooo slow, and it only started to pick up about 300 pages in, which is right near the end. Are you meant to hate the mother? I did, and the decision that the dad made in the end was so annoying! I really wanted to know more about the heaven she was in, as this wasn't really talked about much in the book. (Don't worry, that wasn't a spoiler- she dies right at the beginning)








Finally, I read Everything, everything by Nicola Yoon. Again, I loved this book. It was so quick and easy to read - I read it in a matter of hours. The extra bits like the spoiler reviews, pictures and text messages made it a fun and enjoyable read. Many people didn't like the ending of this book, but I loved it! Im not going to say what happened, but I really liked how Nicola Yoon ended this book. Obviously it isn't going to be perfect- it's her first ever published book, but I still loved it, and am looking forward to future books.










Now for my TBR:

I'm not going to set too many books to read, and am pretty certain that I won't stick to this, but it's worth the try, isn't it?

-All the bright places by  jennifer Niven

-the martian by Andy Weir

-The 5th wave by Rick Yancey (just started this book yesterday, hence the 'and a half' at the beginning of this post)

The challenge I got from my TBR jar was to read a book written by an author with the same initials as me. for this I am going to read Ink heart by Cornelia Funke, as I don't own a book where the author has the exact same initials as me, so C will have to do. :)

~Chey xxx