Also referred to as Percy Jackson & the Olympians, PJO or PJatO, Percy Jackson is a pentalogy of fantasy adventure novels authored by a famed American writer, Rick Riordan. It is also the first book series in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles.
If you want to read all these novels and follow the plot from start to finish, then you need to follow a chronological order. This article shows you how to read Percy Jackson books in order.
Who Is Percy Jackson?
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As noted above, Percy Jackson is a book series written by Rick Riordan recounting how a young man, Percy Jackson, discovers he is a demigod, and how his life changes drastically when he goes to Camp Half-Blood, where demigods train. Jackson is the son of Poseidon – a prominent Greek god of the sea.
Soon he makes friends, a Satyr named Grover underwood and Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena. Jackson teams up with his two friends to embark on a grand escapade.
About Rick Riordan
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Born in June 1964, Richard Russell Riordan Jr. is a famous American writer and the number-one New York Times bestselling author of over 20 novels targeting young readers.
Rick is mainly known for his book series Percy Jackson & Olympians, which tells the story of a teenager named Percy Jackson, who discovers he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon. So far, Rick’s books have been translated into over forty-two languages and sold more than 30 million copies in the United States alone.
Rick has written several other famous books, including the Kane Chronicles, the Magnus Chase series, the Trials of Apollo, and the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre clandestine series for adults. Apart from writing, rick was also a teacher, teaching English and history at several public and private schools in San Francisco Bay Area and Texas.
Saint Mary’s Hall awarded Rick with the School’s first Master Teacher Award while he was teaching in San Antonio. He started writing mystery novels for adults while teaching full-time. He started writing his first children’s fiction book, The Lightning Thief, as a bedtime story for his son.
Currently, more than 100,000,000 copies of Rick’s books have been printed in the US alone, and rights have been sold into over 37 countries around the world. Rick has since retired from his teaching career and is now a full-time writer. He is married with two sons, and he lives with his family in Boston.
How Many Percy Jackson Books Are There?
The full Percy Jackson book series includes all five novels which are both thrilling and emotional. The five novels are The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian. Five additional books, along with graphic novel versions of each book in the initial book series have also been released.
How to Read Percy Jackson Books in Order (Chronologically)
As mentioned above, the Percy Jackson & the Olympians book series has five books. But there are also sequel series, short stories, and more. Nevertheless, some of these books, especially the supplementary ones, can’t be put in chronological order. But here is a simple chronological order in which you can read Percy Jackson books.
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Percy Jackson & the Olympians
1. The Lightning Thief
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This is the first book in the series and was released on July 1, 2005. It tells the story of Percy as he goes back home for summer vacation, after which he travels with his earthly mother Sally Jackson to their cabin in Montauk to relax and hide from Percy’s stepdad, Gabe Ugliano. But the trip is cut short by a sequence of disturbing incidents, including an attack by the Minotaur, which kills his mother.
After his mother’s death, Percy moves to Camp Half-Blood, where he discovers that he is the son of Poseidon. He also discovers that one of his friends, Grover Underwood, is a satyr – a forest spirit with a human torso and a goat’s lower body. Percy is also being accused by Zeus of stealing his Master Bolt, the most lethal weapon in the universe.
So, he must clear his name and save the world from another war between the Olympian gods. Therefore, he is compelled to recover the lightning bolt from Hades, an alleged thief. Together with Grover and Annabeth Chase, Percy embarks on a journey to the underworld, facing many mythical monsters along the way.
2. The Sea of Monsters
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This is the second book in the series and it was released on April 1, 2006. It starts with an attack on Camp Half-Blood. During the attack, Thalia’s tree, which protects the boundaries of the camp from the controls of beasts, is poisoned and dies slowly. To save the tree and the camp, someone has to retrieve the Golden Fleece, which is hidden deep in the Sea of Monsters, the Bermuda Triangle.
At the same time, Percy discovers that Grover, who is on a mission to find the missing god Pan, has been arrested by the Cyclops Polyphemus and that the Fleece is on Polyphemus’ island.
