The Battle of the Labyrinth ~Rick Riordan

~ Rick Riordan

SPOILER ALERT!

This book is part of a series. If you have not read The Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, and The Titan’s Curse, read on at your own risk!

Since the beginning of the series ex-Camp Half-Blood counselor, Luke (who is under the influence of an evil Titan master) has been trying to destroy Percy Jackson’s world. In the first novel, he hoped to start a war by framing Poseidon for the crime of stealing Zeus’s master lightning bolt. In the second installment, Luke tried to destroy Camp Half-Blood by poisoning the camp’s magical protective pine tree, and in the third book, trying again to cause bad blood between the gods, Luke helps imprison the goddess Artemis. The plot of the fourth book revolves around yet another attempt by Luke and his cronies to destroy Camp Half-Blood. Percy discovers that Luke is planning a sneak attack through a secret entrance ti camp that can be found only by navigating the infamous Labyrinth created by Daedalus. Percy and his friends think that Daedalus is still alive somewhere in the Labyrinth, and they believe Luke is going to find him, learn how to navigate the maze, and invade Camp Half-Blood with his army of monsters. Percy’s friend, Annabeth, leads her first quest, and she, along with Percy, Tyson the Cyclops, and Grover the Satyr, set off into the Labyrinth to find Daedalus before Luke does. They want to convince Daedalus not to help Luke. In The Titan’s Curse Percy encounters Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a mortal who has a gift for seeing through the magical Mist that protects most mortals from seeing all of the bizarre creatures and happenings of the mythological world. Rachel makes another appearance in this story. It seems she and Percy are set to attend the same school in the fall, and it’s very fortunate that Percy runs into to her again because he will need her help once he starts on the quest. This adventure picks up the pace once again with many exciting encounters with both monsters and gods/goddesses. Percy and his friends hop into and out of the Labyrinth finding themselves all over the country from Texas to San Francisco, from Mount Saint Helens to Times Square.

This book did jump back into the action like I had hoped it would, and the battle at the end was pretty exciting. It was a nice twist that Percy happens to meet TWO girls who are interested in him in this book just as he is finally discovering his chemistry with Annabeth. Grover and Tyson are always loveable characters and fun to read about as well. I was glad the two of them went on the Labyrinth quest with Percy. I’m afraid though that the plot is starting to feel a bit stretched for me. The mythological monsters are getting more and more obscure. In this book there are monsters who are part dog, part human, part sea lion; a man with a hundred hands; and an evil cheerleader with flames for hair, one donkey leg and one brass leg! All of these are based on actual Greek myths, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to envision these crazy beings, and I’d like to think I’ve got a pretty good imagination! I find myself doing Google image searches trying to find an artist’s representation of these outrageous monsters. And let me tell you, I haven’t found any good ones! The other thing I’m getting a little tired of is the fact that Percy repeatedly gets into situations that are supposedly inescapable or not survivable, and he ALWAYS gets out of them somehow. I mean I know he’s the hero and everything so he has to survive, but when the impossible escape/victory happens over and over and over again (all in one book), it loses some of its excitement. The next book, The Last Olympian, is the last book in the series, and I think the time has come for the end. I still enjoy the main characters and I really want to know how the saga ends, but I think one more Percy story will be just enough for me.