Percy Jackson is back and he is here to party! This Halloween themed adventure has Percy, Annabeth and Grover running around in circles. By the end of “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess”, you will feel like you have visited every street of Manhattan… As well as plenty of exciting international locations, festivals and even nightclubs! Let’s dive into a review of the seventh book in the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series by Rick Riordan.

Author’s note: The following review of “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess” was originally written for my previous website in autumn 2024. This update coincides with the German translation of the book. “Percy Jackson 7: Der Zorn der dreifachen Göttin” was published on the 28th of May 2025.

1. Summary
2. My Experience
3. My Style
4. Writing
5. Plot and Character Development
6. Finding Meaning
7. Highlights and Lowlights
8. Recommendations and References
9. Conclusion and Rating

Summary

Following “The Chalice of the Gods”, Percy Jackson is in need of two more recommendation letters for his college application. The seventh volume of the series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is about the quest that Percy has to complete in order to get his second recommendation letter. As the title “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess” suggests, the quest is commissioned by none other than the goddess Hecate… Although, considering her bajillion alternate names, titles and accolades, you will be forgiven for not recognising that name. (Except by her. She will not forgive you.)

What about the ‘wrath’? Well, the goddess threatens to incinerate Percy if her quest is not completed with the utmost level of care, diligence and obedience. Hecate has found a task that is truly worth Percy’s time and talent as the greatest hero of his age: Pet-sitting her hellhound and polecat while she travels abroad to visit as many cultural festivities as possible during Halloween week. What could go wrong? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Percy, Annabeth and Grover MUST get the situation under control before Halloween is over to avoid the wrath of the Triple Goddess… Can they do it? 

My Experience

This book is an absolute comfort read. I love accompanying Percy, Annabeth and Grover on their quests. The most precious moments are the small, cosy ones that happen in their conversations. The friends have a real appreciation for each other and it comes through on every page. There is an interesting new dynamic in which Grover has separation anxiety when faced with the possibility of Annabeth and Percy moving away for college.

Let’s be clear: Percabeth is my OTP. Not only mine, but it is simply the OTP to end all OTPs. No wonder that Grover is feeling insecure about being left behind. Still, he has the most loyal friend in the world. If their friendship is good right now, it will also be good long-distance. I believe in them. Basically, my reading experience was: Began reading for Percabeth, kept reading for deep dives into friendships and ridiculous quests (and Percabeth).

My Style

• Here are two Halloween themed mood boards that I created with my photos from this autumn. Do you prefer the board with the bright, orange colours (1) or the cool, dark tones (2)? Let me know in the comments!

• Bilingual Bonus: Reading this book in Germany, imagine my surprise when Percy suddenly goes shadow traveling and arrives in “the real world—or at least a German nightclub, which I’m not sure counts.” (Riordan, 2024, p. 322). The club goers allegedly yelled: “Huch! Ach! Was zum Teuful?” (Riordan, 2024, p. 322), which is certainly a typo and meant to read ‘Teufele’ as a play on ‘Teufel’ and ‘Berghain’.

• Polyglot Prize: Hecate is on a mission to visit as many cultural celebrations and festivities as possible in Halloween week. This gifts us with an international, diverse collection of the names of festivals. The names of the traditions are written in many different languages. For example, Pangangaluluwa is a Tagalog tradition in the Phillipines. Kürtőskalács is the Hungarian word for chimney cake, or, as I know it, Baumstriezel. Rick Riordan would have described my discovery as: “Huch! Ach! Baumstriezel!”

• Award for the Best Entrance: Obviously, Percy materialising in a German nightclub out of thin air. They really tried to start the hashtag GiantDogPullsStrangeKidThroughClub.

• Award for the Best Exit: Hecate, the Triple Goddess, Keeper of Mysteries, Queen of the Darkness, the Star Walker, the Night Wanderer, … You get the idea.

• The True Hero of this Book: The Cracked Teapot Café. (For offering aspiring novelists a place to dream of.)

