Clarisse has made her appearance! I picked this theme because it's a really good opportunity to deep dive into Clarisse as a character. I've mentioned before that she has a thirst for glory, to be able to prove her worth, and there are several moments in the chapter that showcase this.
I recently saw a post in the tag along the lines of how demigods don't really serve a purpose in times of peace, and it's true in a way. I think this is really apparent in how much demigods in Percy's generation are left with a deep need to prove themselves, but have no actual outlet to do so. Luke was given a half-assed quest that had been done before because there had been no need for true ones. Annabeth spent years yearning to go on a quest that would make Athena proud. Clarisse states that she calls the shots on her quest, that she finally has a chance to be the hero and give glory to Ares. At CHB, demigods are taught how to fight, to create battle strategies, to survive in the wilderness, but for what reason other than to satisfy their instincts? It shines a light onto a huge flaw in how CHB operates, how outdated it is. It's no wonder that Greek demigods generally don't live very long after leaving camp, they're left unprepared, purposeless, and unprotected when faced with the modern world.
But back to Clarisse, her thirst for glory has made her brash and ignorant. She won't accept help or listen to those she considers rivals for glory, and she's overconfident in her abilities. When told about Luke and his forces, Clarisse brushes it off; she exclaims she doesn't need her siblings when they chose not to join her on her quest; she makes a plan to fight Charybdis head on. She thinks of adversity as challenges, things that she can easily take on single-handed, and ends up highly underestimating the forces she faces. I wouldn't be surprised if hubris is also Clarisse's fatal flaw, as it's the reason her ship crashes and burns upon the entrance of the Sea of Monsters. She's very one-track minded and has to do things her way, and it's only when there are no options left that she finally follows someone else's lead. It's only when Clarisse works together with her allies that she succeeds, and we'll see that as her quest unfolds.
I think Percy had a moment of "I understand everything about this person" when he overheard Clarisse talking to Ares. The scene reveals a lot about why Clarisse is the way she is. Ares is shown to be abusive, both verbally and physically (at least inferred): He demeans Clarisse by calling her pathetic and basically claiming she is worth less than her brothers, and then he threatens her with punishment if she fails her quest. Clarisse's forcefulness in making the quest her own comes from this pressure she's receiving from her father to achieve glory. And having grown up with an abusive father figure himself, Percy likely empathizes with her. Afterwards, he narrates how the scene bothered him as much as his dream about Grover, that he didn't really know how to process what he overheard, and he couldn't even look Clarisse in the eye. He may have experienced a trauma response from it, and it seems like he's seeing Clarisse in a new light. The scene really humanizes Clarisse, that she herself is wronged by the gods and endures it directly from her own father. It highlights how bullies tend to come from unstable households and reflect the actions of their parents.
Speaking of glory, I can't ignore how spirits on the losing side of every war have to pay a tribute to Ares in some way. They were dishonored for losing in battle, so they're punished for it. You can also interpret it as trying to regain honor by paying tribute to the god of war. It's a little sad to think about wars in which the losing side didn't deserve their defeat, but in the context of the American Civil War, it is most definitely deserved. The fact that this particular crew had to serve a teenage girl and be at her beck and call is hilarious, especially when you consider how Clarisse's actress in the tv series is poc. That's karma unfolding in a beautiful way. I wonder what happened to those that were plucked by Scylla or left on the ship when it exploded. Did they fulfill their duty and move on? Or are they still cursed to be undead soldiers?
Small things:
The Confederates hissing at Percy for being a Yankee 💀
Grover is so lucky Polyphemus assumed he was just a bad weaver lmao
RIP to Charybdis who forever has to deal with braces
Tyson once again comes in clutch. It's interesting how many situations have arisen that he's been the perfect person to deal with
Do people talk about how fucking dark the line "Tyson was gone forever and I wished I were able to drown" is. The GRIEF ;A;
Previous: Chapter 10 - We Hitch a Ride with Dead Confederates
Next: Chapter 12 - We Check In to C.C.'s Spa & Resort
One thing I love about The Ländler™ is that the main point of contact Maria and the Captain have in the majority of the dance is their hands and when they begin to touch more and more of each other is when the tone of the dance drastically changes. Even when Georg puts his hands on her waist, it's through Maria's hands, and everything is still lighthearted - they're smiling, at ease with each other, and comfortable.
One could argue the tone changes when Georg reaches behind his shoulder to join their hands for the final time before they begin the series of intricate turns and loops. But he still has a mischievous look on his face, though I will concede Maria looks worried - because she knows what is coming next.
