The Titan's Curse

Riordan, Rick. The Titan's Curse. Percy Jackson & the Olympians. 3. New York: Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children, 2007.
[Book cover credit: librarything.com/work/2294891]

Awards:
BookSense Top Ten Summer Pick (2007)
An Amazon Best Book (2007)

Booktalk:
In a camp of heroes, Percy is used to being, well, the hero. Now that Thalia's back, however, Percy isn't quite as important as he used to be. When he Thalia, Grover and Annabeth go on a mission to retrieve two half-bloods from a militry school, Percy ignores Thalia's instructions and tries to save the day himself. Luckily Artemis and her hunters come to the rescue when Percy's lack of plan goes horribly wrong. Unfortunately, they can't rescue everyone and Annabeth disintegrates with the monster the hunters attack. Artemis follows the monster's scent while Percy, Thalia, Grover, the two new kids and all of Artemis' hunters head back to camp and, they hope, a quest to save their friend.

Review:
Riordan is really starting to get into obscure mythology here, or at least I, who haven't had anything to do with mythology since the 9th grade, think so. As the Titans continue to gain power, helped by Luke of course, characters come forward that have been around since before the gods. Luckily, Riordan is great at doling out the information you need to know. I feel like things would make more sense if you know what was going on from the beginning, but I managed to LOVE this book, without picking up any of the clues that I should have (Spoiler: Nico gets mad and the ground opens up and eats some soldiers=he's a son of Hades? So didn't make that jump). It's like a mystery/adventure novel.

My only complaint: How can Riordan make San Francisco a bad place? I was offended/sad, although I do have to admit that the ever present fog (mist) was very convenient for his plot. He better make it a happy place by the end of the 5th book.


Book 1: The Lightning Thief
Book 2: The Sea of Monsters
Book Source: College library