Percy Jackson and Friends to Return in New Book in 2023

The next couple of years are going to be extremely exciting for half-bloods and demigods. The first season of the highly-anticipated live-action adaptation of Rick Riordan’s best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians debuts on Disney+ in 2024. Nico di Angelo and his boyfriend will be the focus of The Sun and the Star, which publishes next year. And it was announced yesterday that a brand-new book starring Percy, Annabeth, and Grover will be released on September 26, 2023.

According to an interview Riordan gave to Publisher’s Weekly, the new book – Percy Jackson and the Chalice of the Gods – was originally intended as an incentive to Hollywood studios to produce the PJO television series.

“What if I sweetened the deal,” Riordan told PW, “by giving the readers something they’ve been wanting for the last decade, a classic Percy Jackson novel from his point of view, featuring Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, just like the original five books? It would be the first time since The Last Olympian in 2009 that we had an honest-to-goodness Percy Jackson novel.”

The pitch proved unnecessary with Disney+ behind a television series, so Riordan put the idea aside in order to concentrate on other projects. But recently Disney asked if he had anything he could publish in order to support the show, and he remembered his idea from a few years ago. Hence, Percy Jackson and the Chalice of the Gods will publish next September, shortly ahead of the debut of the show.

While Chalice of the Gods will star an older Percy – set in his senior year of high school – Riordan assures fans that the tone will be similar to the rest of the series, and therefore appropriate for all ages. Apparently, this book will feature Percy going on quests and fighting monsters, but in search of recommendation letters for college and not because the world is in danger.

As it stands right now, Chalice of the Gods is meant to be a standalone novel and not the first book in a new series (“Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book Six,” according to Riordan). But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be the potential for more, depending on the reception this new book receives… and whether or not Riordan has any further ideas.

I am beyond excited for a new PJO book from Percy’s perspective. Not that the Heroes of Olympus series wasn’t amazing, but I have such love for the original series. Also, I’m very eager to read a book where the stakes are not life or death. Riordan described Chalice of the Gods as “a day in the life of a demigod” and I can’t wait to read a slice-of-life story about Percy and his friends. I’m also excited because it will be set mostly in and around New York, where Percy goes to school.

Also, while I had heard about the upcoming Nico book, I hadn’t really absorbed that information very well. I remember hearing about it in an offhand way and going, “Oh, that will be neat,” but now I’m inspired to not only re-read the PJO series, but also finally start in on the Trials of Apollo series, which have been languishing on my shelves for ages.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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