So, he teams up with Annabeth and his half-brother Tyson, a Cyclops who has just arrived at the camp, to save Grover, although Tantalus, who had substituted Chiron, barred him from doing so. In the meantime, Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, is officially tasked by Camp Half-Blood to rescue the Fleece.
The journey to the Sea of Monsters is long and dangerous, exposing the heroes to many dangers, including Scylla and Charybdis, the sorceress Circe, the Sirens, and their former friend Luke Castellan.
Percy also discovers a prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi about a child of one of the three most important gods (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), also referred to as “the Big Three”. This prophecy is vital in determining the success or failure of the revival of Kronos the Titan-King and rescuing Olympus.
While retrieving the Fleece and restoring Thalia’s tree, the heroes also unknowingly revive Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, who had been turned into the tree by her father for sacrificing herself for Annabeth and Luke to travel safely to Camp Half-Blood five years prior.
3. The Titan’s Curse
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This is the third book in the series and it was released on May 11, 2007. It tells the story of Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover as they fight a Manticore to rescue the half-bloods Bianca and Nico di Angelo. But just before they are defeated by the Manricore, a goddess known as Artemis rescues them. unfortunately, Annabeth falls off a cliff and is said to be captured.
Artemis is also captured by Luke’s army while hunting for Ophiotaurus, a cow-serpent that was predicted to bring the collapse of Olympus when its guts are sacrificed to a fire.
Her deputy Zoë Nightshade, daughter of Atlas, and a sister of the Hesperides lead Bianca, Thalia, and Grover on a rescue mission to save her. Although Percy wasn’t invited to the rescue mission, he follows them in support of Nico di Angelo, vowing to do his best to defend his sister, Bianca.
However, they end up being chased by skeletons across the country, but Bianca manages to kill one, which leaves the others puzzled. Sadly, Bianca dies as they make their way across a godly landfill, leaving Percy’s promise to Nico broken. They later find Annabeth with Luke and Artemis, who is holding up the sky.
Percy takes it from Artemis, tricking Atlas into his original position under the sky. Zoë later dies and is replaced as Artemis’s lieutenant by Thalia. Thalia’s initiation as a lieutenant of Artemis ensures that she becomes immortal, never aging to 16.
This helps her to escape the Great Prophecy, leaving Percy to fulfill it. When they get back to the camp and Percy informs Nico about Bianca’s death, Nico blames him for failing to protect her and runs away.
4. The Battle of the Labyrinth
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This book is the fourth installment in the series and it was released on May 6, 2008. In this story, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson embark on a mission to find Daedalus’s workshop and Ariadne’s string, which is also being sought by Luke Castellan and his army. A swordsman called Quintus is deputizing Mr. D, who is working to get the minor gods to be on the gods’ side of the war.
The questers are on a mission inside the labyrinth, fighting many monsters. Once they come across the workshop, they discover that Quintus is actually Daedalus in his 5th body. When Daedalus dies, they head back to the camp to fight with Luke’s army. There are many casualties including Castor and Lee Fletcher.
After the fight, they organize themselves for the Battle of Manhattan, because Lord Kronos has risen to destroy Olympus, in the body of Luke Castellan. They only manage to pass the Labyrinth and away from Kronos by Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who tosses a plastic blue hairbrush at Kronos, which Percy claims to earn Rachel immeasurable respect.
5. The Last Olympian
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This is the final and fifth boon in the series, and it was released on May 5, 2009. In this story, Percy discovers that Kronos’ forces are ready to attack Olympus. His father decides to let Percy fulfill the Great Prophecy. Looking for a way to overthrow Kronos, Nico di Angelo reveals to Percy his plan, although Percy hates it.
Percy washes in the River Styx, making his body invincible apart from one small chosen part of his body (his Achilles heel). Kronos leads an onslaught on New York City, putting its residents to sleep. Percy leads the campers, Hunters, nature spirits, and centaurs to guard Mount Olympus against Kronos and his forces.
