“Honestly, blowing up another school was the last thing I wanted to do. As the son of a Greek god, I’ve had my share of near-death disaster – and now my arch-enemy Luke wants to invade our camp via an ancient labyrinth. If he succeeds, thousands of bloodthirsty monsters will attack. So it’s ‘Goodbye, sunshine; hello, darkness’ as four of us descend into the terrifying underground and beyond…”
What is the book about?
Percy Jackson is not a regular teenage boy, he is the son of Greek god, and his life is far from normal. Percy has gotten expelled from a different school each year and things aren’t looking very good this year. At a school orientation day, he comes across more monsters and somehow managed to blow up the school before he even started attending. After arriving at Camp Half-Blood, the one place where half-bloods are usually safe from monsters, Percy realised that this summer would not be at all fun and relaxing. Luke’s army is on the way to attack camp in order to get rid of the gods’ heroes and give way for Kronos and the Titans. Percy and the other half-bloods never thought a camp invasion would be possible with the magical shield protecting them, but there is another way through an ancient labyrinth full of traps and deadly creatures. Now four brave heroes must descend into the underground labyrinth where many go in but only some return. On another terrifying quest Percy and his friends must find a way to save the camp before it’s too late…and try not to get lost or die in the process.
What were your initial thoughts on the book?
The ending of the previous book in the series had been rather interesting and I was very intrigued to discover what would happen next. Once I read the title and the blurb I only became more interested in starting the book and discovering more about this dangerous ancient labyrinth. From the very first page I already felt more curious about what would happen and the more I read the more questions I had. The appearance of a new, but familiar, character was very strange and I wondered more and more what sort of role this person would play because there had to be a reason for why she was so important in the book. The first chapter was not at camp or on the quest so I was a bit impatient to get it over with so I could get to the action (although there was a lot of action at school). The start was as usual not immediately following the previous book which was a little annoying but I had gotten used to it now and was just glad that I would, hopefully, get some answers.
Who was your favourite character and why?
My favourite character would probably be once again Annabeth because of her bravery, strength and, above all, her intelligence. It sometimes gets a bit annoying how smart she is but without her intelligence Percy would probably be dead. One thing that was actually rather funny was how insulted she was when someone asked her an easy question or gave her an easy answer. It was almost like she didn’t want things to be easy, like she actually wanted to be facing death all the time, but still, when she got an easy way out she felt like it was an insult to her intelligence. I actually thought it was rather smart of her to not accept an easy answer because sometimes something easy is a trick and it’s better to be safe than sorry, but I think the main reason was just because she thought she was better than that and, although that may seem like a bad quality, it just made me like her even more. Another character that I found really surprising was Rachel because she chose to join a war that wasn’t hers to fight. She was just a normal mortal girl – well maybe not that normal – and she chose to go out of her way to help Percy and risk her life when she could have just stayed home and stayed away from the battle. It could have been stupidity (maybe it was) but I think it was bravery and the knowledge that it was the right thing to do, and I really admired that.
What was your favourite part of the book and why?
I liked practically every part of the book so it is very hard to choose a favourite but I think it would have to be when the heroes meet Pan. Grover had been babbling on and on about this Pan god and after a while I stopped believing that he would ever complete his lifelong mission to find him. However I was proven very wrong when they came across him in the Labyrinth. I was very interested to meet him and see what was so amazing about the god of the Wild and once I realised exactly what his job was and why he was called that I discovered how important he really was. He was there to protect the places in the world that still have proper nature and keep the humans from destroying them but few mortals actually understand nature and how precious it really is and many seek to leave shops and houses in its place. The thing that I liked the best about this part was that Pan said that it was time that others started to protect nature because they had to stop relying on a god to save them all because one day they wouldn’t be able to. It showed the characters that sometimes even gods need help and that you should never leave something that you can do yourself just because there is someone more powerful to help you. I really liked the idea that soon many satyrs would be going out to protect nature and I wish that they really did that.
What was your overall impression of the book?
Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth was, as a whole, an incredible book full of incredible twists and lots of action. I really enjoyed reading the book and found that I enjoyed every single part and I do not think that there is anything that I want to change. One of the things that I liked about the book was that, even though the characters were on a specific quest, they went off track multiple times to help different people and solve different problems. It might seem weird to like that but their choice to stray a little further usually ended up helping them a lot more than they realised and sometimes they made friends that would later help them when they really needed it. This also meant that the book was a lot more interesting because a lot of things were happening at the same time which would have been muddling if it didn’t make so much sense. Another thing that I liked about the book was that, although it is the third book in the series, there were so many new monsters. I seemed practically impossible that the author could create any new mythical creatures and yet there were so many new ones appearing to make thing even more interesting. I enjoyed all the twists and having so much action but I would have liked to have his the pause button of the life or death situations long enough so that I could finally get some answers and the characters could finally have a whole conversation. Overall the book was really good and I enjoyed every new adventure, I just can’t wait to see what will happen in the last book!
Which book did you like better: 1, 2, 3 or 4?
Although all 4 books I have read so far have all been equally amazing, I think that the third book – Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse – is still the best book so far. All the books have a lot in common which makes choosing a favourite book almost impossible and all the amazing things I like about the books tend to be similarities. The third book was bursting with action and adventure just like the others, and there was a lot of interesting information, but there were a few things that helped it stand apart from the crowd. One thing that I really enjoyed was the friendships that were made, even when people were supposed to enemies or had held certain grudges for years they were still able to set aside their differences for the quest which helped the characters open up and see the good in the others. Another thing was that there was also a lot more interference made by the gods in this book and Percy met at least 3 gods on his quest and then all of them on Mount Olympus. Of course, gods are not supposed to help the half-bloods directly, but they made an exception for Percy and the others and decided to help out. It was very interesting to see the gods and what they were like and I loved meeting them. One last thing that made the book better than the others were the meaningful deaths which were upsetting but also made the book that much better. I enjoyed all the books and I cannot wait to read the last book of the Percy Jackson series.
Would you recommend this book?
I definitely recommend that you read this book but first I suggest reading the first, second and third books, as things are getting a bit too confusing to read the books in a random order. My age recommendation would be 10+ and I specifically recommend the series if you enjoy action, fantasy and know a little about Greek mythology.
Summarise the book in one sentence. (Verdict)
A battle full of twists and turns (literally).
Reviewed by Jimena Gutierrez Reviriego
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