{Review} Percy Jackson #3: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson & The Olympians #3: The Titan’s Curse

by Rick Riordan
Published May 2007
Goodreads: See here
Middle Grade Fantasy/Mythology

Featured image via my instagram @bookbastion

Plot at a Glance:

The story of Percy Jackson continues in this third installment to the acclaimed Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. Camp Halfblood has been saved, and a new ally has returned to join Percy in an epic new quest to save a friend and stop Luke from ressurecting Kronos. This time, Percy’s troubles increase tenfold when Annabeth goes missing and a dark new propecy rises, warning that not every hero will return home.

Previous Reviews:
{Review} Percy Jackson #1 – The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
{Review} The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Reviewed: 

The child in me is forever kicking myself every time I finish one of these books that I didn’t read it sooner. Ironically, a series that I think is perfect for getting young boys into reading is one that I somehow passed over entirely when I was a kid. Like the previous two entries in the series, there’s magic and mayhem and an awful lot of mythology.

One thing I find so great about this series is the way it serves as a vehicle to inform and educate young readers. Obvious, it offers mythology with its own twist, but it’s also informative towards the original stories. Even when things differ for the sake of Percy’s adventures there’s usually an excuse given in the storytelling. Jam packed with action and sword fights and memorable villains I feel like had I read this as a kid I would have been obsessed with it, right along with Harry Potter.

I had small issues with this book that brought down my rating a little. Firstly, this one definitely suffers from middle child syndrome. By this point in the series we know the stakes. We know that Percy’s going to end up on an adventure that takes him outside Camp Halfblood, and we know that the end goal is seeing him reach his 16th birthday when prophecies abound.

This offering in the series raises the stakes in small ways, but in others I felt like it was sort of… useless fluff.

There are a few new characters introduced in this outing. One of which get unceremoniously dumped from the plot fairly quickly in terms of the entire series – unless they make a surprise return in later books that is –  and the other I’m sure will be expanded on in books 4 and 5, but here these characters felt almost totally useless. Even the one that might someday return felt wasted. Like they’re there one moment and then dumped when the plot called for it.

Oh, and the Hunters. Artemis has these immortal hunters that follow her around like lackeys, and while I love that idea, I wasn’t in love with how blase some characters were about joining her band, when joining means leaving behind your mortality and everyone you’ve ever known to join a goddess. Although that does sound really awesome.

Other than those two tiny things, I really enjoyed the story and am excited to see where it goes next! I think a lot of things from this book will likely come up again and become important, so I’m happy to give this 4 out of 5 stars.

🌟🌟🌟🌟= 4/5 stars

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What did you think of this book? Do the next 2 improve? Can you think of any other series that play with mythology?

 

xoxo