However, I argue the full change occurs when they have multiple points of contact during the turns and loops (their arms, chests, etc.). Both have it clearly written on their face that they know something is going on between them. After all, it's the closest physically they've ever been and the most they have ever touched. This physical closeness causes the pretense between them to fall apart as they stare into each other's eyes, just for a moment, before Maria backs away with the excuse she doesn't remember anymore.
I'm kinda proud of myself for getting through the book and the chapter posts in two months. Especially when I took an (unforeseen) extended pause when reading the Lightning Thief lol. I also stayed ahead of the tv show!
Thank you to my old followers for sticking with me in the long wait between book 1 and 2, and also thank you to my new followers for wanting to join in on the ride! I'll take a break before getting into the Titan's Curse to read some other things I've left in my queue for too long. I'll try not to take too long, but if I've learned something in these past few years, getting ahead of the tv show has been a hell of a motivator 😂 So I'll definitely be back before the end of the year, assuming season 3 comes out in December.
And without further ado, my summary of the Sea of Monsters:
Themes:
The power of friendship (aka "Supporting others and having support from loved ones" continued)
I actually didn't expect this theme to pop up again, at least not in a way that I could add new insights to. Here's what I said in my B1 summary: It’s an important driving force for a lot of the characters. When they’re at their lowest, when they think about giving up, they all had someone who picked them back up, someone who eased the pain a little, and that helped them keep going and lift them up. This is an especially important theme for Clarisse, because she had to learn that she can't do everything alone. If she wants to succeed, she needs help from her allies. The empathy link between Percy and Grover, the sole reason Percy was able to know Grover was in trouble, could happen because of how close they are. Tyson was able to come into his own because of the support he receives from Percy. And Percy and Annabeth wouldn't have made it through the Sea of Monsters if they didn't have each other's backs, and they became even closer because of it. This quest, from beginning to end, was about how people are stronger together. The final chariot race was a nice way to cap off this theme, with Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson working together, bringing their strengths to the table and claiming victory because of it. Luke, on the other hand, is still on his own even if he has a bigger following now.
Relationships with the gods (aka "Worship of the gods and broken systems" continued)
Another theme to add onto! From B1, I talked about how demigods’ over-reliance on the gods breeds a flawed and defective system. Another broken system I found in B2 was the way CHB operates, how outdated it is bc it trains demigods for survival in chaotic times, but the current generation lives in an era of relative peace for the West; demigods are then left unprepared when they leave camp.
One subtheme is the gods and responsibility, and I touched back on this in ch 9. But another that became more prominent in B2 is the concept of family with the gods. I introduced it in B1 ch 21, that the gods generally have a loose sense of what "family" is that's not quite the same for mortals. It’s mainly just blood relations and obligations, and not really about bonds between two people. When we're reintroduced to Ares, we see that this is how his relationship with Clarisse works. It's very quid pro quo, that Clarisse brings glory and honor to Ares through her actions and in turn Ares provides aid and answers her prayers. But with the introduction of Hermes, we see a god who considers family to be more than just duty and obligations, and through him we get to learn more about the gods' perspective. We learn that a god often can't act for their children in direct ways and show favoritism, which in the past I had attributed to just Zeus and Poseidon, but maybe it's just especially so for those two. While the alternative would cause more problems, it still contributes to the broken system in place. Demigods don't intrinsically understand that their godly parent can't always give them the attention they need. At the end of the day, demigods are still human with very human desires.
And it's this that Kronos tries to take advantage of. He feeds off the resentment and negative feelings demigods and other beings have for the gods, using it as a way to piece himself back together. He tries to place seeds of doubt in Percy, likely the exact same way he did for Luke, by asking how has Poseidon shown his appreciation, and by the end of the book, Percy has his answer to this. After his conversation with Hermes, he realizes just how much Poseidon has provided for him, which is incredibly ironic given that Luke, Hermes' own son, is unable to understand this.
Fatal flaws
Now that the concept of fatal flaws has been introduced, I'm excited to get into it! Fatal flaws are aspects of a hero that, when left unchecked, will eventually lead to their downfall, and sometimes other's downfalls. When encountering their island, Annabeth explains that sirens reveal the deepest desires of an individual, things even they don't know about themselves. And when she hears and sees them, she finds out that her fatal flaw is hubris, deadly pride. It's a trait a lot of heroes in Greek mythology had and was the reason for their tragic endings; I even suspect that it's the fatal flaw for Clarisse and Luke. For those with hubris, they are overconfident in their skills and believe that they can do anything, or for Annabeth specifically, build or fix or solve anything. In a lot of ways, Annabeth represents the classic Greek hero - hungry to prove herself and ready to make her stamp on history - and it makes an interesting contrast with Percy, who's not very similar to the mythological heroes. That's probably another reason he was the ideal Child of the Prophecy.
