Rick Riordan didn't just write a series. He built a universe. What started in 2005 with The Lightning Thief has grown into five connected series, two crossover collections, three companion volumes, graphic novels, and a Disney+ adaptation that's bringing a whole new generation of tween readers to Camp Half-Blood. Here's the complete reading order — and how to actually get through it without missing anything.
Start here: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 books)
This is the original series, the one everything else spirals out from. Twelve-year-old Percy discovers he's the son of Poseidon and gets pulled into Camp Half-Blood, where Greek gods are real and demigods train to fight monsters. Five books, all middle grade.
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Then: The Heroes of Olympus (5 books)
The direct sequel series. Percy is still around, but now we're tracking a much bigger cast across both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter (the Roman demigod camp). The stakes are bigger, the cast is bigger, and the writing matures with the audience.
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Then: The Trials of Apollo (5 books)
Apollo gets kicked out of Olympus and forced to live on Earth as a teenage mortal named Lester Papadopoulos. He has to face five trials before he can earn his godhood back. The first Riordan series that doesn't star Percy — though Percy and many other characters appear throughout.
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The new arc: Senior Year Adventures
In 2023, almost twenty years after The Lightning Thief, Riordan returned to Percy's first-person narration with a brand-new trilogy. Percy needs three letters of recommendation from the Olympians to get into college — which means three more quests. The reading experience is exactly what longtime fans hoped for: the sarcasm, the chapter titles, the demigod chaos.
3. Book 3 (forthcoming)
Companion universes worth exploring
The Kane Chronicles (3 books)
Riordan trades Greek mythology for Egyptian. Siblings Carter and Sadie Kane are descended from the pharaohs of Egypt, and now they're caught up in a magical war between the gods. The trilogy crosses over with the Percy Jackson universe later in three short stories — The Son of Sobek, The Staff of Serapis, The Crown of Ptolemy — collected as Demigods and Magicians.
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Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (3 books)
Norse mythology with a teen demigod protagonist who happens to be Annabeth Chase's cousin. Magnus dies in the first book — and that's how his hero's journey begins.
📚 Find Magnus Chase on Amazon →
The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure
Companion volumes (great for super-fans)
The encyclopedia-style companions every devoted reader eventually wants. Percy narrates the gods and heroes himself, with all the sarcasm fans love.
The graphic novel adaptations of the original five Percy Jackson books are also worth seeking out for visual readers — see our graphic novel guide for tweens.
The best reading order — short version
If you just want the cleanest path through:
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 books)
- The Heroes of Olympus (5 books)
- The Senior Year Adventures (3 books, ongoing)
- The Trials of Apollo (5 books)
- The Sun and the Star (standalone)
The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase can be read any time after the original Percy Jackson series — they're separate universes that only briefly touch.
⚡ Browse every Rick Riordan book in our catalog, or explore all our reading guides.