• The True Villain of this Book: Underlying tension in friendships. (For having much more catastrophic consequences than you’d expect, but this is a spoiler free review!) 

• Edible Equivalent: Chocolate covered strawberries. Imagine yourself indulging in a beautiful strawberry dessert. Each one is lovingly designed to have a different spooky (but cute) vibe. It’s not a full meal, but once in a while you just need to treat yourself, indulge and relax! It’s a special occasion, sweetie. Who could resist?

• Alternative Title & Starring Roles:

The Anxiety of the Triple Friendship

Starring:

Smart Seaweed Brain

A Busy SODNYC Student

Grounded Grover (In Three Different Ways)

The Pets from Hell

Writing

The writing style is comforting and familiar. It is well-known to all Percy Jackson fans. Once again, there is first person narration from Percy’s point of view. My most pressing question is: Who am I and who are you? No, this is not an existential crisis, but a literary one. Whenever the narrator uses “I” or “you” to break the fourth wall, it gets confusing. I used to think that Percy was telling the story to the audience by speaking or writing to us. Yet, there are these statement in the second chapter: “I could never write a novel anywhere” (Riordan, 2024, p. 14) and “The idea of anybody writing a book about me makes me super paranoid.” (Riordan, 2024, p. 16). Paradoxically, the narrator goes on to describe an exchange of words as “so scathing I couldn’t print them—partly because I couldn’t spell them” (Riordan, 2024, p. 195). Percy, are you writing this book or not?!

Percy is seventeen years old now, but I feel that some of the expressions he uses are “too old” for him. Occasionally, there are sophisticated expressions that do not match Seaweed Brain’s reputation, such as “a source of endless fascination for selves everywhere” (Riordan, 2024, p. 112). Speaking of “selves”, this book sees the emergence of Psychologist Percy. Percy’s emotional intelligence is a recurring theme throughout “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess”. His loved ones keep pointing out how emotionally attuned and caring he is. Percy demonstrates a lot of empathy and compassion for the beings around him. My favorite quote about this is: “That poor immortal goddess must really be hurting. You should help her.” (Riordan, 2024, p. 244).

Another recurring theme is the search for a vocation: Although Percy wants to go to college with Annabeth, he has not set his heart on one subject of study or career. Fans keep suggesting “marine biology” or something along those lines. But if New Rome University is barely able or ready to admit Percy at all because he is a son of Poseidon, they surely won’t have classes suited specially to children of Poseidon. I don’t believe that Percy’s CV (“My job was ocean.” (Riordan, 2024, p. 314)) is going to suffice.

My official guess is that Percy is going to become a counsellor! Percy is already unofficially regarded as the guardian of demigods. Plus, he is constantly disappointed with the poor job his counsellor Eudora is doing. Additionally, Percy seems extremely aware of issues surrounding transparency, ethics and emotional well-being in the workplace. To top it all off, his latest encounter with the centaur Chiron shows that he might need replacing as the coach of the camp. I’m calling it right now: Percy is going to become a counsellor and will eventually take over or support Chiron’s mentoring role at camp!

Plot and Character Development

Annabeth and Percy have grown up so much. Even the satyr Grover still has some (emotional and physical) growing to do. It is remarkable how much the characters and the narrative voice changes with the time. Each volume is like a time capsule for the year it was written in. “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess” is SO 2024!

That said, the plot is fun, entertaining and perfectly paced. In fact, it is so well-constructed that the characters (Annabeth) create a to-do list and simply check off their sub-tasks for the quest on each weekday. They even manage to fit their social engagements, hobbies and school lessons into their schedule. As someone with a passion for routines, habit formation and lifestyle design, I admire that kind of planning and organization.

