Last year, Rick Riordan released two new books: The Sun and the Star, a gay romance that tore the Percy Jackson fandom in two as people argued over how bad it was, and The Chalice of the Gods, a book about the now college-age Percy Jackson and co. needing to find and return Ganymede’s lost cup in exchange for a letter of recommendation so he can get into New Rome University. While I thought that Chalice of the Gods was just going to be a really cringy stand-alone novel ignoring Ganymede’s tragic past (something I’ve talked about on this blog), I have been cursed to learn that it is now the first book of what will be a trilogy of money-grabbing cringe.
As reported by rickriordan.com and readriordan.com (the official sites for anything Rick Riordan related), the next book in this series is called Wrath of the Triple Goddess and from what has been revealed about the plot, it sounds like Rick Riordan has decided to start stealing plot lines from 80s/90s sitcoms for kids. The synopsis (which can be found here: https://www.readriordan.com/2024/01/18/presenting-percy-jackson-and-olympians-wrath-of-the-triple-goddess/) says:
In the second of three quests Percy must complete to earn college recommendation letters from the gods, he has to pet sit the goddess Hecate’s polecat and giant mastiff during Halloween week. What could go wrong?
Percy Jackson, now a high school senior, needs three recommendation letters from the Greek gods in order to get into New Rome University. He earned his first one by retrieving Ganymede’s chalice. Now the goddess Hecate has offered Percy another “opportunity”—all he needs to do is pet sit her mastiff, Hecuba, and her polecat, Gale, over Halloween week while she is away. How hard could that be?
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover settle into Hecate’s seemingly endless mansion and start getting acquainted with the fussy, terrifying animals. The trio has been warned not to touch anything, but while Percy and Annabeth are out at school, Grover can’t resist drinking a strawberry-flavored potion in the laboratory. It turns him into a giant frenzied goat, and after he rampages through the house, damaging everything in sight, and passes out, Hecuba and Gale escape. Now the friends have to find Hecate’s pets and somehow restore the house, all before Hecate gets back on Saturday. It’s going to take luck, demigod wiles, and some old and new friends to hunt down the animals and set things right again.
Rick Riordan’s newest Percy adventure is full of hilarious set pieces, a diverse cast of gods and monsters, and many other delightful tricks and treats.
For those of you who don’t know, Hecate in Greek mythology was a handmaiden of Persephone and the goddess of magic, crossroads, witchcraft, sorcery, ghosts, and necromancy. Though she was an Underworld deity, she was often worshipped alongside Demeter and Persephone and statues of her would be put in people’s houses to protect them from curses and ill omens. Nowadays, she still represents that, but modern-day occultists also worship her as a paragon of female empowerment, fertility, etc.
What has been with Rick Riordan and dark underworld-y stuff lately?
My main reaction to hearing the news about this was disgust mixed with sadness. While I’m sure that 12-year-old me would’ve been happy to buy and read this continuation of the Percy Jackson universe, current-me is just amazed at how bankrupt on ideas Riordan has become in comparison to what his work used to be like. Where the first three series were mostly original, having their own semi-complex plots and characters while building off of Greek mythology, this just seems like a continuation of a much larger problem in the world of mainstream media. That problem is, of course, nostalgia baiting, where you run off the success of a story that was already good that people loved years ago (and still love today) to make a few more bucks by producing/writing something that is inferior to the predecessor, knowing that people will buy it because of their love for the original instead of writing something new and risky.
It’s lazy on the scale of Star Wars and the other IPs that have been destroyed over the years.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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