The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

Life takes another turn for the worse for Percy during a run-in with a manticore. The manticore's target is two young demigods, and during the battle, he reveals some disturbing new information about Kronos's growing army. The hunters of Artemis turn up just in time to save Percy, Grover, and Thalia, but Annabeth disappears with the retreating manticore, and the heroes are forced to return to Camp Half-blood without her. A quest is quickly dispatched to find Artemis, who's gone awol since the manticore battle (Annabeth is presumed dead). Rejected from the quest team, Percy trails them in secret, hoping to find Annabeth on the way. It becomes progressively clearer that Artemis is in the West, and that her disappearance is tied to Kronos's gathering army and its new General.

I'm not sure what I can discuss about this book without sounding like a broken record. The PJ & O formula is used to entertaining effect once more. But, while I got through this book as quickly as the first two, I felt The Titan's Curse lacked the depth of The Sea of Monsters. In The Sea of Monsters, Percy had to struggle with his own prejudices, but The Titan's Curse is pure plot and drama, with the beginnings of adolescent love thrown in for added flavour. And when I say flavour, I mean a mild, understated flavour. Rick Riordan is hinting at future romance more than anything else.

But, like all the Olympian stories, this one includes its dose of Greek mythology. This time readers learn about Hercules and the garden of the Hesperides. Although, readers may come away with the belief that a Hesperide named Zoe played a larger part in the myth than she actually did. Oh well, at least they'll know what a Hesperide is.

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Copy source: library
Genre: young adult fantasy
Format: hardcopy

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The Titan's Curse