Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Wrath of the Triple Goddess, the second installment in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Senior Year Adventures series, dropped Tuesday, pulling fans back into Jackson’s mind.
As the second book in the spinoff series, following Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods, Wrath of the Triple Goddess has our favorite hero scrambling for his second godly recommendation letter to attend New Rome University the following year.
Originally pitched to go along with the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” show, author Rick Riordan wrote the new trilogy, following Jackson in his senior year of high school, to celebrate the character's new era.
The book is dedicated to 20th Television and Disney+, who collaborated to stream the series’ show adaptation. Riordan then references the second book, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, which the second season of the show will be based on.
Set during the week of Halloween, Jackson, his girlfriend Annabeth Chase and his best friend Grover Underwood must pet-sit the goddess Hecate’s magical creatures, Gale and Hecuba.
A mishap featuring a strawberry milkshake causes Hecate’s polecat and hellhound to run away from home, sending the Celestial Trio on a hunt to find the missing pets before Hecate returns from a trip.
This book was likely supposed to be released soon before the second season of the show — mirroring The Chalice of the Gods' release before season one — due to The Sea of Monsters being referenced many times in the new book. However, the timing didn’t line up, potentially because of the writers and actors strike last year.
The trio recalled the events of their quest into the Sea of Monsters while facing the consequences of their actions in the form of Circe’s Aeaean handmaidens who attempt to enact their revenge on Jackson and Chase for destroying their island oasis.
Hazel Levesque and Leo Valdez, characters from The Heroes of Olympus series, were name-dropped numerous times.
Since this trilogy has lower stakes compared to previous Percy-centric books, we got to see our favorite demigods’ day-to-day lives, from their school life to the Halloween party at the end of the book.
As the first Riordanverse book released after the show, Wrath of the Triple Goddess was able to tie in aspects from the TV series like Chiron’s leg brace, explaining why the centaur used a wheelchair as Mr. Brunner.
It was evident that Disney was backing the book, with references to Disney’s properties littered throughout. Passersby were wearing costumes ranging from Disney princesses to Star Wars characters, and Harley from the Hephaestus cabin was dressed up as Iron Man.
Jackson and Chase were adorable as always, reminding each other that they were better as a team than as individuals.
I really loved this book. Getting back to reading Percy’s point of view is a nice change of pace, especially after the show is set in 3rd person and we don't get to hear his iconic inner monologue.
This book felt more like a coming-of-age with our heroes gearing up to leave high school and having one last hurrah before retiring from the life of an average demigod.
Underwood’s insecurities from The Chalice of the Gods were reiterated by his fear of being left behind while Jackson and Chase moved to California. This brought back my own memories of moving back to Texas, after high school, while leaving my friends behind in India.
If the third installment in the post-Heroes of Olympus trilogy follows the pattern, it will likely release fall 2025, before the second season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” airs.
As always, this universe is a delight to read and I can’t wait to see more.
@marupudisairam