It'll be a little while before Percy's fatal flaw will be named, but I want to talk about it too. In a way, what the sirens show Percy also has to do with his fatal flaw: His deepest desire was seeing his loved ones again. For someone with extreme loyalty, Percy values his friends and loved ones above all else, and being separated from or feeling like he had failed them would be especially hard. I've seen some discussion in the fandom of how "loyalty" isn't really a flaw but a virtue, but I think they're missing the point (putting aside how well or not well it's portrayed in the books). The characteristics of a person aren't necessarily good or bad, but it's how they're used that makes the difference. Pride in of itself for example isn't inherently a flaw, it's actually something necessary to have to a certain capacity. Annabeth's confidence in herself is the reason I believe she could stand against Circe for instance. It's only when taken to extremes that it becomes a problem, and the same is true for loyalty. I try not to bring the tv show into my chapter posts, but they really hit the nail on its head with this. If it means Percy can protect his friends and loved ones, he would destroy the world in a heartbeat, or even himself. Nothing else matters as long as those he cares about are safe.
Reevaluating biases of immortal beings
This is a theme introduced in this book, and it'll be expanded on as the series progresses (though if you want to be technical, you can say it came up in B1 with Cerberus). Percy and his friends find that everything isn't just black-and-white, that monsters are capable of both good and evil, much like humans or demigods. And the same is true for other immortal beings, such as Circe. They can have as many differing opinions and outlooks from one another as there are stars in the sky. Tyson is the first to challenge how the characters view monsters, and he proves time and again that cyclopes can be more than the dumb, hateful creatures demigods expect them to be. He's an example that an individual isn't who they are born as, but rather the actions they make. And because of this, Percy was able to see past those biases and feel sympathy for Polyphemus for a moment, although he wasn't deserving of it. The theme calls into question the conventions that categorize the children of the gods/immortals. How are they different from one another? Why are they treated differently? Because they're all children of gods at the end of the day. Chiron offered one answer to this while talking about what a demigod represents: They're the protectors of humanity, the bridge between the mortal and godly worlds. A true hero is one who acts to defend humanity's hopes and livelihoods.
Characters:
Percy: I think for Percy, this book is about him finding his place within the godly world on a deeper level. He's learning more about that world and figuring out what it means to him and how he fits in it. He's coming to his own as a demigod! A significant part of Percy's character that came up is a clash between his low self esteem and his loyalty to his loved ones, which I discussed in ch 6. He was grappling with the revelation that Tyson is his brother and whether it meant he himself would also be considered a monster. But for better or worse, Percy will always prioritize the well-beings of his loved ones over his own insecurities, and in the end he chose Tyson.
I was surprised how much emotional maturity Percy displayed in this book! I didn't really clock it in B1, but it does show up there too, such as Percy choosing not to act on impulses because he knew his mom wouldn't want him to do it. It's really an indicator about how Percy was raised. He's just such a mom friend lmao. He was able to take a step back and reconsider how he was treating Tyson, and try to do better; when faced with feelings of jealousy, he chose not to act on them; when he was given a glimpse of Annabeth's truest desires and how they included Luke, he never admonished her for them; and when presented with the problem of how to get the Golden Fleece to CHB, he chose to trust in Clarisse and have her be the hero. It's interesting to see how all these examples tie into his incredible loyalty. There's some other new qualities I caught: He can't stay mad at his friends for very long lol, and his capacity for kindness has some prominent moments. Percy can be incredibly introspective too, but it doesn't often apply to recognizing his own strengths and good qualities. And romantic feelings, but that's a discussion for another book lol.
Speaking of loyalty and Percy and Annabeth, I can't not talk about their friendship. The second half of the book really drives home how close they already were and also how much closer they became through the quest. I said this in ch 10: Besides Grover, Percy has never been this close to anyone, and I think his friendship with Annabeth is all the more special to him because they were at odds with each other at first. Annabeth saw his flaws, but wanted to be his friend in the end anyway. This was regarding Percy's insecurities about Annabeth's past bonds with Thalia and Luke, that he feels like he maybe can't live up to them. And it's important to bring up now bc it'll be a major point of tension in B3. And that quote also applies to Annabeth: Percy sees both her strengths and weaknesses, and still chooses to be her friend; he sticks by her no matter what. They're able to be vulnerable with each other with no judgment, have hard conversations, and trust each other with their lives.
