The books came first
Rick Riordan’s original Percy Jackson and the Olympians sequence follows a young demigod discovering his place in a hidden mythological world. Its central five-book story runs from The Lightning Thief to The Last Olympian. Later books and connected series expand that world.
- The Lightning Thief
- The Sea of Monsters
- The Titan’s Curse
- The Battle of the Labyrinth
- The Last Olympian
This is the original five-book arc, not a complete list of every later Percy Jackson adventure. The author’s series page is the place to explore further reading.
What the movies adapt
The Lightning Thief (2010) and Sea of Monsters (2013) take their starting points from the first two books. They keep the central idea of a son of Poseidon caught up in divine conflicts, but make substantial changes to the journey.
The film version begins with an older Percy. The first film builds its road trip around a search for pearls, changing the structure of the book’s quest. The sequel also reshapes the wider conflict rather than simply reproducing the second novel scene by scene. Reading the books is therefore a different experience even if you know the films.
Was Rick Riordan involved in making the films?
Riordan says in his own FAQ that he did not write the film script or help make the movie. He read a version of the script and offered suggestions, but did not have creative control. His account is useful context when discussing why the adaptations differ from the novels.
The Disney+ series starts again
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a separate television adaptation, with Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri in the central roles. It does not pick up after Sea of Monsters and does not share the movie cast’s continuity.
Disney’s account of the television production describes Rick and Becky Riordan’s involvement in developing that version. This is a different creative relationship from the one Riordan describes for the feature films.
Which version should I start with?
For the world as originally written, begin with The Lightning Thief novel. For the two-film experience, follow the movie release order. For television, start with the show’s first episode. None requires you to finish the other adaptations first.
If you are reading and watching together, consider finishing each book before its adaptation. That gives you a chance to imagine the characters and locations before seeing somebody else’s interpretation.