Katie, GIRL, What’s Your Deal? A Review of Camp Half-Blood: The Wild Zone

Leo Casanova ’30/Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

The Wild Zone, by Rick Riordan and Annabelle Oh, is the first book of the Camp Half-Blood series. It came about while Rick was filming the Percy Jackson show. He wondered what happened in the time that Percy was not at camp. This book details first time campers Katie, Harper, Zuri and Benny as they navigate what they experienced on the first night of camp, the disappearances of a camper and a satyr, and how to get them back. This book is narrated by Katie and details the struggles of being part of her mortal family and their disappearance as well.

*Spoilers Ahead*

The ending took an unexpected turn. Katie being in contact with Lord Prometheus was an unexpected twist and changes what we thought about the character. However it does feel out of the blue, with the book up to this point teasing a twist involving Zuri. Throughout a portion of the book, Katie is thinking “Oh, Zuri is hiding something. She is acting suspicious, something is up with her,” and Zuri does put some distance between herself and Katie. A possible answer to Zuri’s distance towards Katie is that Zuri had made the connection between Katie and Prometheus before we, as readers, did, so she was acting suspicious around Katie because she knew. Avid readers will know that Lord Prometheus is currently siding with the Titans during this book, and will know the Titans are trying to overthrow the gods and take down camp. The readers not knowing she was in contact with a Titan has us question all that she says throughout the book. The reveal immediately makes Katie an unreliable narrator when it comes to the new characters’ personalities and what is happening around them. We do know the personalities of characters such as Clarrise, Nyssa, Silena, Will, Beckendorf, and such because of other narrations so there is no need to question them.

This book leaves readers with more questions about what is happening than the book answers by the last page. It makes for a very good introduction to the series because it leaves you with questions, and has you wanting more from the story, leaving readers quite intrigued to see what happens with the characters in the next book, Camp Half-Blood: The Rite of Aphrodite.

Overall, some of the best parts of the book included the ending, making Ruegard possibly canon, Harper crushing on Shane, and Clarisse calling Harper “pretty boy”. Ruegard is a very popular ship among the fandom, and this series might allow it to be possible. In the original books, which are through Percy Jackson’s perspective, we don’t see a lot of them together until the end of the series but we know that Clarrise and Silena are both at camp and are forming a powerful bond during these books. Something could have happened between the two. While we barely know Harper, he is instantly loveable. The reader continues to fall in love with the two characters more and more. Percy Jackson readers are always glad to get more books in the PJO universe. In all, it was very nice to get back into the world of Percy Jackson, and readers will likely be waiting impatiently till March 30 for The Rite of Aphrodite to come out.