The Battle of the Labyrinth

My fifth grader has read all the Harry Potter books but often spends his time reading graphic novels which are, in my opinion, of questionable literary value. I\’m not complaining – I mean he does read so there\’s that, but I was very pleased that he started on these and is reading through them on his own. He says they are not as good as Harry Potter (I mean, it is a high bar) but he does really like them and they seem interesting and don\’t have any questionable material that you wouldn\’t want your fifth grader reading. Overall very pleased.

Every time I read a book in the Percy Jackson series it becomes my favorite. This one had wonderful moments in it, starting with the battle Percy has with monsters resembling cheerleaders. He is going to yet another new school, poor Percy, when he is attacked by empousa. It was great to see Rachel Elizabeth Dare again and to find out more about her. Another moment I enjoyed in this book is Hera interacting with half-bloods. My favorite new character moment was the introduction of Janus the Roman God of two faces. The interpretation of the labyrinth from the myth of Jason was wonderful and I loved how they found the way to navigate through. It was great that two strong female characters Annabeth and Rachel took center stage in the action in this book. I just hope the jealousy that the writer has started does not go on too long. Calypso\’s introduction was the best I hope we see more of this punished Titan. Another great moment is the gang using wings from the Icarus tale and it plays wonderfully for the reveal of who Daedalus is at the end. I cried at the death of Pan for myself and also for Grover who had searched for so long. I loved that Nico finally chose a side he is becoming one of my favorites. The great battle at the end was incredible. All the great moments and then the arrival of the Hundred Handed One, and Grover\’s amazing new power. So many incredible moments in this book and it sets up so much to come in the final. I know I can not mention everything I love about this book but I hope I said enough to indicate how great it is.

Well, this book was definitely a penultimate book. I think it ranks #4 of the 5 books in this series for me, mainly due to so much of it feeling like build up to whats coming in the last book. The characters were all great and consistent to themselves which is always important, and there was nothing inherently wrong in the plot of this book but it just failed to launch for me. There wasnt really any stakes or any moments I didnt feel like things werent just being prepared for The Last Olympian. I do wish Riordan would slow his writing down though. Im fully aware this is a middle grade book but that doesnt mean you have to skimp in detail. There was such little detail a lot of the time in favor of skipping from one thing to the next to the next. It doesnt ruin the story by any means but it sure does make it feel more shallow than necessary. Those are really my two main gripes. I think the Percy Jackson series is incredibly fun though, and I cant wait to see where its going in the final book. 3 stars.

MY RATING SYSTEM 5 stars–WOW 4 stars–would read again 3 stars–was good, won\’t read again 2 stars–read it, but didn\’t enjoy it 1 star–didn\’t finish, it was so awful Do I need to read books before this one: yes Cliffhanger: no SUMMARY Orientation for freshmen is in June. Mom\’s boyfriend, Mr Blofis, got Percy into his school. There Percy bumps into Rachel, the mortal who sees through Mist. Rachel sees the cheerleaders, who are really empousas, tells Percy to run. In the band room, he tells her the truth about Olympus, and she\’s relieved because of everything she\’s seen. 2 cheerleaders set the school on fire and Mr Blofis thinks it was Percy. Annabeth is angry because she and Percy were going to go to a movie before going to camp, and she saw him with Rachel. At camp, Percy goes to archery, sees the biggest hellhound ever. The new sword teacher, Quintus, introduces Mrs O\’Leary. Quintus is helping while Mr D is away. The Council of Cloven Elders give Grover 1 more week to find Pan. Grover\’s got a girlfriend, a dryad, Juniper. Tyson\’s at camp, too. Percy tells him Nico is the son of Hades; Tyson knows that means the Titans could use him for the prophecy. Percy receives an Iris message that shows Nico burning his game cards. Someone tells Nico he can exchange a soul for a soul to bring Bianca back. Grover and Percy talk about the Labyrinth. Clarisse found Chris Rodriguez, who\’d joined the Titans, mumbling about string; he\’s going mad from the monsters and traps there. They think Luke is going to use the Labyrinth to attack the camp. Annabeth says the Labyrinth may be where Pan is hiding. Grover, Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops! But, Annabeth said, the Labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, to trick you and kill you; but if you can make the Labyrinth work for you It could lead you to the wild god. Playing a camp battle, Percy and Annabeth find the entrance to the Labyrinth. That night, Percy dreams of Daedalus. EVALUATION I love this series for making Greek myths accessible by making them current, showing humans fight the same battles no matter who or when or where. Relationships the theme of this book: Peer, romantic, family, faith. I like that Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel have some relationship issues, and, because it\’s all from Percy\’s point of view, it\’s not full of angst and multiple reviews of the dialog. The absolute best part is the criticism of current education policies. RECOMMENDATION Everyone following Percy\’s journey. This is good stuff. FAVORITE QUOTES [offering Coke and Happy Meals to the dead] Ghost, In my day, we used animal blood. Its perfectly good enough. They cant taste the difference. Nico, I will treat them with respect. Ghost, At least let me keep the toy. [running through Alcatraz] The last thing I saw was Tyson picking up a Dippin Dots stand and throwing it at Kamp. Ice cream and poison exploded everywhere, all the little snakes in Kamps hair dotted with tutti-frutti. [little later] She was plastered in ice cream and T-shirts. One of the bear heads on her waist was now wearing a pair of crooked plastic Alcatraz sunglasses. Hephaestus: It isnt easy being a brilliant inventor. Always alone. Always misunderstood. Easy to turn bitter, make horrible mistakes. People are more difficult to work with than machines. Daedalus started well enough. He helped the Princess Ariadne and Theseus because he felt sorry for them. He tried to do a good deed. And everything in his life went bad because of it. Was that fair? The god shrugged. I dont know if Daedalus will help you, lad, but dont judge someone until youve stood at his forge and worked with his hammer, eh? I cant get him to clean his room, but hell clean a hundred tons of horse manure out of some monsters stables? Sphinx, Welcome, lucky contestants! Get ready to playANSWER THAT RIDDLE! Canned applause. Fabulous prizes! Pass the test, and you get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant? Annabeth, Ask your riddle. 20 riddles, actually! What? But back in the old days Oh, weve raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all 20. Isnt that great? Applause. Whatis the capital of Bulgaria? Sofia, but Correct! Applause. Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil. Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle. If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers. Now, next question [Q&A] Hold up! Its just a bunch of dumb, random facts. Riddles are supposed to make you think. Think? How am I supposed to test whether you can think? Thats ridiculous! POSSIBLE TRIGGERS Sex: kiss Language: 0 F words, 1 Lord\’s name in vain, 0 S words Violence: fights with myths, deaths

My 11 yr old daughter loves this series and asked me to read it with her. I found myself reluctantly enjoying these books. I like the hidden morality lessons and the mythological component, which has inspired her to learn about the Greek gods independently. There is a romantic component between the characters which I could do without, but it\’s all PG and nothing too hot and heavy. Violence is a component of the books but it is limited and not graphic at all.

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