3.5 
 "Oh, listen, Lord Hermes, about Luke..." 
 The god arched his eyebrows. 
 "Uh, we saw him, all right," I said, "but--" 
 "You weren't able to talk sense into him?" 
 "Well, we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death." 
 "I see. You tried the diplomatic approach." 
 I read The Sea of Monsters mainly because a friend of mine is reading it and she wanted to finish it before I did, which didn't happen - jeez, I can be such a bitch :D 
 Anyway, I enjoyed this second installment of the Percy Jackson series, though not as much as the first one, and most of all I liked the cyclops Tyson: I fell for his kindness, his naiveness and his tenderness straight away. Grover's story was so absurd, it was hilarious. I can't wait to see how things will develop after Thalia's return.