Percy Jackson isn’t expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse. In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos’s army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth – a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.
The book opens perfectly, with picked up threads and demon cheerleaders (but PLEASE, fantasy writers everywhere, I implore you, can I kindly get a portrayal of the Goddess Hecate that is NOT negative? Goddess of Magic and Queen of Witches need not automatically equal “bad guy”.)
*rant over. we now return to your regularly scheduled review*
[Edit: Since writing this review, I’ve read subsequent Riordan books in which Hecate gets a proper representation. Yay!]
Then we get to camp half blood, and THIS happens:
“You are okay?” he asked. “Not eaten by monsters?”
“Not even a little bit.” I showed him that I still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson clapped happily.
“Yay!” he said. “Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!”
I hoped he didn’t mean all at the same time, but I told him absolutely, we’d have a lot of fun this summer.”
TYSON! Tyson is amazing. Possibly even as amazing as fish ponies.
We get to go into the Labyrinth! I want one. Okay, so it’s super-dangerous, full of monsters, nearly impossible to navigate and makes you go crazy? So what! It connects the whole country and has crazy adventures around every corner.
Annabeth finally gets to lead a quest! Against tradition, she chooses three, not two companions. Percy, Tyson and Grover. Tyson and Grover are both kind of scared of each other, which I found rather adorable. Inevitably they have to learn to work together and mutual respect develops, and it is a nice process to watch unfold. It felt like everyone really grew in this installment. Especially Grover.
Nico is freaking amazing. He got such a raw deal, but he’s so likable and such a bad-ass. I love how much of a presence he has in this book, his personal story-arc. Awesomeness.
Things are rather frenzied (in a good way!) in the Labyrinth. More Gods are met (excellent!), monsters are fought, volcanoes explode…oops, getting ahead of myself. It is neat how they go in and out of the Labyrinth as it transects the country. And eventually they go back in with…
Rachel: You’re a half-blood, too?
Annabeth: Shhh! Just announce it to the world, how about?
Rachel: Okay. Hey, everybody! These two aren’t human! They’re half Greek god!
(Naturally, in NYC, no one bats an eyelash.)
Rachel is great. A mortal who holds her own, and is just an intriguing character in herself. She bothers me as a potential love interest, and the fact that she and Annabeth don’t get along (while understandable) and that her presence causes friction between Percy and Annabeth (also understandable) makes me sad. I hated to see Percy and Annabeth at odds.
The ending was intense. Really sets the stage for what’s to come.
“Grabby Paws” is my version of the Waiting on Wednesday meme hosted by Breaking The Spine that highlights upcoming releases that I can’t wait to get my paws on. 🙂
Today I have grabby paws for…
Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they’re stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.
The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it “might” be able to stop a war between the two camps.
The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea’s army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.
Why I have grabby paws…
I think that’s the Australian edition cover, but I like it better than the US cover so I picked it to use for this post. Because why not? Weird, because all through the series I’ve preferred the US covers. But I like how this one has all of the demigods on the cover. Anyway, I wouldn’t care even if the cover was hideous, I NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. I don’t want the series to end (NEVER!), but I need to know what happens! I need more Percy and Nico and Leo. All the demigods really. I’m going to miss them so much. *cries*
Releases October 7th
I also have grabby paws for…
A publisher in New York asked me to write down what I know about the Greek gods, and I was like, Can we do this anonymously? Because I don’t need the Olympians mad at me again. But if it helps you to know your Greek gods, and survive an encounter with them if they ever show up in your face, then I guess writing all this down will be my good deed for the week.
So begins Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, in which the son of Poseidon adds his own magic–and sarcastic asides–to the classics. He explains how the world was created, then gives readers his personal take on a who’s who of ancients, from Apollo to Zeus. Percy does not hold back. “If you like horror shows, blood baths, lying, stealing, backstabbing, and cannibalism, then read on, because it definitely was a Golden Age for all that.”
