Rejoice fans of the Demigod wonder, Percy Jackson son of Poseidon! While we patiently await the beginning of production for a second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+, author and creator Rick Riordan has just released a new story. Wrath of the Triple Goddess picks up from Chalice of the Gods, where our hero is in need of a great prize: three recommendation letters from Gods to fulfill his admission into New Rome University.
After assisting Ganymede in the previous novel, Percy has now been given a quest from Hecate, to house and pet sit for her while she celebrates Halloween festivities worldwide. Read on to find out what I thought of the latest Percy Jackson adventure!
[Warning: Spoilers for Wrath of the Triple Goddess below.]
Wrath of the Triple Goddess focuses on our lovable trio
The big three Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover are all at the forefront and center of Wrath of the Triple Goddess. Credit must be given to Riordan for balancing them and keeping each character integral to all aspects of the plot. What first seems like an easy task of watching a mansion and the pets inside, turns into a nightmare when Grover falls into temptation and wrecks the very house they’re supposed to be guarding.
With all the commotion the hellhound and polecat, Hecuba, and Gale respectively, escape which leads to an Olympian-sized effort around NYC to bring them both home. Once again, Percy and Annabeth have to work together to accomplish this goal in record time to salvage Percy’s chances of getting a letter from Hecate and to avoid being smote by the goddess herself.
Although Percy is the main hero we’ve followed across the main novels, it is indeed exhilarating whenever Riordan gives us a little more of Annabeth. She’s a strongly defined character and her known fatal flaw (hubris) comes into play at the end. The group collectively made a final stand to protect the house from the same ghosts they had summoned to help repair Hecate’s mansion. Repeatedly throughout Wrath of the Triple Goddess Annabeth shows her trust and love for Percy while still taking responsibility for her actions back in Sea of Monsters.
Grover has an internal conflict about his two best friends moving to California for university, and an encounter while becoming one with nature has him profess this aloud to Percy. As a protector, there’s a sense of custody that was entrusted to Grover over Percy, and seeing the fears shown was a very relatable moment. Grover is again a loyal friend and companion, and his ability to communicate with the animals was one of the most clutch portions of his involvement and the whole story. The guilt he initially carries for failing to abide by Hecate’s rules is felt and understood by both his friends and the audience.
An adventure in NYC was relatively small-scaled for Percy Jackson
Known for his under and over-world adventures, it was quite a change to keep all the events of Wrath of the Triple Goddess condensed to the boroughs of New York City. Since he’s a native New Yorker, this made for some neat interactions within the Big Apple.
There’s one portion of the book where they have to traverse through the Astoria neighborhood of Queens due to the higher Greek population and influence. Keen to flex his knowledge of history, Riordan brings in Peter Stuyvesant during the final portion of the novel. There are countless historical figures deeply embedded in the history of New York City, but this was a great play by the author to entice the target audience to learn a little history about the island of Manhattan.
Percy did at times seem partially handicapped throughout the book, which is a shame for how accomplished he is at his age. There are too many flashes of self-doubt that are particularly irritating, since his adventures are definitive proof of his capabilities. With how much more relaxed this quest was from the outset, it’s even more aggravating since the initial job was easy compared to every adventure before this one. If anything, my best guess is: he felt a little too comfortable being on his home turf and lacked his prior resolve due to the closer proximity to his family.
What’s next for Percy after the Wrath of the Triple Goddess?
In line with his aging, Percy’s maturity continues going in one direction: up. The way he advocates for Gale and Hecuba as he had promised to do for them is admirable and bold in the face of Hecate. The opportunity to walk away without admitting the truth about the week’s events happens to land at his feet. Percy instead opts to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to Hecate. This rewards a boon to Percy, who unselfishly uses it to help his guidance counselor get reinstated as the admissions director for Hecate’s magic school.
Now with a second recommendation letter for “things” (yes that is what Hecate wrote on the page), he’s one shy of being admitted and moving from the East to the West Coast. It was also a nice change of pace seeing Percy able to focus on the task at hand in the end, emboldened by his drive to protect his friends and mission.
Wrath of the Triple Goddess to me was possibly the weakest out of the main Percy Jackson stories, with a couple of errors in the novel and perhaps the least amount of humor. Regardless, there’s still quite a lot to enjoy about this story, and the final realization that Percy has at the dinner table left me quite emotional.
My Rating: 6/10
Percy Jackson: Wrath of the Goddess by Rick Riordan is available now wherever books are sold! Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus if you’re going to keep up with Percy’s quest for a third letter in the future!
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