The new ‘Chalice of Gods’ series
Percy Jackson and healing my inner child
Abigail Cavizo / News Editor / The USD Vista
When I was seven, I read the words, “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.” It changed my life forever.
Author Rick Riordan is best known for his adventure-fantasy series, “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” (PJO). The series, beginning with “The Lightning Thief,” first published in 2005. Pulling from classical Greek mythology, Riordan tells the story of a twelve-year-old boy finding out that he’s part human, part god: a demigod.
Following the first book, fans went along with Percy on various other adventures, watching him survive multiple prophecies and near-death experiences until age 17.
Riordan recently announced that a new book, “The Chalice of the Gods,” is in the works and will be on sale Sept. 26, 2023. For the first time since 2014, Percy Jackson is going on another adventure with his girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, and best friend, Grover Underwood. This time, we’re picking up right after “The Blood of Olympus,” the last book of Riordan’s second series within Jackson’s universe.
Riordan released vague details about the plot, but he stated that the center for this book is Percy’s quest to get into the ‘College of New Rome’ — a university for demigods. Instead of the typical college recommendation letters, Percy is required to go through multiple battles and quests during his senior year of high school.
The inspiration for the new book also comes from the new Disney+ show for the PJO franchise that Riordan is a part of in producing and writing. The show is set to release in 2024. Depending on how well it does, Riordan wanted to create more stories for it to play off of — leading into Jackson’s college years.
Along with a surface-level plot description, Riordan also attributed this new book to the ones who have stuck by Percy.
“We talked about all manner of things, but I didn’t want to publish something just to publish something,” Riordan wrote in a blog post. “I wanted it to be a book you all might actually love, a kind of ‘thank you’ for sticking with me all these years as you waited for a better PJO adaptation.”
USD junior and long-time Percy Jackson fan Sofia Hart recently reread the book series.
“There’s a nostalgia that comes with rereading something from your childhood [that] is special,” Hart said. “I love Percy and am so excited to see him again. When I was younger, I thought I could be a half-blood.”
Being a half-blood was something I desperately wanted too. I remember being a young girl, waiting for Percy to find and choose me as his next companion on the next journey. Riordan’s world-building was next-level: it felt so real that I genuinely believed if I tried hard enough, I could see through the mortals’ “mist.” I wanted to be claimed by my godly parent, swept away to battle monsters in the deep sea, unlock the secrets to ancient Greek architect Daedalus’ laptop or chase rabid dogs roaming the streets in Venice.
Every year, I’d wait for the next book to be released throughout elementary school and middle school. The last time a new Percy Jackson book came out, I was almost 14. Now, I’ll be 22 when Percy’s next journey begins. I’ve never been older than Percy before. It’s a bittersweet feeling — like revisiting an old friend, an echo of something Peter-Pan-like. I think about the way I used to look up to him, wanting to be him, but also wanting to be loved by him. It’s a strange time warp, like Percy Jackson is my own personal time traveling machine. When I read from his words, I feel younger than I am. I’m able to picture myself with the book in my hand, as I swing back and forth on my neighborhood playground or in the schoolyard fervently reading before my parents picked me up from school.
A lot has changed since I last walked alongside my good friend Percy, but the impact he’s made on the person I am today will never be forgotten. Rereading the books in my 20s has taught me a lot. We change and age, but friendship and love are forever. It’s good to be the hero, but it’s also good to take a step back and recognize when we need help.
We are not invincible; everyone has their weaknesses — even demigods. Now more than ever, I know my youth is not a shield for inevitable mistakes.
There’s value in reviving your inner child. A child’s perspective has value and should not be written off, especially the child I once was. By looking at the people we once were, we can take the experiences from our childhood and make it better throughout our adulthood. I look at the words on the pages and reminisce on the person I once was, the person that’s still in the binding of those books, and the person I’ll be in a year from now reading Riordan’s work as soon as it drops.
When the book is released, I hold some fear that I won’t look at it the same, or that the child I once was would enjoy it much more. In healing the inner-child, re-exploring past books as an adult opens up new insights.
USD junior Demili Pichay immersed herself within Percy’s world when she was a child, but she also finds new perspective looking at multiple different sources to relive old childhood experiences.
“Percy Jackson was probably one of the top three series that shaped my childhood; I attribute a lot of who I am to Riordan and what I know about Greek mythology — which I love,” Pichay said. “I recently have been doing a lot of reminiscing about the art I used to enjoy when I was a child. I wanted to fix my attention span, so instead of TikTok, I’ve been slowly rewatching all the movies I watched as a child, and it really is so amazing to look at something with such fresh eyes.”
Rereading and rewatching old movies, shows or books does not have to be something that’s hard to do or childish, because we’re older now.
I want to recognize it within its time context, but I also want to critique it at the age that I am now. I look forward to not only seeing my friend Percy in his (college) years, but also, taking in the story that I began reading when I was seven.
I still want to be a half-blood, and I think I always will.