Dramatic full-color illustrations throughout by Caldecott Honoree John Rocco make this volume–a must for home, library, and classroom shelves–as stunning as it is entertaining.
Why I have Grabby Paws…
Well of course I always want more Percy Jackson, and I love the classic Greek myths. I like that this gives a way for us to see some of the myths we haven’t seen yet (Riordan has managed to squeeze in TONS of course, but there are just so many). I’ve been curious since The Lighting Thief about which version of the Greek creation myth the series follows. Plus, the illustrations look lovely. THIS cover I’m all about. I’ve already got this one preordered.
Flashback Friday is a meme hosted by Fic Fare and Swoony Boys Podcast, featuring reviews of books that have been out longer than two years but are no less awesome and deserving!
When the goddess Artemis goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped. And now it’s up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess? They must find Artemis before the winter solstice, when her influence on the Olympian Council could swing an important vote on the war with the titans. Not only that, but first Percy will have to solve the mystery of a rare monster that Artemis was hunting when she disappeared’a monster rumored to be so powerful it could destroy Olympus forever.
(spoilers if you haven’t read the first two books)
So I was really enjoying this series so far. Then I read this book and completely fell in love with it. Those high-stakes and high emotions I mentioned in my review of The Lightning Thief, those aspects I’m always on the lookout for? Here they are!
We get a nice injection of female power in this one, with the arrival of the Hunters of Artemis, partly perhaps to clam the sting of Annabeth being largely absent from this installment.
The Goddess Artemis herself shows up here, and is generally awesome and actually relatable and not just snobby and power-mad as many of the Gods are portrayed. She appears as a twelve year old girl, and at one point declares “If this is Olympian justice, I will have no part in it!”, after an impassioned speech in favor of the Gods rewarding and not punishing the various assorted demigods. To which her brother, the ego-inflated, but otherwise refreshingly relatable Apollo, in the form of a teenage guy, suggests “Chill out, sis.” Seeing the Gods as real people – a bickering, squabbling family, who just happen to also control the world, is one of the most appealing and well-done aspects of this series.
After the revelation at the end of the second book, I was really looking forward to meeting Thalia. It seemed kind of quick to me, that they just fast-forwarded to six months later from the end of that last book, but we got some helpful catch-up info at least. Thalia is a great character infuriating at times but always interesting. It was nice getting a winter adventure here, the only one in this series. Especially when it is incorporated into the story, such as when Percy battles “Santa’s evil twin”. (I love the author;s chapter titles. I totally miss them in the Heroes of Olympus series.)
I love the little things in this series, like Nico playing a card game based on the Greek Gods, and telling Dionysus that he still thought he was cool, even if most players thought he was the weakest God ever, and Percy hoping Nico wouldn’t ask how many hit points Percy had. Great stuff.
The various myths that were incorporated in this installment definitely worked, and were surprising to me. I also loved the little seeds planted here and there for future installments. (view spoiler).
I can’t say exactly why this one made me fall in love. Even with little Annabeth involvement (and I love Annabeth) the character interaction was just top-notch and the plot had the perfect amount of peril and tension. Also, the villains accidentally grew zombie saber-toothed kittens and just sort of let them wander around the National Mall. Which is awesome.
This week’s theme is topics you would make authors write about if you could. This could be a specific type of character, an issue tackled, a time period, a certain plot, etc.
I worked forever on this post! I hope you like it. 🙂
So I’m cheating just a bit here since, as a writer, I’ve got some ideas that I won’t be sharing, because I plan to write about them myself. But that’s okay, because it forced me to stretch my brain for yet more ideas for the post. Yay! Here we go:
1) Number one, because it must obviously be said that, above all else:
I want more Harry Potter involving the main cast, preferably right after book seven. Seeing Hermione, Ginny and Luna’s last year at Hogwarts would be awesome. And then maybe following Luna Lovegood’s application to work in the Department of Mysteries. (Yes, I know officially she becomes a kind of naturalist but COME ON the Department of Mysteries has got to be the best place to work in all of Potterdom.) I will also settle for a next-generation series involving the Potter-Weasley kids. I’m not one of those clamoring for a Marauders series (please don’t hit me!) , even though I’d read it and love it, and my husband really wants one, so I’ll ask for it on his behalf. 😉 I’d just rather have a new Harry Potter series that still incorporates the main cast.
