Title: The Battle of the Labyrinth [Percy Jackson and the Olympians 4]
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Mythology
Length: 368
Rating: 4 Star
Series Review: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5
Description/Synopsis:
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.
Review – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
This is my favourite one so far I think.
Kronos is close to rising, the big bad Titans are an ever looming threat. Many think that camp half-blood is a safe place to be when all hell breaks loose. But we find out that isn’t the case. Luke plans to invade the camp and destroy all those who could potentially stop his plans of rising Kronos and destroying Olympus by using the mythical Labyrinth to enter camp inside its shield.
Of course they find the entrance that Luke plans on using, but Luke and his army have a head start, they have already started exploring and trying to work out ways to get through the ever changing maze with traps and monsters down every end and around every corner. They must find Daedalus’ workshop in the hopes of destroying the maze and killing Luke’s entrance to the camp.
I have always loved story about the Labyrinth and I loved every moment of this one. The pressure of things happening grows and grows as Percy does, coming ever closer to the age when he is supposed to the something to make or break the world they know. Everyone’s storyline in this book is interesting. We get Tyson back, Nico is one of the most fascinating creatures ever, Grover’s head is spinning after having heard Pan speak to him, we get more human interaction with our new character Rachel Dare, and poor Annabeth and Percy go through their struggles. Annabeth leads this quest and I was so happy about that, it was just so worthy of her.
*SPOILER* – I was so so so sad for poor Grover when he finally meets Pan. Heck, I was emotionally destroyed about the encounter too. Grover and his kind have been looking for their lord of the wild for as long as forever, and Grover finally finds him and talks to him, then he goes and dies. It killed me cause he was the wilderness, I mourn the loss of that sense or nature and just natural beauty that there is no way of getting back. - *END SPOILER*
Because this book is more serious than the last, and I suspect that the last one will be the most serious, that doesn’t mean that we don’t get the same witty and joyous comments and writing. Actually, the only comments I actually made about this book (such a bad habit to fall into when you plan on reviewing things) were some highlights of lines that I found so wonderful.
“It’s not a date!” I protest. “It’s just Annabeth, Mom. Jeez!”
“She’s coming all the way from camp to meet you.”
“Well, yeah.”
“You’re going to the movies.”
“Yeah.”
“Just the two of you.”
“Mom!”
and then I also highlight:
“I am Poseidon.”
“Poseidon? That’s an interesting name.”
“Yes, I like it. I’ve gone by other names, but I do prefer Poseidon.”
“Like the god of the sea.”
“Very much like that. yes.”
The ending of this book made me very happy for Percy.
If you haven’t started reading this serious yet I really don’t know what to say to you. Do I need more words? I found the series started off slow but the more I read the more I love. Don’t disregard cause of the ‘middle grade’ label. Go forth and read!
Till Next Time…