How to Read Rick Riordan’s Books

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So in the wake of The Chalice of the Gods being published last week, I thought I would give my recommendation for what order is best to read Riordan’s books. By this point, he has many series in the same universe, so I can imagine that for people just getting into the books, there might be questions of where to start.

BACKSTORY

So in the universe that Riordan (or Uncle Rick, as some of his fans call him) has created, various gods—like Zeus, Thor, Anubis, and so on—exist in the modern world and often interfere with the lives of us mortal humans. Sometimes, these gods have children with mortals. These children are known as demigods or half-bloods, and usually have difficult, danger-filled lives.

Percy Jackson is the first of these half-bloods we meet, and he serves as the narrator and protagonist of many of the books in this universe. He’s the son of the Greek god Poseidon, but soon learns that there are other mythologies at play too. Roman gods, mainly, but Percy also has brief encounters with other beings too.

Meanwhile, Sadie and Carter Kane are the sibling protagonists of the Kane Chronicles, the trilogy focusing on Egyptian mythology. And finally, Magnus Chase is the titular protagonist of his Norse trilogy (and he also happens to be the cousin of Annabeth, another main character in the Percy series).

However, since all these books exist in the same world, and the characters even interact on occasion, I often encounter questions about how to read them. (Reminder that I work in a bookstore, so I probably hear these queries more often than most people.) Hence these lists!

ALL THE BOOKS

So first, let me list the main novels* (color-coded by series, which is hopefully helpful). ✨️I excluded short stories and related works, but please see the list of those at the end of the post.✨️

  • Greek and Roman mythology: The Camp Half-Blood Chronicles
    • Percy Jackson and the Olympians (PJO): 6 novels
      • Lightning Thief (2005)
      • Sea of Monsters (2006)
      • Titan’s Curse (2007)
      • Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
      • Last Olympian (2009)
      • Chalice of the Gods (2023)
    • Heroes of Olympus (HOO): 5 novels
      • Lost Hero (2010)
      • Son of Neptune (2011)
      • Mark of Athena (2012)
      • House of Hades (2013)
      • Blood of Olympus (2014)
    • Trials of Apollo (TOA): 5 novels
      • Hidden Oracle (2015)
      • Dark Prophecy (2016)
      • Burning Maze (2017)
      • Tyrant’s Tomb (2018)
      • Tower of Nero (2019)
    • The Sun and the Star (2023): standalone; co-written with Mark Oshiro
  • Egyptian mythology
    • The Kane Chronicles (KC): 3 novels
      • Red Pyramid (2010)
      • Throne of Fire (2011)
      • Serpent’s Shadow (2012)
  • Norse mythology
    • Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (MCGA): 3 novels
      • Sword of Summer (2015)
      • Hammer of Thor (2016)
      • Ship of the Dead (2017)

PUBLICATION ORDER

Naturally, one could always read these in order of publication. That’s basically what I did growing up, with the exception of Magnus Chase and the Kane Chronicles.

Here are the books in order of publication:

  • Lightning Thief (PJO)
  • Sea of Monsters (PJO)
  • Titan’s Curse (PJO)
  • Battle of the Labyrinth (PJO)
  • Last Olympian (PJO)
  • Red Pyramid (KC)
  • Lost Hero (HOO)
  • Throne of Fire (KC)
  • Son of Neptune (HOO)
  • Serpent’s Shadow (KC)
  • Mark of Athena (HOO)
  • House of Hades (HOO)
  • Blood of Olympus (HOO)
  • Sword of Summer (MCGA)
  • Hidden Oracle (TOA)
  • Hammer of Thor (MCGA)
  • Dark Prophecy (TOA)
  • Ship of the Dead (MCGA)
  • Burning Maze (TOA)
  • Tyrant’s Tomb (TOA)
  • Tower of Nero (TOA)
  • Sun and the Star
  • Chalice of the Gods (PJO)

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

I’ve found that one of the things that makes these books complicated is that some of the series happen contemporaneously. The main example of this is the Magnus Chase trilogy and the Trials of Apollo series. From what I can tell/recall, both take place from January through June, and were all published alternately from 2015–2019.

So while that’s a little confusing, it’s also handy, as it means that the “Publication Order” and “Chronological Order” are nearly identical—with one notable exception. The new book, Chalice. Because apparently Riordan couldn’t make things simple (I still like him, though).

