The long-awaited sixth novel in Rick Riordan’s best-selling series Percy Jackson and the Olympians has finally arrived, and Ohio State students are in for a surprise. This new story in the beloved Greek Life series sees Percy finally graduate high school and move on to his next great adventure – surviving two semesters in the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity right here in Buckeye Nation.
The first few chapters detail Percy’s fraternity hazing in harrowingly beautiful prose, with special emphasis placed on the feelings of disbelief and inadequacy experienced by Percy’s fraternity brothers when he fails to drown after being submerged in a bathtub full of beer for two hours.
The rest of the novel is a heart-rending tale of love, loss, and redemption. Readers will surely be brought to tears by the unforgettable scene where Percy’s long-time girlfriend, Annabeth, leaves him for some guy in her advanced calculus class. “Whatever!” Percy shouts at Annabeth’s retreating figure, his voice cracking ever-so-slightly. “Thalia’s hotter than you, anyway. If you want to talk I’ll be with her on the Oval.”
Those familiar with the local attractions around campus are sure to recognize a few of the settings that appear in the novel. Midway features prominently in the story, as it’s where Percy first discovers his love of beer. “Oh my gods, it’s better than ambrosia!” Percy exclaims after his first sip from the golden chalice. “You’re a genius, Dionysus… I can’t believe I just said that.”
But the novel’s climax is reached only when Brutus Buckeye is revealed to be a malevolent spirit sent by Hades to torment Percy for not responding to Nico di Angelo’s DMs. Hades promises the shackled and beaten Percy that he will be condemned to a land “worse than Hell.”
“Tartarus?” Percy scoffs. “Been there, done that. Nothing scares me anymore, old man!”
“Not Tartarus,” Hades reassures him, an evil gleam in his eye. “You will be sent to… Michigan!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
Percy Jackson and the Chalice of the Gods is available in bookstores now.
Written by The Muses