As they guard Olympus, the gods look after the monster Typhon as he travels to New York. Kronos, in Luke’s body, goes to Olympus and fights Percy in Olympus’ throne room. Typhon arrives in New York but is overpowered by Poseidon’s forces, led by Tyson. Annabeth manages to make Luke see the sense, and Percy hands him Annabeth’s knife.
Luke stabs himself in his armpit (the mortal spot) since he was also invincible from bathing in the River Styx, to destroy Kronos and save Mount Olympus. He died heroically. Percy and his friends are rewarded by the gods. He is also offered immortality but he turns it down and asks the gods to claim all their children and to create cabins for all the gods, including the small ones.
The Curse of the Oracle was bequeathed by Hades after Zeus destroyed Maria di Angelo (Bianca and Nico’s mother), and Rachel Elizabeth Dare became the next Oracle and recited the next Great Prophecy. The book ends with Percy and Annabeth officially becoming a couple, and gloomy clouds hovering over Rachel’s next Great Prophecy.
6. The Demigod Files
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This is an assortment of stories set during the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series written by Rick Riordan.
7. Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo
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This is another short story that you can read later if you wish to.
Percy Jackson Books in Publication Order
Here, the term “Percy Jackson Books” has been used loosely because, as mentioned above, many of these books don’t actually feature Percy himself. So, this publication order list becomes simpler when you remove all indications of what series the books belong to and list them all in order.
• The Lightning Thief (2005)
• The Sea of Monsters (2006)
• The Titan’s Curse (2007)
• The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
• The Last Olympian (2009)
• The Demigod Files (2009) (Short Story Collection)
• The Red Pyramid (2010)
• The Lost Hero (2010)
• The Throne of Fire (2011)
• The Son of Neptune (2011)
• The Serpent’s Shadow (2012)
• The Demigod Diaries (2012) (Short Story Collection)
• The Mark of Athena (2012)
• The Son of Sobek (2013) (Short Story)
• The Singer of Apollo (2013) (Short Story)
• The House of Hades (2013)
• The Staff of Serapis (2014)
• The Blood of Olympus (2014)
• The Crown of Ptolemy (2015) (Short Story)
• The Sword of Summer (2015)
• The Hidden Oracle (2016)
• The Hammer of Thor (2016)
• The Dark Prophecy (2017)
• The Ship of the Dead (2017)
• The Burning Maze (2018)
• 9 From the Nine Worlds (2018) (Short Story Collection)
• The Tyrant’s Tomb (2019)
• The Tower of Nero (2020)
• Companion Books/Stories
• Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods
• Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes
• Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds
• The Trials of Apollo: Camp Jupiter Classified: A Probatio’s Journal
• Percy Jackson Books in Order by Series
• Percy Jackson books in order
• Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters
• The Titan’s Curse Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy Jackson Books in Order by Series
The main reason why you should read the Percy Jackson books in order by series is to avoid hopping between characters and places. Just make sure you read Percy Jackson before Heroes of Olympus, and then read the Kane Chronicles before Demigods and Magicians.
• The Lightning Thief
• The Sea of Monsters
• The Titan’s Curse
• The Battle of the Labyrinth
• The Last Olympian
• The Demigod Files (Short Story Collection)
• The Singer of Apollo (Short Story)
• The Heroes of Olympus
• The Lost Hero
• The Son of Neptune
• The Mark of Athena
• The House of Hades
• The Blood of Olympus
• The Demigod Diaries (Short Story Collection)
• The Kane Chronicles
• The Red Pyramid
• The Throne of Fire
• The Serpent’s Shadow
• Demigods and Magicians
• The Son of Sobek (Short Story)
• The Staff of Serapis (Short Story)
• The Crown of Ptolemy (Short Story)
• Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
• The Sword of Summer
• The Hammer of Thor
• The Ship of the Dead
• 9 From the Nine Worlds (Short Story Collection)
• The Trials of Apollo
• The Hidden Oracle
• The Dark Prophecy
• The Burning Maze
• The Tyrant’s Tomb
• The Tower of Nero
• Percy Jackson B
