Published: 24 September 2024 (print)/24 September 2024 (audio) 
Publisher: Puffin/Penguin Audio
Pages: 332/8 hrs and 37 mins
Narrator: Jesse Bernstein
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
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 has to do is pet sit her mastiff, Hecuba, and her polecat, Gale, over Halloween week while she is away. Piece of cake, right?
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-flavoured 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.
This book didn’t feel as much like a novella as the previous one. But despite being over eight hours long it still felt like a short story, an extra bonus adventure for readers. Perhaps it’s the minimal events? One mission without a lot of moving parts or people. It’s a small mission not a worldwide quest over weeks, it’s a week or two at most.
Having come to this from the back of Heroes of Olympus I do miss the multiple perspectives, but having the original trio together again was interesting. Made me wonder how Grover was free for this and not the other stories. Shouldn’t he still have Cloven Elder things to do?
I was initially going to say I liked this more than the previous novel, but thinking about it now I think I liked them both in different ways. Chalice gives us a traditional Percy Jackson vibe, traipsing around talking to other gods, while this one it’s the trio on their own, working things out, the beings they interact with are more sprites and other creatures.
Both have merit, and I can’t see this as a standalone, though how you can read the other own knowing you need two more letters is interesting. The story also didn’t feel as dated, and while it does mention Twitter and flame wars, it makes sense for the time in which the books are meant to be set.
I’ll be curious to see how the final book plays out. Already knowing the outcome won’t be a deterrent because Riordan makes the stories so captivating and enjoyable, even knowing the outcome doesn’t take away from the adventure of the journey. Heaven knows he’s a master at twists and turns and loop holes, enough to keep anyone on their toes.
You can purchase Wrath of the Triple Goddess via the following
Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
Percy Jackson, modern-day son of Poseidon, is just trying to get through high school. After saving the world multiple times by battling monsters, Titans, and giants, Percy is now settling in at Alternative High School in New York, where he hopes to finally have a normal senior year. 
