Review: The Chalice of the Gods

The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The much-hyped return of Percy Jackson, more than ten years since the last official Percy Jackson and the Olympians adventure and with tons of other stories from Rick Riordan in between, is proof that Riordan is at his best form when he's got the original Persassy Jackson (and his signature silly chapter titles) fully in command of the storytelling. And luckily, this bite-sized little book isn't actually the Grand Finale as it was initially marketed to be, but rather, Part 1 of a finale trilogy, focusing on Percy's attempts to get letters of recommendation from different Olympians so he can enroll at New Rome University along with his favorite Wise Girl in the world, Annabeth.

Now, it's a bit of a cheat to give us this whole trilogy dramatically building up quest after new quest when Riordan made it pretty clear in The Sun and the Star that Percy and Annabeth do, in fact, get to go to New Rome together for college. I'm still not sure why Riordan went and published that book before this one or any of its now-inevitable sequels - maybe it was some contractual obligation? Which might explain a lot about why I didn't like that book so much (well, that, plus Mark Oshiro not being known for their funny books, or Nico not having anywhere near Percy's level of sarcasm and cleverness.)

But while this book brings back all the First Person Smartass adventuring that made Percy such an iconic character to begin with, it's also - even more than any other previous Riordan book - a poignant meditation on family, friendship, and fear of the future. Percy's got his mom and stepdad in his corner, of course, and his best friend Grover and girlfriend Annabeth...and he still feels, so easily, like he's just not good enough next to them. He thinks, deep down, that sarcasm is his only strength, and that he's dumb as a box of rocks. But lest he forget, he's also full of so much love for that same family and friends who will support him for life, and he did already turn down immortality once. Why not again, even when Ganymede tasks him with the quest to bring back the chalice he lost?

(On that subject - poor Ganymede needs to be liberated from Olympus immediately, he's just such a nervous wreck. Percy's right, give the guy a job at Himbo Juice.)

So yeah, while the placement of this book in the timeline before The Sun and the Star unfortunately tends to distract from the adventurous tension, it's the emotional beats where this new little book from Riordan excels the most. But then again, it's Riordan, so that's absolutely to be expected anyway.

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