Therefore, if you for some reason want to jump back and forth between series by reading these according to the in-universe timeline, here’s that list:

  • Lightning Thief (PJO)
  • Sea of Monsters (PJO)
  • Titan’s Curse (PJO)
  • Battle of the Labyrinth (PJO)
  • Last Olympian (PJO)
  • Red Pyramid (KC)
  • Lost Hero (HOO)
  • Throne of Fire (KC)
  • Son of Neptune (HOO)
  • Serpent’s Shadow (KC)
  • Mark of Athena (HOO)
  • House of Hades (HOO)
  • Blood of Olympus (HOO)
  • Chalice of the Gods (PJO)
  • Sword of Summer (MCGA)
  • Hidden Oracle (TOA)
  • Hammer of Thor (MCGA)
  • Dark Prophecy (TOA)
  • Ship of the Dead (MCGA)
  • Burning Maze (TOA)
  • Tyrant’s Tomb (TOA)
  • Tower of Nero (TOA)
  • Sun and the Star

I’m sure someone out there has a much more detailed timeline published, broken down by month or even week. I’m not that person, though. Whoever you are, I admire you for your detail-oriented nature.

THE BEST ORDER

For me, the best way to read these books is partially chronological, but mainly by series. (With the exception of Chalice, again, because Riordan can’t make my life simple.)

Anyway, here it is, the best order:

  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians books 1–5:
    • Lightning Thief
    • Sea of Monsters
    • Titan’s Curse
    • Battle of the Labyrinth
    • Last Olympian
  • The Kane Chronicles trilogy:
    • Red Pyramid
    • Throne of Fire
    • Serpent’s Shadow
  • The Heroes of Olympus series:
    • Lost Hero
    • Son of Neptune
    • Mark of Athena
    • House of Hades
    • Blood of Olympus
  • Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy:
    • Sword of Summer
    • Hammer of Thor
    • Ship of the Dead
  • Chalice of the Gods**
  • The Trials of Apollo series:
    • Hidden Oracle
    • Dark Prophecy
    • Burning Maze
    • Tyrant’s Tomb
    • Tower of Nero
  • Sun and the Star standalone
  • Chalice of the Gods**

**Now, here’s where I’m indecisive. I can’t decide if Chalice would be more rewarding to read at its proper point of the timeline (ie, before the Trials of Apollo series begins), or after reading everything else (like I did, a decision that left me emotional from nostalgia). Therefore, I listed it twice, and you get to choose!7

CONCLUSION

Look, if nothing else, please read the Greco-Roman books in this order:

  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians (the original 5 books)
  • Heroes of Olympus series
  • Trials of Apollo series
  • Sun and the Star standalone

As for Chalice, just make sure you’ve read the first 5 Percy Jackson books AND the Heroes of Olympus series first.

You can really read the Magnus Chase and the Kane Chronicles trilogies whenever you want, though there are a few cameos that would make more sense if you’ve read at least some of the Greco-Roman stuff first. But you’ll still be able to enjoy the stories and characters either way.

Whew. This was a mess to organize; I hope it was helpful to someone! I know there are a lot of books, and it can appear overwhelming, but it’s so worth it. These series have such strong themes about friendship, bravery, kindness, and so on. There’s humor and heart, and the characters are delightful.

Also, if I have made any errors, please let me know.

(And for the record, if I had to choose a favorite series, it’s the Magnus Chase trilogy. But if I had to choose a single favorite book out of all of these, it’s The Sun and the Star.)

*In these reading orders, I DID NOT include:

  • supplementary works (but to be thorough, I’ll still list them here). And check out this person’s post for more information on their chronology!
    • PJO supplementary work
      • Demigod Files
    • HOO supplementary work
      • Demigod Diaries
    • TOA supplementary works
      • Camp Half Blood Confidential
      • Camp Jupiter Declassified
    • MCGA supplementary works
      • Hotel Valhalla
      • 9 from the Nine Worlds
    • KC supplementary works
      • Demigods and Magicians (crossover stories with PJO characters)
      • Brooklyn House Magician’s Manual
  • e-book exclusives
  • short stories in anthologies
  • mythology retellings (Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods and Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes)
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide
  • graphic novel versions
  • The Daughter of the Deep, a novel that was published in 2022, but doesn’t exist in this universe, so it can be read at any time (speaking of which, I still need to read that one…)
  • Anything published under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint of Disney-Hyperion, which are all by different authors and do not exist in the same universe as Percy

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