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.

  1. The Lightning Thief (2005)
  2. The Sea of Monsters (2006)
  3. The Titan's Curse (2007)
  4. The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
  5. The Last Olympian (2009)

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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.

  1. The Lost Hero (2010)
  2. The Son of Neptune (2011)
  3. The Mark of Athena (2012)
  4. The House of Hades (2013)
  5. The Blood of Olympus (2014)

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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.

  1. The Hidden Oracle (2016)
  2. The Dark Prophecy (2017)
  3. The Burning Maze (2018)
  4. The Tyrant's Tomb (2019)
  5. The Tower of Nero (2020)

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The new arc: Senior Year Adventures (3 books)

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.

  1. The Chalice of the Gods (2023)
  2. Wrath of the Triple Goddess (2024)
  3. The Pen and the Sword (forthcoming)

📚 Find the Senior Year Adventures on Amazon →

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 Narmer and Ramses the Great. 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.

  1. The Red Pyramid (2010)
  2. The Throne of Fire (2011)
  3. The Serpent's Shadow (2012)

📚 Find The Kane Chronicles on Amazon →

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.

  1. The Sword of Summer (2015)
  2. The Hammer of Thor (2016)
  3. The Ship of the Dead (2017)

📚 Find Magnus Chase on Amazon →

The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure

Standalone book co-written by Riordan and Mark Oshiro. Picks up plot threads from Trials of Apollo and gives fan-favorite Nico di Angelo his own quest with his boyfriend Will Solace.

📚 Find The Sun and the Star on Amazon →

Companion volumes (great for super-fans)

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, and The Demigod Diaries are the encyclopedia-style companions every devoted reader eventually wants. The graphic novel adaptations of the original five Percy Jackson books are also worth seeking out for visual readers.

📚 Find the Percy Jackson companions on Amazon →

The best reading order — short version

If you just want the cleanest path through:

  1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 books)
  2. The Heroes of Olympus (5 books)
  3. The Senior Year Adventures (3 books, ongoing)
  4. The Trials of Apollo (5 books)
  5. 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.