The Titan's Curse ~ Rick Riordan

The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians – Book 3) ~ Rick Riordan

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

Percy Jackson stumbles his was into yet another quest in this third installment of a series of five books. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Percy’s new hero friend Thaila go to a school in Maine to find two newly discovered half-bloods (half mortal, half Greek god). They find Bianca and Nico di Angelo, but as expected, they find a terrible monster as well. However, two unexpected things happen too. The goddess, Artemis and her band of Hunters help them in their fight against the monster, and Annabeth disappears. Artemis leaves the Hunters with the heroes while she goes off to hunt the monster that could bring about the downfall of the Olympians. Not long after their arrival at Camp Half-Blood the heroes and the Hunters learn that Artemis has been captured and Annabeth is with her. The Hunters are desperate to save their leader. Percy is frantic to rescue Annabeth. A team of Hunters and campers heads west to San Francisco, the location of The Mountain of Despair, (or Mount Tamalpais as we know it). Of course this is all part of an evil Titan’s ongoing plot to overthrow the Olympians, destroy humanity, and begin the world anew. Percy and his friends make their way across the country battling monsters and encountering a few gods along the way. In the end they have very little time left to save Artemis and Annabeth, and one of the members of the rescue party is given the chance to destroy the Olympians forever.

The pace of this story seemed a little slower to me. Either there wasn’t as much action in this book, or I’m getting used to all the battling and excitement. The introduction of new characters like Bianca, Nico, and Thaila keeps this saga alive. Rick Riordan uses some of the same tricks I mentioned in my review of Sea of Monsters. He really knows how to string the reader (and Percy) along as the other characters let information about themselves slip out bit by bit. Here is an example from The Titan’s Curse. Percy is speaking with Zoe Nightshade, one of the Hunters:

“Cursed water spirits they’ve never forgiven me.”

“Forgiven you for what?”

She slung her bow back over her shoulder. “It was long time ago. Never mind.”

Now if you are a fan of the books you know that you’ll get the rest of Zoe’s story eventually, and it spurs you to read on. The books are all filled with little mysteries like that.

And now a warning for parents and teachers: In chapter 14 the characters visit the Hoover Dam and have a lot of fun using the word “dam” as an adjective. In fact the title of the chapter is “I Have a Dam Problem.” The joke’s been done before (think Vegas Vacation), but I’m sure the target audience (middle schoolers) will find it very amusing. And, yes, I smiled a bit myself. It’s something I would want to know though if I was planning on reading this story aloud to my kids.

I’ll end this review with a quote. It is said that all heroes have a fatal flaw. Upon learning what his flaw is Percy argues that his flaw isn’t a flaw at all; it’s supposed to be a good thing. The goddess Athena says the following:

“The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation,” she said. “Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom…that is very hard indeed.”

Once again I am reminded that children’s books have lessons for adults as well.