This book does NOT make me want to delve any further into the Percy Jackson series- while craft wise it was perfectly acceptable for my taste, the way Tyson was used as a stand in for intellectual disability and the INTENSE level of ableism that seeped into the way he’s treated and talked about was really uncomfortable to say the least. While the ableism is clearly not portrayed as “good” our main characters still display some incredibly poor behavior, which is not entirely addressed. One particularly jarring example was the use of the R-slur aimed at Tyson- while Percy defends him, he does NOT seem to think it’s wrong to use that word as a whole- simply that it shouldn’t be used to describe Tyson. This unchallenged ableism is woven throughout to an extent that it completely overpowers any enjoyable aspects of this book

Not much I can add that others haven't said. It was a book I liked as a stand alone but as I am re reading the series I remembered this one is my least favorite of the five. So, its ok. Does it do a ton to move the story forward? No. But there are a few key things that could have been added to the next book or the first one and this one didn't need to exist. 

Book 2 really hit the gas and never let up...and I wish it had. The pacing was so fast I felt like I couldn't breathe but I wanted to know just a little more, to sit in the moments of tension and sadness for just a little longer.

I did enjoy the scenes with Tyson, Annabeth was awesome as usual and the places they went were great.

I absolutely hated the way Circe was handled and felt Grover's parts were very redundant and I wished we got more with him before he was captured. I also though Clarissa had her moments but overall she didn't get much page time either. Again the pacing was too fast to allow any real development. I didn't enjoy Luke's scenes either, they just felt kind of bland and he wasn't nearly as intimidating as he was at the end of book 1.

Overall I am excited for the next book, but this one felt like a novella more than a full novel and it just didn't hit like I wanted it too.