Annabeth: We learned more about Annabeth's past, her deepest desires, and of course, her fatal flaw in this book. B2 also revealed that Annabeth was at an internal crossroad about which side of the war she should be on. She has her own resentment for the gods that Luke tried to draw out: the little acknowledgement she's received from Athena, the plethora of problems with how the gods run the world, and if given the opportunity, maybe she would do better. But while Luke offers something tempting for Annabeth, she would never be able to grow if she chose him and the titans. She would be like Luke, forever stewing in her negative feelings and feeding her hubris.
And interestingly enough, I think it's when Annabeth learns what her fatal flaw is that she decides where her loyalty should lie. I had been waiting for an obvious moment, but in reality, it was probably more of an unconscious choice Annabeth didn't realize she made (or it was a conscious but quiet choice, it's hard to tell when everything is in Percy's pov lol). I think by seeing Percy's unwavering loyalty to her, the way he accepts everything about her, Annabeth chose to protect the world rather than destroy it, because that's what Percy himself wants. A really good example of how her journey manifests is her treatment of Tyson throughout the book. She starts off with her own prejudices based on her experiences and trauma, but she's able to overcome them and begin healing with Percy's influence. Annabeth and Percy make each other better versions of themselves. And I think the same can be said for a lot of others that Percy meets: through his influence, people are able to be their best selves.
Luke: It's been about a year since Luke had left CHB to officially join Kronos, and during that time, he has fallen deeper into resentments and need for his version of justice. We see yet again how selfish he is, and that he's leaning even more into putting himself and his desires first before anything else, in comparison to Percy who puts others before himself. While Luke believes he's embodying a true hero, his morals are corrupt. This all spells out how much Luke is willing to do anything if it means he can push his agenda and reach his goals, and in turn, toss aside anything or anyone that will prevent him from doing that. But he still represents two warring sides within himself, and Percy's description of Backbiter is a great way to explain it: "I could almost feels the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. I didn't know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy." It's a bit of foreshadowing for Luke's fate too.
While I read the next few books, I want to see how much Luke's pride affects his actions. As I said for ch 18, I think pride is Luke's ultimate vice - it's the reason for his downfall, and it's a reason he stays with Kronos - and only when he can put it aside will the war come to an end. Luke is blinded by his emotions, but I also think in order to keep his resolve in siding with Kronos, he has to outright reject anything associated with his other warring side, aka his compassion and grace and integrity. Like the death that allowed Backbiter to become one, Luke has to essentially kill his self, his humanity, to eventually be a vessel for Kronos. While we don't see much of this battle within Luke in B2, it'll become more apparent in the sequels.
Clarisse: We get to see a new side to Clarisse that really expands what we knew about her as a character. In B1, she was the stereotypical bully, but in B2 we find that she's so much more than that. While Clarisse has a bit of an abrasive personality, she still cares a lot about camp and the campers she's responsible for; while she hungers for glory, she never tries to steal credit or receive glory if she doesn't feel she earned it. And like other demigods, Clarisse has a complicated relationship with her godly parent. It's revealed that Ares is quite abusive and pressures Clarisse to achieve glory, and witnessing the interaction between the two makes Percy see Clarisse in a new light, and is one of the reasons he gives her a second chance.
Clarisse did a lot of growing up in this book. She has a tendency to be overconfident and therefore underestimate the forces she faces, but her quest has taught her that she can't always see problems as challenges she alone can face head on. In the end, she needs allies to truly succeed. Clarisse at her best is when she puts aside her pride for a better cause, putting aside differences to work with her rivals and face a common enemy.
Tyson: We're introduced to Tyson in this book, and he also grows a lot from how he was in the beginning. Despite his gruff appearance, he's very timid and a sensitive and pure soul. He had to face a lot of hardships in his life as a young cyclops, from being forced to grow up on the streets, to the cruelty he faced from mortals and demigods, to even Percy's immaturity when learning they were brothers. And yet, Tyson never let these adversities define him, he remained kind and loving. Rather than praying for a better life or wishing ill on those who did him wrong, all he asked from Poseidon was a friend. And Poseidon deemed him worthy enough to receive THE friend, one that will stay by his side as much as Tyson will. Honestly, Tyson was a gift to Percy as much as Percy was a gift to Tyson. The quest would have failed without him! At his best, Tyson is a supporter and protector. Tyson always stayed true to who he is, but by the end of the quest, he really embraced it (and consciously chose it), and that allowed his strengths to shine.
