Now that the Percy Jackson book series is being adapted to television, it's time for old and new fans to brush up on their knowledge of the novels. Thankfully, the order to read all seven of them is straightforward since their chronological order lines up with their release order. However, Riordan has written other book series set in the Percy Jackson universe, and that is when the timeline gets a bit tricky.

Riordan created the character of Percy Jackson when the author used to tell his son stories about Greek mythology. He turned his bedtime stories into a novel — The Lightning Thief — and the rest is history. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which premiered in 2023, gives each book its own season. Hopefully, the Disney+ series continues to be successful enough to warrant more seasons, so that the entire series can come to life on-screen. Following the disaster that was the 2010 film Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the show's early success is a huge relief.

Percy Jackson Books In Order: All 7 Books

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Rick Riordan and Disney-Hyperion published The Lightning Thief in 2005, and four more books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series would soon follow. The first novel introduces readers to the main protagonist — Percy Jackson, a demigod who has no idea about his godly parentage until a fateful encounter with a Minotaur. He soon becomes a camper at Camp Half-Blood and learns that his father is the god of the sea, Poseidon. From that moment on, Percy's life was never the same.

All five books in the original series — The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian — should be read in the same order as their release date. The novels encom Percy's journey from when he first arrives at Camp Half-Blood as a 12-year-old to his 16th birthday. Riordan has also published two more books featuring Percy, called The Chalice of the Gods and The Wrath of the Triple Goddess. These take place between the events of The Heroes of Olympus and The Trials of Apollo (more on those later).

Where the five main Percy Jackson books followed Percy during his time at Camp Half-Blood, the newest two novels take a different stance. These books, which are set to be a trilogy, center on Percy as he embarks on mini-quests to get letters of recommendation so he can attend the University at New Rome, a college for demigods. Ultimately, these books provide readers with completely new adventures with Percy, and also, portray him at a slightly older age than the initial series did.

Rick Riordan's Other Book Series With Percy Jackson

The Kane Chronicles

While The Kane Chronicles doesn't feature Percy Jackson or any other Greek half-bloods, it takes place in the same universe. The book series by Rick Riordan tells the story of Carter and Sadie Kane, siblings descended from two pharaohs — Narmer and Ramses the Great. So, instead of Greek or Roman mythology, The Kane Chronicles focuses on Egyptian mythology and occurs following The Last Olympian. But one does not need to read the following three books to understand Percy's story.

The Heroes Of Olympus

Following the (tentative) conclusion of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series in 2009, Rick Riordan decided he had more stories to tell about these characters and new ones. More than a year after publishing The Last Olympian, the author released The Heroes of Olympus, which consists of five books. The series continues the chronological order of this universe by taking place following the battle against Kronos and his army in The Last Olympian. However, whereas the first series was told solely from Percy's point of view, The Heroes of Olympus is told from multiple characters' perspectives.

The first novel, The Lost Hero, introduces a few demigods — Jason Grace, who has no memory of his past; Piper McLean, Jason's girlfriend and the daughter of Aphrodite; and Leo Valdez, Jason's best friend and son of Hephaestus. However, while these heroes learn more about themselves and the gods, Percy Jackson is missing. Thankfully, he is not gone for too long because the second book, The Son of Neptune, coincides with the events of the first one and features Percy, who had lost his memories like Jason, at Camp Jupiter, the Roman demigod training camp and counterpart to Camp Half-Blood.

Overall, The Heroes of Olympus brings Greek and Roman half-blood heroes together to defeat a new threat — Gaia. One would think Percy and his friends would be able to rest after the events of The Last Olympian, but they are back to trying to prevent the end of the world only months later. Like the first series, The Heroes of Olympus should be read in the order of release date.

Magnus Chase & The Gods Of Asgard

The other book series in the Percy Jackson universe that does not revolve around Greek or Roman mythology is Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. Rick Riordan continued to branch out by exploring the world of Norse mythology. This series is more connected to Percy Jackson than The Kane Chronicles since its protagonist, Magnus Chase, is Annabeth Chase's cousin and the son of Frey. Plus, characters like Percy and Annabeth appear in some of the novels. It takes place following The Blood of Olympus.

The Trials of Apollo

Rick Riordan conceived another pentalogy following the conclusion of The Heroes of Olympus. But instead of focusing on demigods, the author broke tradition and revolved his next book series around a Greek god. The Trials of Apollo takes place following The Heroes of Olympus and centers around Apollo, the god of the sun, music, and prophecy, who had been stripped of his godly powers and sent to Earth by his father, Zeus. There, the former god reluctantly embraces his new human identity (Lester Papadopoulos), befriends a demigod named Meg McCaffrey, and fights the Triumvirate.

The Trials of Apollo features numerous characters from the two previous Percy Jackson series, including the son of Poseidon himself. However, the focus is on Apollo and Meg. Additionally, it's worth noting that The Sun and the Star, published on May 2, 2023, is a standalone sequel to The Tower of Nero, the final book in The Trials of Apollo.