So today I've finally got around to getting this booktalk for The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, the fourth book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. So lets jump right in!
"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 if bloodthirsty monsters will attack. So it's goodbye sunshine, hello darkness as four of us descend into the terrifying underground and beyond..."
-From the blurb of the Battle of the Labyrinth
So I really don't have anything negative to say about this one. I absolutely loved it and immediately went onto read the last one!
A very easy to give out 97% from me.
Once again I really can't say too much without spoiling you so, if you haven't read the fourth PJO book yet, get on that. As for those who haven't read any of the PJO books and would like to know more, check out my booktalk for the first book in the series.
Booktalk: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Okay so that's it for the non-spoiler section. Bye non-spoiler peeps!
Byyyyeeee.
*Spoilers for The Battle of the Labyrinth ahead*
Okay!
So we start off the book with Percy back in the mortal world with him going to his high school orientation for his freshmen year. But very quickly, he attracts the attention of two monsters who obviously want to kill him but also give away some information about what Luke and Kronos are up to. We also bump into Rachel Dare again ( the girl from Hoover Dam) who alerts him to the monsters.I realise that I called her Elizabeth in the last book talk but I feel like she'll be quite a big character in the next book too. Annabeth also joins in in the action and I'm pretty sure she was upset about not being able to go to the movies with Percy plus a little jealousy at Rachel. I mean, I would would be too.
So back at camp we have a few new faces including Quintus and his hell hound Mrs O'Leary. Right away I was pretty suspicious of Quintus, I mean, he's this unknown guy who's just randomly appeared at camp who Chiron had allowed to be a teacher. It almost felt like a Snape/Dumbledore relationship thing but obviously that isn't the case. And there's always his hell hound too. You wouln't expect a hell hound of all creatures to be almost like the camp pet but in a really sweet way that's what he ends up being.
So both Percy and Annabeth find this cave entrance and right away I knew that was the Labyrinth. Maybe it was the blurb that gave it away? If there had to be an entrance to the Labyrinth in CHB than this was it. As expected they're given a Quest to go into the Maze to find Daedelus, the creator of the maze so hopefully find a way to stop Luke's army from entering Camp.
What I didn't expect was the way that the majority of the book took place actually inside the Labyrinth but I actually really enjoyed that. There's also the sub-plots of Daedelus' backstory and what Kronos was up to, appearing in Percy's dreams which I found really interesting to read.It's such a smart way to get that information to readers without slowing down the story or making it boring. You get different bits and pieces scattered throughout but hen hey all link up and make sense.
We also get to learn a bit more about Nico diAngelo. In the last book he was about nine-ish but by this book he's matured A LOT and feels more like the age of fourteen by the way he acts and dresses. Before now, we haven't really gotten too much info about Hades or what his children can do but apparently they can raise the dead -as well as opening up the ground to swallow up skeletons ;).
Just a side note. I wanna mention the chapter titles. I have no idea how I haven't talked about it before but even as someone who's a little older,than say, the target audience of the book, they crack me up every single time. Whether it's "Nico buys happy meals for the dead" or "I Scoop Poop" it's always hilarious.
So as I said before, we're in the maze. I feel like we got lots more monsters popping up in this one. I'm not sure whether that's because its the maze or because a war is brewing though. As much as it was really interesting to read about all these new ones, sometimes it was a little difficult to keep up and remember them all. But maybe that's because I haven't read the Demigod Files which is supposed to be a companion novel to the series but yeah....
A little later on we meet the God Hephaestus who gives Percy and Annabeth a sort of mini quest type thing to see what's been going on in Mount St. Helens. I actually really liked that whole scene especially where they were talking about how Annabeth had been born. I'm sort of curious to find out more- is that weird? And of course there's the kiss. I don't think it specified whether it was on the lips or cheek but I feel like it was a peck on the lips type situation. Yay for Percabeth!
Actually after that was where I got a little mad at Percy. He was there on the island with Calypso and slowly falling for her and the whole time I was like "There is no way you are falling for this girl when there's Annabeth" Seriously though was I the only one? And when he was talking about how she would always be his "what if?" grrrr. Percy get your butt back to Camp Half Blood, man up and ask Annabeth out! Phew now that I've got that out of my system...
We've also got this running storyline about Rachel who can maybe tell the future? Or is she just super good at seeing through the Mist? Either way she is able to find where Kronos is.
About that... When Percy was about to lift the lid of the coffin I don' really know what I was expecting to see- an automaton, a deformed body? But when it was Luke I was just in shock whatever I had been expecting this wasn't it. And of course we've got the whole Annabeth thing where she didn't want to harm Luke when he was just Luke but now that he's Kronos..... well we'll have to see how that goes...
Then Rachel throw a BLUE PLASTIC HAIRBRUSH at Kronos. Of all things :)
There's also the Pan storyline which I'm not too sure how I feel about. I mean obviously I empathise with Grover but that whole storyline felt a little underdeveloped throughout all the books, probably because there were bigger things going on. So that felt a little off for me but obviously I didn't HATE it or anything.
So the final battle Camp Half-Blood faces! That was intense. I must have read that whole thing within a few minutes I was literally turning pages as fast as I could so I don't really have that much to say on that- sorry!
I feel like Percy and Annabeth are getting to that point where they need to decide where they're going from here -friends or more than that. Obviously you know what I want them to be.
But when she didn't turn up to Percy's birthday I have to admit I was a little disappointed but I mean, we got Poseidon so the situation wasn't too dark for me ;)
So what did you think of The Battle of the Labyrinth? Personally I LOVED it but what did you think- leave your thoughts below.
Hope you enjoyed!
Bye for now,
Amber xxx
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