2) More Gemma Doyle. Or at least something to alleviate my Gemma-withdrawl
While we’re on the subject of series that ended way too soon, I need more Gemma Doyle. The Sweet Far Thing is one of my very favorite books, but that ending seriously killed me. I need more. I need to know what happens next. I’m still holding out hope that maybe the illustrious Libba Bray will grace us with another Gemma installation, but in the meantime, I petition all writers of the world to please pen me a Victorian gas-lamp fantasy full of feisty feminists. I’m desperate.
3) A Positive Depiction of the Goddess Hecate
Yes, Hecate is considered a “dark” goddess in many ways, but she’s also my Goddess, and there is so much more to her than just being the “dark” goddess. She’s goddess of the witches, yes, but YA (and non-YA) readers nowadays know that “witch” does not equal “evil”. So how about our luminous Goddess of Magic be given the same treatment? I griped a bit at Rick Riordan for casting Hecate on the side of the bad guys in the first Percy Jackson series, but her redemption and entertaining appearances in The House of Hadesdefinitely made up for it. His son also wrote a quite moving short story featuring Hecate in The Demigod Diaries.
I suppose I’m breaking my own stipulation here, since I said I wouldn’t mention topics I myself planned to write about, since I do plan to write a novel or three involving Hecate, but honestly? She is so complex and cool a goddess that I’ve no doubt there is enough of her lore to go around. Let’s flood the market! 😉 I’m very much looking forward to Daughter of Chaos by Jen McConnel, in which Hecate makes an appearance. She’s described as a “dark goddess” but hopefully, as I’m trying to point out, “dark” doesn’t have to mean “bad”.
And while we’re at it, how about a positive representation of modern Wiccans? I mean, I get that if you’re going to write a book involving Wiccans you might as well just write about witches, but I’d actually read a contemporary (I know – gasp!) if it had something like a normal Wiccan family in it. Or a supernatural story that nonetheless featured Wiccans-as-normal-not-remotely-scary people. Inroads are being made, it’s true, but I don’t have an illustration for this suggestion and that’s kind of my point! Let’s just have another of Hecate, then.
(click the image to visit the artist’s webpage)
4) A Disabled Character (Preferably Main) Who Isn’t Just There To “Inspire” The Non-Disabled
I’m disabled. I broke my back when I was seventeen and now I walk with a crutch (yes, just like Tiny Tim 😉 ) and have chronic pain and a host of health problems. Yet it seems that the very few disabled characters we get in YA (and even literature in general) are less-than-realistic about the difficulties involved. We don’t all climb Everest, folks. Most of us struggle just to stay healthy. Sure, that’s a bit of a downer, but doesn’t literature kind of exist to explore emotions and struggles? I suppose it could be argued that people can’t take reading about the stark realities of the lives of disabled people, but I have more faith in people than that. We have had horrifying yet beautiful YA novels tackle the subjects of rape, child abuse, eating disorders, drug addiction and a whole host of others. I think it’s about time for disabilities to be added to the list. So why don’t I write one myself? I don’t know. Maybe I will some day. But I needn’t be the only one.
There are exceptions. Ashes on the Waves has a disabled main character, and his condition is depicted realistically, with all its inherent tragedy. And while for much of the book she is able-bodied, the time the main character of The Sea Inside spends in the hospital following her injury very accurately depicts the feelings of loss, isolation, and numbness that commonly accompany such an injury.
