Percy Jackson and the Olympians is one of the most popular fantasy book series of all time. The series began as a pentalogy centered around the titular son of Poseidon, but has since expanded into a massive literary universe known as The Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. With a televised adaptation of the series set to air on Disney+ next year, here is the recommended reading order for every installment of the Percy Jackson series.
The reading order for the Percy Jackson books is not very complicated. As its name implies, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is the intended starting point of The Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. This five-book odyssey follows the titular demigod as he discovers his heritage and fights to protect the mundane world he knows and a hidden community of Greek gods and demigods from the Titans.
Once readers have finished Percy Jackson and the Olympians, they can jump into The Heroes of Olympus, a direct sequel series that picks up a few months after the ending of The Last Olympian. Featuring a new core cast of demigods and a second demigod camp that trains the children of the Roman gods, The Heros of Olympus expands on the lore of the Percy Jackson universe in new and exciting ways while continuing the personal journeys of characters introduced in the previous series.
Rounding out the main entries in The Camp Half-Blood Chronicles is The Trials of Apollo, which shifts the focus away from demigods in favor of following an actual god. Following the tribulations of Apollo, who is stripped of his divine status and the privileges that come with it by his father Zeus, The Trials of Apollo sees the former god of the Sun interact with characters from Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus.
While neither is part of the main series, author Rick Riordan has also written two spin-off trilogies set within the Percy Jackson universe. The first, The Kane Chronicles, sees estranged siblings Carter and Sadie Kane discover their connection to a secret world of magicians who serve the Egyptian gods and is set between the first two main series. The second, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, explores the life (and death) of the titular Norse demigod, a cousin of Percy’s girlfriend Annabeth, and is set during The Trials of Apollo.
As of May 2023, the Percy Jackson series has gained one more addition, the standalone novel The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure. This solo outing stars Percy’s longtime friend Nico di Angelo and his boyfriend, Will Solace, who delve into the deepest depths of the Underworld to rescue Bob, a kind-hearted Titan who went against his family to help the demigods of Camp Half-Blood in The Heroes of Olympus. This novel is set half a year after The Tower of Nero, making it the most recent entry in the series’ timeline.
If you want to read the Percy Jackson series, most public libraries should have a few copies. If you want to buy a copy, most bookstores will have the series on retail. Online retailers like Amazon are always a safe option, but those who want the experience the timeless joy of buying a physical book from a store may want to consider picking up their Barnes and Noble. Those who struggle to find the time to read are also in luck, as Audible.com has audiobooks of every entry in the Percy Jackson series on their online storefront. Even visually impaired readers can enjoy Percy Jackson thanks to organizations like the Braille Bookstore, which sell copies of the series written in Braille.
