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Ranking Percy Jackson and the Olympians Novels

Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians is one of the best-known fantasy book series in recent memory and one of the best within young adult fiction. This Greek Mythology saga about Percy and his friends’ quest to protect Mount Olympus started off on a wobbly note, but it improved drastically toward its end. It’s a strong pentalogy that was very easy to rank for me personally, so here we go.

5. The Lightning Thief

Instantly establishing a memorable world, The Lightning Thief is a solid first entry in this series that featured not only terrific world building, but memorable characters that were well developed from the start. It’s a solid storyline as well and it’s quite adventurous. My issues here are twofold. One is the excessive action that is worsened by frenetic pacing while the other is Riordan’s writing that at this point was just not as confident as it would become later down the line. For all of these reasons, it is my least favorite book in the series.

4. The Titan’s Curse

The odd one out in this series, The Titan’s Curse is differentiated from others in its varied points of view depicted and a significantly darker tone throughout. This was done for better and for worse as the adventurous elements were missing here and the pacing was very chaotic, but the more mature tone led to more interesting themes explored and more complex character interactions. This is the moodiest and most dramatic book in this franchise that is emotionally engaging, but flawed in storytelling.

3. The Last Olympian

The Last Olympian concluded this pentalogy confidently. While it has its weaker elements – the mythology is inferior here and the themes are non-existent – the characterization is triumphantly strong and the emotional engagement is quite high. The highlight is the final twist and the ending itself that was quite powerful and very memorable. While it’s not my favorite novel in the series, it is one of the better ones and Riordan ended the saga with an approach that was surprisingly not action-heavy and bombastic, which I certainly appreciated.

2. The Sea of Monsters

Percy and his friends must rescue Grover from a dangerous Cyclops while they also have to heal a tree in the camp that is dying and leaving the place vulnerable to monsters in this second entry that is by far the most adventurous one of the bunch. While decidedly small-scale in its scope, The Sea of Monsters is the funniest and most entertaining book in the series that is particularly strong in its quest-like narrative and excellent characterization. It is the second best book overall.

1. The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy and his friends Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood, Rachel Dare and Tyson attempt to stop Luke Castellan and his army from invading Camp Half-Blood through Daedalus’s labyrinth by trying to prevent the Ariadne’s string from falling into his hands. The Battle of the Labyrinth clearly is the most complex novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. The action is overwhelming and the pacing is still problematic, but it benefits from multiple mature themes incorporated and dealt with properly as well as stupendous character development. It also features incredible world building and mythology. It has so many different narratives and quests included in this vast, complicated tale that is by far the best written entry in the series, which resulted in this deserved number one spot.