5)Doctor Who Novel With Doctor 10.5
There have been numerous Doctor Who novels involving the new Doctors, but as far as I know, no author has yet tackled the adventures of 10.5 and Rose in the parallel universe. (spoilers?) To my knowledge, there’s enough fan fiction on the subject that I’m quite confident an authorized novelization would sell. But then they need to get David Tennant to do the audio-book recording. If somehow this could happen, then, maybe, I’ll finally be able to get over Journey’s End. *sigh*
6) More Obscure Mythology
I love mythology. All kinds. It fascinates me. And I love discovering brand-new myths that I’ve never heard of, such as the fate-spinner seikona that appeared in Maria Dahvana Headley’s Queen of Kings. I want to know more about them, and I want to know more about other interesting myths. Ancient belief systems are flickering out all over the world and it’s a tragedy. I want to learn from them all.
7) More Poe Re-tellings
Since I absolutely loved and gushed over Mary Lindsey’s Ashes on the Waves and have no doubt that Bethany Griffiths’ Masque of the Red Death duology is likewise superb, I am putting in a request for more Poe re-tellings. The Fall of the House of User, perhaps?
8) The Lady of Shallot
The Lady of Shallot by Alfred Lord Tennyson is my very favorite poem and I desperately need both a modern and classical novelization of it. It’s beyond beautiful. If you’ve never read it, you should click here to read it, or listen to the Loreena McKennit song version of it below. I’m not going to spoil what happens for you, other than to say that it is the best metaphor ever constructed concerning the artist’s dilemma of observing the world and recording it, or becoming a part of it and risking the loss of yourself within.
9) Eurydice & Orpheus
While on the subject of re-tellings, I’d love to see my favorite Greek myth and one of my all-time favorite love stories, that of Eurydice and Orpheus, novelized, in either a modern or classical telling. In the myth, the bard Orpheus loses his bride Eurydice, and travels to the underworld to use his musical talents to move the hearts of Hades and Persephone enough for them to release her. They decide that Orpheus may lead Eurydice out of Hades, so long as he never once look back to be sure she is following. But Orpheus, mad with worry and suspecting a trick, looks back at the entrance to our world, and so loses Eurydice forever.
So, naturally, it’s the kind of thing I love and need a novel version of. If you want to learn more about the myth, click here:
9) Linda Bergkvist’s Dark Faery Tales
Linda Bergkvist is an immensely talented digital painter and my favorite modern artist. Tragically, she no longer posts her work online but thankfully she produced a number of magnificent paintings before her retirement. For a while she was working on a book of dark faery tales to accompany her illustrations, and I am forever saddened that I may never hold this book in my hands. I want to know the stories behind her masterpieces.
Her work has greatly inspired my own writing, and even if Linda herself never releases her book, I’d love to see how other writers interpret such breathtaking works as these.
I have an immense love for symphonic gothic metal and find it enormously inspirational. I can’t be the only one. So where is the lush high fantasy epic based on Within Temptation’s Deciever of Fools?
or the sprawling, century-spanning tragic love story of Nightwish’s Ghost Love Score?
Make note of these requests, oh valiant writers of the world! 😀
Also, keep doing what you’re doing. You’re awesome.
What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Have my wishes already come true and I just don’t know about the book(s) yet!? Let me know!
Percy Jackson’s seventh-grade year has been surprisingly quiet. Not a single monster has set foot on his New York prep-school campus. But when an innocent game of dodgeball among Percy and his classmates turns into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, things get . . . well, ugly. And the unexpected arrival of Percy’s friend Annabeth brings more bad news: the magical borders that protect Camp Half-Blood have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and unless a cure is found, the only safe haven for demigods will be destroyed.
In this fresh, funny, and hugely anticipated follow up to The Lightning Thief, Percy and his friends must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save their beloved camp. But first, Percy will discover a stunning new secret about his family—one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon’s son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.