Things to keep in mind for the future books and other notes:
Percy's supposed claustrophobia from St Louis hasn't come up again lol
There was never much of a conclusion on Percy's insecurity post-Circe's island, unless that's what his final battle with Polyphemus was for. Will it show up in the future?
I didn't realize it until later on in the book, but how poetic that the god often associated with overindulgence got paired with the man who can't eat or drink for eternity lmao
Something small that came up in this book, but I loved seeing the little bits of adrenaline junky Percy
Many things are changing at camp! There's a very real danger to CHB because of the failing magical border and the anxious tension is thick all around camp. Argus and Chiron were fired, and now there's a new activities director who's also bringing back an old tradition. And a new claiming happens, which upends Percy's life at camp. But the theme here isn't "change"!
There's two interpretations of innocence I'll use: the state of being guiltless, and the trait of being naive or pure. And as always, I'll also take the opposite meaning, which would be the guilty and immoral and how responsibility/punishment is given or not given. The latter definition of innocence comes up first in Tyson, how he looks around the camp with eyes of wonder. He points to various things like the stable, the toilets, and the cabins and asks what they are, he's calls Chiron a pony and is very distraught when he leaves, he tries to bat away the claiming symbol that appears above his head. But his innocence is treated as a vice. He's seen as having a small brain capacity, not being capable of complex thinking, or even understanding the simplest things
On the innocent vs the guilty, Chiron is being punished for something he neither did nor should be his responsibility to bare. And it's honestly ridiculous for him to not be trusted bc his father is Kronos. Like are the Olympians going to point fingers at each other too?? And now there's the very real possibility that Chiron will lose his immortality because of it.
Responsibility and punishment are interesting subthemes here. I talked about how gods do or do not take responsibility in book 1 and that carries over into this book. For example, Percy still taking blame for the almost civil war, even though he was innocent and had been dragged into the mess. Speaking of Percy's innocence, once again he's being blasted on the news for a monster fight and being painted as the instigator. Kid can't catch a break! It's also important to note, in terms of misplaced responsibility, that Clarisse is hailed as the savior of camp from the bronze bulls, but she's pretty adamant to not claim full credit. Rather, her priority is protecting the camp, even though something like the chariot races could give her something she desires: glory. I want to continue to look at this aspect of Clarisse, how her desires for glory conflict with her integrity.
Speaking of past themes, another that comes up is Percy's faith in Poseidon and how that faith gets rewarded, although this time it's not in a way he expected. Percy makes his dinner offering and asks for help, and in response, Poseidon claims Tyson. The gods work in wondrous ways, and while this act may seem like a punishment for angsty teen Percy, Tyson's aid will be vital in the near future. His presence has already proven invaluable, as Percy was able to spend a relatively peaceful school year up until that very day because Tyson was with him, and he was even able to survive that incident because of Tyson as well.
Now someone who isn't innocent in all possible meanings is Tantalus. As this book revolves around the Sea of Monsters, it makes sense that there are many references to the Odyssey. It's been a while since I've read it, but I know the Laistrygonian giants were the first reference, and Tantalus is another (although he's only briefly mentioned in the epic). The Ancient Greek stories about Tantalus vary, but the most known version today is that he invited the gods to a feast, but spitefully fed them his son, so the gods sent him to Fields of Punishment/Tartarus with the punishment of being by water and a fruit tree, but never being able to reach them, forever unable to quench his thirst or hunger. It's a wonder, in any version of his crime and punishment, why the gods would bring him to CHB even if he's being given a "second chance." He seems to be there more for Dionysus' entertainment than anything else.
We are also introduced to some other campers for the first time! So far it's only three: Charles Beckendorf son of Hephaestus, Travis and Connor Stoll sons of Hermes, all counselors of their respective cabins. We're also reminded that Clarisse and Annabeth are the counselors of their cabins too. It's surprising that while Clarisse has shown to care for those she's responsible for, her siblings in the Ares cabin don't show that same care for her, letting her go around with a "you moo girl" sign on her back. I mean, it is very sibling coded to pull a prank like that, but it's very mean-spirited to do it in public. On the Athena cabin, it's interesting that they're the only demigods that have specific colorings associate with them. Apparently, all children of Athena have blonde hair and grey eyes. Thus, I will headcanon that Athena's children will have those traits no matter their race. Black? Blonde with grey eyes. Asian? Blonde with grey eyes. If Athena kids can be spontaneously born from Athena's mind, then it can also be plausible that they all are blonde and grey-eyed despite whatever race their mortal parents are.