If you need help prioritising your tasks or your to-be-read list, just contact me with your questions. With the right plan, you can learn any skill and accomplish any goal that is a priority for you. Just look at Annabeth and Percy: They are facing up to the challenges of school homework, studying for quizzes and giving presentations. At the same time, they are learning how to deal with magical creatures, a Halloween party and magical things like potions and ghosts. These have rarely been seen in Percy Jackson books before, so it’s like a new and fun treat! All in all, Percy and Annabeth are in for a very chaotic week: Double timing their real schools with a former school of magic. (A school of magic? Such a weird idea, right?)

Finding Meaning

The Percy Jackson series has been a reliable companion to me for more than a decade. My honest opinion is that the first four books of the series “The Heroes of Olympus” constitute the PEAK of fantasy-adventure novels. They are four of the best book in that genre OF ALL TIME. Rick Riordan was at his absolute best when writing them.

I feel that in the original “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, the narrative voice and tone was still in development. The following spin-off series, “Trials of Apollo”, should not be talked about. We have agreed to that as a fandom. At least, two of us. I’m sorry if that is not representative of the opinion of the entire fandom. I just know that one of the best chats of my life so far has taken place in the Herakleidon Museum in Athens. My most amazing tour guides were Greek archaeology students: Experts in bringing Ancient Greek culture and mythology to the twenty-first century! Imagine how thrilled I was to discover that one of them shared my EXACT views and feelings about the main three Percy Jackson book series. We met in September 2023, when “The Chalice of the Gods” (Percy Jackson and the Olympians 6) had just been published. I hope with all my heart that you enjoy this new trilogy as much as I do!

Highlights and Lowlights

My favorite part is a precious, meaningful moment between Percy and Annabeth in which Annabeth listens to him with absolute concentration and attentiveness. I, too, aspire to listen to you like I am memorizing every word, analyzing the meaning of every line and reflecting on how it made me feel. This is the attitude and kind of professional listening skills that every personal coach should have.

I have written a blog post about the difference between concentration and mindfulness, if you would like to learn more. Moreover, I would love to write articles about active listening and mindful communication in the future. Because of my personal and professional interest, the paragraph about listening became my favorite part of the book.

A low point for me was Percy’s discussion of his moral stance on eating fish. Despite being able to talk to marine animals, he only avoids eating the ‘smart’ species such as octopuses. He calls this an obvious decision. As a vegan, it is not obvious to me. This is a low moment. Apart from that, it is an unproblematic book. Still, I generally recommend looking up the content notices before you commit to reading any book.

Recommendations and References

I highly recommend reading “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess” in autumn so that your reading experience can be perfectly aligned with the setting and the Halloween theme. The “college recommendation letter quest” trilogy is devised for readers who would LOVE to spend just a little bit more time with Percy, Annabeth and Grover. They are the original three main characters and reading about them packs the perfect punch of nostalgia.

Compared to the previous books in the series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, everything feels quite low-stake. Obviously, getting the college recommendation letters is not as important as preventing a mythological apocalypse. But would you really like to stress about the end of the world every time? No! This book is not about the plot, but about the characters. So, settle in for your comfort read, revisit the original five book for the hundredth time, and then cheer on your good, old friends on their way to college.

Conclusion and Rating

I am giving “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess” a rating of 4.75 out of 5 stars. Percy Jackson has fully arrived in the year 2024. The book is timely, contemporary and well-written. Get yourself this precious little delight of a time capsule.

Bibliography: Riordan, R. (2024). The Wrath of the Triple Goddess. Disney Hyperion.

Thank you for reading my review. It means a lot to me. I aim to offer you inspiration and information for your reading journey and daily life. Do not miss out on my future blog posts and book reviews! They will include fiction and non-fiction books, recommendations, guides, advice, success stories and useful examples that will help you to create the learning goals, reading experiences and daily life of your dreams. 

Let’s discuss in the comments or per email: What is your personal experience with “The Wrath of the Triple Goddess” and the Percy Jackson books in general? What are your thoughts on this book review? Do you have any questions, wishes or feedback? Let’s connect!