This book was so much fun. I get worried when I see a sequel is shorter than a first in a series. I think I associate it with the book being hastily produced or otherwise rushed (I probably have this issue because Harry Potter 5 is my all-time favorite and then HP6 came out and was way too short and felt rushed. I think it gave me a complex or something.)
Anyway. This book cured me of said complex. It didn’t need to be longer. A lot happens. A lot happens that doesn’t necessarily seem to be advancing the overall plot thread of the series, but this is only because we can’t see the whole picture. When we do…wow.
Percy and his friends actually go to the Sea of Monsters (which, like all ancient Greek stuff, has relocated to the reigning Western power, America, and so is now located – where else? – in the Bermuda Triangle), dwelling place of all those fun people like Circe, the sirens, and man – or satyr – eating cyclopses. And speaking of cyclops, I just love Tyson. He is the best.
We get to meet more Gods, which is always fun. Being such a fan of mythology as I am, it’s awesome to always be wondering who is going to pop up next, and still often end up surprised because there is just SO much material for the author to work with. And even when I can guess where things are headed, well…it’s still fun because then I feel clever. 🙂
There were some very emotional moments that I wasn’t expected, but was pleasantly surprised. We see farther into Annabeth’s character and she really comes into her own, as her own hero, bot Percy’s sidekick. Even Grover really grows, and though he doesn’t believe it himself, he is MUCH more than Percy’s sidekick. Even mean-girl Ares camper Clarisse is humanized.
We also learn that monsters are responsible for chain restaurants. What more could you ask for?
Oh, and p.s. from my inner 9-year-old self: OMG FISH PONIES!
Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school… again. And that’s the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’ master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.
Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’ stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.
I saw the movie a few years ago and liked it, so I bought the box-set for my husband for Christmas. He plowed through them and then insisted I needed to read them soon too. Then one day he just plopped this one in my hand and said “read”, so I obliged.
I think I may have been resistant because I don’t go for “light” reads. I need high stakes and high emotions (which is why I mostly read YA). However, much like Harry Potter, the Percy Jackson series manages to be entertaining, fun, humorous and at the same time handle a very serious, high-stakes plot. I’m definitely not the first person to make the HP comparison, but it is relevant. Both are middle grade fantasy epics with sweeping world-building and absorbing narrative. It’s not a rip-off at all. Rowling sourced Harry Potter from a plethora or myth and lore, but Percy Jackson is firmly rooted in the Greek mythological tradition. This is just SO MUCH there. I’m a lifelong mythology buff and I was still researching Greek mythology every few chapters or so, not because it was necessary to understand the plot (it’s not – you can have zero knowledge of mythology and still understand and like the story), but because my interest was peaked and I wanted to know more. I assume this was the author’s intention and it certainly worked!
It’s rare to find a book that sucked me in as much as this one did. There are books I love to death, more than this one, but don’t have that rest-of-the-world-disappears factor to them. I was pleasantly surprised how much I lost track of time reading this book and the ones that came after.
Don’t be like me and assume you won’t like it as much because it’s not YA. So there’s no romance. Fair enough, but there are still strong bonds forged and great character interaction, and enough to make you realize what direction the plot is going in in terms of romance. It’s not a “kid’s book” just because the protagonist is twelve. After all, demigods have to fight hard to survive before they even reach their teens, so they’re more mature than most. The characters don’t feel like “little kids”, they feel like people, who happen to be twelve or so. You can relate to their struggles whether you’re 9, 19, 29 or 69. Doesn’t matter. Great story, great characters, great narrative. Read it.
Wink follows me like a shadow, so I started calling her shadow-wink, which sounds like shadow-ink, which sounds cool. Add the name of my book, and voila: Rose Shadow Ink. So she gets to be the mascot.
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Violet and Raven in the wood. Artist: Tsyplakova Alla
Violet waiting in the snow. Artist: elnawen.deviantart.com
Rose Shadow Ink 