Small things:
The satyrs apparently go all over the world to bring demigods to CHB? Where are all the international demigods??
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like Chiron making Annabeth swear on the Styx was really irresponsible of him
I honestly forgot Travis and Connor aren't twins. Why isn't the oldest of them the Hermes counselor lmao
How does Tantalus know about root beer?? Let alone Barq's special stock 1967?? Whatever that is??
After finding Luke, the trio stay on the Princess Andromeda to find out what he's up to. And quite a bit of grudges and resentment come up as they explore the ship and confront Luke.
The biggest source of resentment, obviously, are the gods and how they interact with humanity. There's the way they treat their children, like in the case of unclaimed demigods, and also the way they toy with humans. This is something that I've touched on before in the last book and it ties into the theme of "worship of the gods and broken systems" from my book summary. To repeat what I said, demigods’ over-reliance on the gods breeds a flawed and defective system. A subtheme for this is the gods and responsibility: Who gets blamed for the actions of the gods? Are the gods obligated to claim and acknowledge their children? And when the gods fail or wrong humans and demigods (and also other immortals), resentment brews. Kronos takes advantage of this, and creates a following of those who feel wronged by the gods, such as Chris Rodriguez, Agrius and Oreius, and of course, Luke. When asking to join him, Luke himself appeals to Percy and Annabeth's feelings of resentment. It's almost like Kronos feeds off of those negative feelings in how he is literally pieced together with each demigod that joins him.
Chris is an interesting example of the unclaimed, because while he was stuck at the Hermes cabin, he's in fact a son of Hermes. It's sad to think about how he should have felt at home in the Hermes cabin, but in the end, he never knew he was among his brethren. Chris not only experienced the neglect by the gods first hand, but he also had seen it on the daily at the Hermes cabin. It's not hard to understand where his resentment came from.
The bear twins are a pretty devastating example of the gods manipulating the lives of mortals. Aphrodite punished their mother by having her couple with a bear, and then Artemis abandoned her because of it. The Greek myth is a little more extreme: their mother refused to worship Aphrodite and became a huntress instead, yet Artemis had forest animals attack her for coupling with the bear. But no matter which version, the story exemplifies how humanity tends to take responsibility for the actions and whims of the gods, and they always suffer for it. It's as Luke says, they fight with one another and humans get caught in the middle. You can blame those who go through situations like this for holding grudges against the gods.
And then there's Luke. I talked a lot about Luke and the points of resentment that come up in this chapter in ch 22 of book 1, but this encounter really shows how he's so caught up in his resentment and need for justice, that he believes the ends justify the means. He doesn't care that he poisoned Thalia's tree, because doing so would eventually lead to more demigods joining his cause. He's more than willing to toss aside those who won't, even if they were once friends. Luke claims that Annabeth has been blinded by the gods, but he himself has been blinded by his emotions. You can see it in the way bursts into anger when Percy mentions Hermes, how he outright rejects any form of compassion that's offered to him.
It's clear that Luke's own betrayal has left some grudges too. Percy has talked a lot about his anger and resentment towards Luke for the things he's done. He even had a whole moment on Half-Blood Hill where he felt more and more angry thinking about how the place was dying from the poison. And then of course there's Annabeth. Interestingly, we haven't seen much about how Annabeth has been affected by Luke's betrayal until now. But she looked up to him, much like Percy, and she probably had been closest to him while at CHB, not to mentioned her crush on him. The two had been through a lot together, and Luke leaving in the way he did likely deeply hurt. Whatever resentment Percy feels must be tenfold within Annabeth. And to top it off, Luke had also been the one to poison Thalia's tree, and she's so furious about it all that Percy mentions he thought she'd explode.
It all makes me think about how Luke is all about tearing things down, while Percy is about building things up. I have no doubt that if Percy never came into Annabeth's life when he did, Annabeth would've joined Luke. At the beginning of book 1, Annabeth had been blinded by the gods in a way. It was her entire world, and I think that was in part because of how young she was when she came to CHB. Luke was a lot like that before his quest too, and Annabeth probably would have fallen into the same hole of resentment as she got older if she never met Percy. But as I've said before, Percy is able to show Annabeth that the gods aren't everything there is in life, and he's able to support her in ways that Luke never did.
