Hello dear readers! This is Miss A. Misra here with another book review! ( that intro is getting too old..) This time, it’s quite a recent one. It’s “The Chalice of the Gods” by Rick Riordan, published in mid-September or October last year. I bought it at the airport along with the “Ordeal by Innocence” book I wrote about before. It is a smaller novel than the original Percy Jackson series but is connected to the series. The text print is bigger and easier to read (much to Mom’s approval). The book is left at a part where Percy STILL has a quest to finish, and it’s just my luck that the next book in the series has not even been published up to now! The release date is some three or four months away.
So, this time, Percy is going to another university, but it needs three recommendation letters from three different gods or goddesses. His councilor, a water nymph helps him search out a task. Ganymede, the cupbearer in Olympus, has lost his magical chalice ( If you didn’t know, it’s a type of fancy goblet with lots of designs and gold-rimmed edges and all those totally necessary jewels.) that grants anyone immortality. And of course, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover set off to investigate at once. According to Ganymede, everyone on Olympus, except for Zeus, hates him. Eventually, he points out that Hebe ( the Greek goddess of eternal youth, if I remember right. It’s pronounced like: “Hee-bee”, not “hey-bey” or anything else!) and Iris (the Greek goddess of the rainbow, and yeah, it’s pronounced as you see it, okay?) would be the most plausible suspects. Grover mentions that he THINKS he knows what Hebe’s secret lair is. And wouldn’t you be surprised? The name of the place was literally-
“Hebe Jeebies”
(insert “jungshook” face here)
How ironically obvious. But Hebe must have just taken one look at that word in the dictionary and been like: “Heebie” is pronounced like my name, so I’ll just go and (*steals*)Anyways, it was a sort of jumbo, massive, disco, karaoke, and arcade place rolled into one. There were candy types that existed AGES ago, arcade games no one remembered since their childhoods, and songs playing that were unheard of for years. So, it’s a place meant to cause nostalgia to be young again, which I guess does make sense since Hebe was the goddess of youth, anyway! Hebe was the manager and had taken her human form as a girl of around 14 or 15, with a paisley minidress and also some white boots along with them. Which, is not a very good style to go with, but from Percy’s POV, it looks okay. So, let’s let it pass the time.
When the trio reached, they met the manager of the place, Sparky, and she was nine years old. But do you know what? Well, she was 90-SOMETHING years old but after working in Hebe’s place she got her blessing and wished to be young again. Odd, but whatever. After some strolling around, they find Hebe in the karaoke bar and when they try to inquire about Ganymede’s cup, she gets angry and turns them all into eight years old again! When they try to go to Sparky, Sparky sets a flock of flesh-eating chickens on their trail!
( phew)
So now they are stuck as primary schoolers, need to find Ganymede’s chalice, not offend other goddesses, and get back to their original ages. That’s a whole load of work for a trio of teens. Did I mention that on the way Iris ( goddess of the rainbow) gives them ANOTHER quest that requires Percy to go to a river full of snakes? I did not. Now you know.
Will they be able to find the chalice? Not get killed by some snakes? And will they make it in time before Zeus finds out Ganymede lost the magic cup and blasts some people with his scary lightning bolts?
Well, this book was quite good and entertaining, but the plot just failed the point in my case. Why even? To get a college application he needs THREE QUESTS. I thought the mortal people didn’t even know of the gods-so how? I read that part so many times and it still did not make sense.
Otherwise, it’s really good. Though Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are all 17 now, the story is still written in the same sarcastic and humorous way I like. Some parts were so hilarious I almost fell off my chair. The humor is so spot on, it feels like it is Percy who is writing the book. Sometimes I have to remind myself that the narrator himself is fictional. The book ends without Percy getting his last quests, which is sad. But as it IS smaller than the rest of the original series that’s expected.
One thing to keep in mind is that to enjoy this book is to read some of the original series because there are so many inside jokes and lines that only fans of the series will get. If you haven’t yet read the original series, most of the jokes will make no sense to you!
Percy Jackson and the Chalice of the Gods: Book Review
