This Is What I'm Talking About

Rick Riordan has gone up and down on the scales with his books. The Lightning Thief was a good book, that I gave an 8 out of 10. The Sea of Monsters was terrible, and it earned a 3.5 out of 10. The Titan's Curse was not bad, but it was not the best, so I gave it a 7 out of 10.

I was not even going to read Book 4 in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Battle of the Labyrinth. The second two were not good enough to make me want to come back. I was over with the series.

Lucky for me, my friend convinced me to read it by saying it was the best of the four and had a lot of action. My inner bibliophage instincts told me I coul not resist reading it, and I was sold. And thank goodness for that.

The Battle of the Labyrinth starts out with Percy at high school orientation. Soon enough, just like every other year, he gets himself into trouble. He and his friend get attacked by empousai, monsters from Greek mythology. The school gets set on fire, all Hades breaks loose, and Percy and his friend escape through the window before the principal catches them. That is pretty much what happens to Percy in every book.

But the story quickly changes. Percy and his demigod friend Annabeth (a demigod is a half-Greek god, half-human) go to Camp Half-Blood (a half-blood is another name for a demigod). Camp is different: for one, their satyr friend Grover is in trouble; for two, the head counselor Dionysus is gone; and for three, Kronos's army is about to attack the camp.

Percy and some of his friends soon embark on a quest to stop Kronos from taking over the camp and the Greek gods. If he wins, the Titans will rule again. But Percy must go into the very depths of danger...into the Labyrinth.

Riordan does try for humor, but not as often as with his other books, which makes The Battle of the Labyrinth the best one of the four, humor-wise. I do like humor in books, but, to put it mildly, Riordan is not funny. The jokes are dumb. But in this book, the "humor" is deficit. I applaud Mr. Riordan for that.

The plot is also worthwhile and enticing. While The Sea of Monsters has a plot that is not great, The Battle of the Labyrinth has suspense, escapes, and plot twists that make for a good story.

Riordan has suffered terribly with his second and third books in the series, but the fourth try reminds me of the first. It is so good it is worthy to be in the same series as The Lightning Thief. This is what I'm talking about!

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Labyrinth-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/1423101464/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1

Grade: 8