Speaking of Luke and Annabeth, another form of resentment comes up in the chapter: their feelings towards cyclopes. Annabeth has been pretty tight lipped about why she hates cyclopes so far, but Luke reveals that it involved Thalia and the event was so bad that even Annabeth traveling with Tyson "dishonors Thalia's memory." Even knowing what happened, from the way it's talked about, it was obviously a traumatic experience, and it also provides another good contrast between Luke and Percy in the way Annabeth moves forward with it. With Luke, Annabeth would always have that deep seated trauma and resentment towards all cyclopes, but with Percy, Annabeth is provided a path towards healing.
Small things:
The way Percy just knows the anatomy of a ship and the structure of the Princess Andromeda
I know it was a serious moment, but when Annabeth expresses disgust at Kronos reforming piece by piece and Luke responding with ur mom literally came out of her father's head 😂
Previous: Chapter 8 - We Board the Princess Andromeda
Next: Chapter 10 - We Hitch a Ride with Dead Confederates
A big word for an in-between action chapter lol. Clandestine describes something done in secret or concealment, and often has a connotation of deception. The chapter begins with Percy deciding to go on the quest to the Sea of Monsters in secret with Annabeth and Tyson, and they then make their way to the Princess Andromeda, which is more than meets the eye.
Last chapter, Percy was at a crossroad about leaving camp or not and then he quite literally gets divine intervention. And it seems Percy's tendency to carry everything on his own made a brief appearance when he was arguing with Annabeth afterward. I think by the time Hermes left, Percy already made his decision, and his back-and-forth with Annabeth is partly about whether she (and Tyson) would join him. In this situation, it's less about the danger aspect and more to do with how Percy doesn't want to be the reason she gets expelled from her home. Any hesitancy Percy has about going in general is due to the promise Annabeth made with Chiron, which she promised on the Styx. Breaking it would be deadly. But Annabeth came back with a great point that she can only keep him from danger by going with him.
Thus the quest begins! And with a quest done in secrecy, it only makes sense to travel on a ship that's clandestine in it's entire meaning. As soon as the trio board the Princess Andromeda, it's obvious that's something is amiss. And they come to find that the cruise ship is being used as a guise by Luke and Kronos' followers. On the outside, it looks like a normal cruise with families enjoying their vacation, but in reality the people are enchanted to appear like everything is fine, even when hellhounds are eating at the buffet table and snake monsters are roaming the halls. Behind the veil, the ship is their base of operations for their plans to resurrect Kronos and wage war against the gods.
Speaking of which, we also get our first appearance of Kronos via Percy's dream. I don't think it's a coincidence that he'd come to Percy as soon as he boarded the Princess Andromeda. At this point, Percy is still part of Kronos' plans for his rise to power, and the titan tries to plant seeds of doubt in Percy in hopes that he will eventually join them. Although it's interesting that Kronos would say "what has Poseidon done to show his appreciation lately" when Poseidon had just helped Percy out with the hippocampi lmao.
Percy's dream then shifts to Grover, and we find that he's unraveling the bridal train in an attempt to buy himself more time. But despite this deception, Polyphemus is obviously getting impatient. Time is running out!
Small things:
Annabeth being unable to spell cyclops is even funnier when you think about the word in Ancient Greek. It's κύκλωψ or "kyklops", so despite it being a Greek word, how it's pronounced in English does NOT help someone figure out how it would be spelled lol. (Somewhere in the distance, the Romans are laughing)
Look at Grover showing off his French 😂
I really hope that disembowelment scene is in the tv series. Peak comedy.
Previous: Chapter 7 - I Accept Gifts from a Stranger
Next: Chapter 9 - I Have the Worst Family Reunion Ever
Another short chapter and yet quite a few crises are happening. The first one is the skirmish happening at CHB's border, where a newly formed border patrol of campers are battling a pair of bronze bulls. Not including the dodgeball game since he didn't do much fighting, this is the first time we see Percy in battle with both experience and training up his sleeve! It might be easy to forget that the lightning thief quest happened within a week of Percy coming to camp, so he was learning along the way, relying on his instincts and those few days of training he did get beforehand. But this time, Percy has the entirety of the previous summer with the quest and those months he had at camp afterwards to use in the battle against the Colchis bulls. Too bad he was so out of shape and was injured soon into the fight lol.
I think this incident really shows how much the campers, or at least the leaders, really care about one another. Even though Percy and Clarisse don't see eye to eye, with Percy having beef with Ares and humiliating him the previous book and Clarisse having bullied Percy, Percy still didn't hesitate to come to her aid. Annabeth too! And while Clarisse was ready to bicker after the battle was over, one reminder of the wounded campers made her shut her mouth and check on them before continuing on with her grievances. This is an important trait of Clarisse's that sets her apart from the antagonists in the story, and will be especially important in this book. While she's introduced as a bully and opposes Percy a lot, at the end of the day, she still cares about her friends and the camp.
