Battle of the Labyrinth or "Please hurray up with the next book Mr. Riordan."

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I should mention that this review, like all my reviews, may contain spoilers. On the other hand I don't know what you know about the books and what you consider spoiling to really be so...read at your own risk.



This book picks back up the pacing and adventure and general mythically proportioned deliousness of the earliest book. No big surprise there. What is surprising is the dark direction these books are taking. Each book has grown significantly more violent, scarier, and subsequently more interesting. Unlike Harry Potter, where there was no real death toll until the final book and even that seemed second thought and too strategic, these deaths are at random, and drive home that what these half-god mortals are doing is DANGEROUS. As you might expect, the Labyrinth plays a huge part in this book. All the while the Titan Kronos is growing in power and the monsters around the world are waking up and coming out to fight. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, and a new totally mortal friend, Rachel Dare go into the depths of the Labyrinth to try and figure out a way to save Camp Half-blood, and to save the world from a destruction from the Titan who only seems to grow stronger and stronger. And the Gods are getting more and more directly involved. And it turns out that Hades has a son, and that son has some SERIOUS POWER. Lots of interesting new characters and ancient greek mythology keeps the last book just as much of a page-turner as the last. Well played Rick Riordan, well played indeed.


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4 of 5 Stars: A goodreads/readingsarah review of the 2nd book in Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan


Do you love greek mythology? Do you wish you could get apathetic youngins interesetd in it as well? The "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series is perfect for all your Epic Mythological needs! The second book in the series follows Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and a new addition; the homeless outcast Tyson, befriended by Percy at his new school. On Percy's last day of an otherwise uneventful school year his gym class is attacked by monsters, and Tyson proves invaluable in the world's deadliest dodgeball game. Then when they get to Camp Half-blood, there is more trouble as an enchanted tree protecting the camp has been poisoned. Questing must ensue! And, with a little help from his powerful Dad, Percy starts to understand his powers as a half-blooded hero. These books have the Harry Potter perfection of well mixed characters (I just can't get over Percy, Annabeth, and Grover as Harry, Hermoine, and Ron, but in truth the formula works.) The adventure, the cleverness, the harrowing escapes works so well to bring the actual greek myths to life for kids, and updates the stories for modern kids perfectly. My favorite example is the Circe story (remember her from the Odyssey? Oh, and the cyclops Polyphemus)runs a health spa where she shows men their true selves (guinea pigs, because regular pigs were too problematic and guinea pigs are, let's face it, cuter.)



Anyway, quite generally this sequel makes me happy. There is no floundering, no running out of steam. It is obvious that Riordan planned this series out well, and he knows his stuff, and best of all he knows how to make it appeal to kids (and, well, adults.) I will admit that I like the more subtle or maybe just more obscure mythology in Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boy's (both of which are for an older reader anyhoozle.) And, for bloodpounding nonstop adventure and acton, Percy Jackson will take on anyone in the arena.


Honestly, I don't know what to tell you about finding read-alikes for these, except that I was reading Edith Hamilton's Mythology like it was the newest Stephenie Meyer (had Stephenie Meyer been writing blockbusters back then) at age 12 and 13. Maybe the logical next step is to get them into accessible mythology, especially greek, but think of all the amazing stories from around the world. I can't imagine reading these books and not wanting to know where these fascinating monsters and long ago gods came from originally.



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Percy Jackson and the goblet of Greek Mythology

Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. New York: Miramax Books, 2006.
Genre:Modern Mythology, Modern Fantasy, YA
Year: 2005
Series:Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Plot:Percy Jackson doesn't get along in any school, but he can't go home to his smelly stepfather and his loving but weak mother. When he temporary vaporizes his pre-algebra teacher (something I'm sure most 12 year olds dream of often) he starts to figure out that he is beyond not normal. So he gets sent to a summer camp where he learns that he's not normal, in fact, he's the son of a greek god! And he's not even safe at the summer camp, so he must solve a pretty big problem with a little help from his friends. Percy is only 12 years old but he travels the country on his very first hero's quest meeting a strange cast of characters every where he stops.

Appeal characteristics: The book has some of the best modern characterizations of gods I've ever seen. Percy is the essential misfit superpowerful hero and his two best friends who aid in the quest might seem familiar too (a brainy girl and a awkward but loyal boy both roughly his same age and also misfitted in some way.) The actual character behind the characters doesn't need to be developed through a lot of exposition as it shows itself in ever step of the adventure. The book pulls you into the story and is a real page turner that makes a good start to the winding plot of what promises to be an epic series.

Red-flags: Some god on god violence, also use of the term "half-bloods" to describe the half mortal/half god children which both reeks of Harry Potter and is also generally somewhat offensive. Some of the scenes could be scary to younger children.

Read Alikes:Neil Gaimon's American Gods or Anansi Boys and Mur Lafferty's Heaven are all in the same vein. Mur's takes place mostly off earth though, and both are more mature than Percy Jackson and don't have the advantage of series. Holly Black's "A Modern Faery Tale" series has a similar feel as well with mortals dealing more with all Irish Mythology than Greek. I haven't read Spiderwick Chronicles (also by Black with Tony DiTerlizzi) but from the reviews I think it has many of the same appeal elements of modern fantasy: misplaced person meets with mythological creatures much to the disbelief or disdain of adults for a ton of adventure. Fantasy is such an awesome genre, especially for YA readers. I also found a booklist on the Readalike.org page about twisted fairytales, which while not exactly the same, is in the similar idea of fantasy novels.

For some other thoughts I had about this book you can check out my Livejournal entry.