This morning, while waiting with Celyn at her hospital appointment I told her I was going to write a review of the book I finished reading to her the night before and asked her if it deserved 5*. She said it did. So 5* it is. 
 I picked this book up from Celyn's pile when we went off on her school trip (a week in the wilds) and being in a hurry I managed to get book 3 of the series rather than book 2 (we read book 1 last year). So we've jumped over The Sea of Monsters - but I don't think the reading experience suffered for it. 
 The short version is: if you enjoyed The Lightning Thief then you'll enjoy this one too. 
 The book is written in the same vein as the first, mining the Greek myths for monsters and plot, and mixing in an American road trip along with Percy's irreverent observations. 
 We don't get much of Annabeth in the book as she's a prisoner for a lot if it. We get lots of Thalia (Zeus' daughter), a fair dose of Grover (a Pan-hunting satyr), and a lot of Zoe Nightshade (one of Artemis' hunting posse). 
 A lot of the book is spent travelling by varied means from one side of the States to the other, a journey punctuated by encounters with monsters. We're set up for a big boss-battle on the Mountain of Despair and that's a fun battle with everything from gods and titans to dragons and bi-planes. 
 All in all an action-packed book to which Celyn was happy to return at every opportunity. And if some of the Greek myths stick with her ... all to the good! 
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