There's another form of crisis when Percy finally finds out Tyson is a cyclops. This definition is "a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life," which might be a bit of an exaggeration in this situation, but Percy does say he was completely shocked from the realization. He went through the entire school year thinking Tyson was just an unfortunate mortal, and now he has to wrap his mind around the fact that his friend is definitely not human. And he'll have to deal with what that means in terms of their friendship and how the world treats someone like Tyson.
I honestly didn't realize "crisis" had so many different definitions lol, and Thalia's tree being poisoned falls into many of them. The more obvious one is how the poison has affected the border around CHB, allowing monsters like the Colchis bulls to get through. And that crisis has led to some instability within the camp's leadership as well, with Argus and Chiron being fired to take responsibility. There's also a medical definition of crisis: the point in the course of a serious disease at which a decisive change occurs, leading either to recovery or to death. And this is pretty accurate to the turn of events in the book. We later learn that Luke poisoned the tree and it was also a win-win situation for Kronos: either the tree would die and CHB would be left defenseless, or a camper would succeed in the quest to obtain the Golden Fleece, which would revive Thalia.
And that leads me to the definition that had me like 👀: a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined; a turning point. Most of these definitions have one thing in common, in that from the crisis, a great change will occur whether good or bad. And that's exactly what the poisoning of Thalia's tree signals. It triggers the events both in this book and the next. There's actually three potential outcomes from this, which are all reliant on the quest for the Golden Fleece. 1) The camper fails, the tree dies, and CHB is vulnerable to attack, 2) Option one, except the titan's side get the Fleece and Kronos is revived, and 3) The camper succeeds and Thalia is revived. And with option three (the one that becomes reality), Thalia then becomes the Child of the Prophecy, someone who can be tempted to want the destruction of the gods more than Percy. It's really a brilliant plan on Kronos' part.
Small things:
Percy really has bad luck with trios of old ladies lmao
Why did I think "To me my X-men" when Clarisse said "Border patrol, to me!" 😂
Clarisse calling Percy by his first name?? I was OwO
Previous: Chapter 3 - We Hail the Taxi of Eternal Torment
The story is going at breakneck speed in more ways than one, but we're still just at the set up! Percy and Tyson meet up with Annabeth and they take a mythical taxi to Long Island. The drivers then give cryptic numbers concerning an unknown location and drop off the trio at CHB, only to find the border is under attack! Quite the cliffhanger lol.
But onto the chapter breakdown. I can't talk about prejudice without discussing Tyson and the discrimination he faces because of who he is. We see this first and foremost in the way Annabeth treats him. As soon as they meet, she looks at him with disdain, acts very rudely towards him, even assumes he's not capable of speaking. The Gray Sisters also single Tyson out, almost not allowing him into the taxi until Annabeth offers them extra money. It's only later that we find out the reason behind this discrimination, and why Annabeth reacts so strongly against him. The reason, of course, is that Tyson is a cyclops and is technically categorized as a monster, and Annabeth has had a very traumatic experience because of them.
From the way Tyson acts and the way others treat him, it seems pretty obvious to me that he's down syndrome-coded. He's described as having a differently shaped body and talking in a "funny" way like a much younger child. Annabeth treats him like a nuisance and doesn't even address him directly, assuming he can't talk (and maybe not even understand) and is surprised to learn he can. His bullies also called him a related slur. It just screams someone down syndrome and how they're treated as less then a person. And we'll see more examples of this prejudice through the rest of the book.
This will be the first instance of the characters' preconceived notions of monsters being challenged. Just as not all demigods are good, not all monsters are evil. Percy is interesting to analyze regarding this, because on the one hand he's still new to the world of the gods so he doesn't even realize that Tyson isn't human, thus he only judges him based on his actions. And as he points out in his narration, Tyson had just saved his life multiple times, and on top of that, Percy has gotten to know him for the entire school year. Tyson is his friend, period. But on the flip side, Percy also fairly quickly internalizes the ways in which demigods are taught to view monsters. He still develops his own biases and prejudices, and continually has to unlearn it throughout this series and the next.
Small things:
Annabeth translating Laistrygonians as Canadians. Girl why 💀
I can vividly imagine Percy jumping out of his skin when the Sisters' eye landed on him sjdfkshf gross
Previous: Chapter 2 - I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals
