Review of “Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan

 

Review of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: 

The Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan

Going into this book, I barely remembered anything, other than they go into the labyrinth and meet Daedalus. I forgot that Tyson and Nico were in this book, and I didn’t remember going to these locations. I like the return of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, because I didn’t remember if we ever saw her again, so that was fun to bring her in on the quest. I love giving Annabeth her own quest, and I like spending a good amount of time at Camp Half Blood. We get Chiron in a bit more of that mentor role for Percy, which is what I’ve been waiting for since the first book.

This book follows a similar format of the other books but slightly different. We start off at Camp, then we get the prophecy to start the quest, then the group goes off on the quest and we stop off in several locations to fight various Greek monsters, Percy gets dream/visions and we resolve the battle at the end. But what’s different is, we use the labyrinth to travel across the US, and we don’t know where we’re going to end up. We also separate the group, and then bring in Rachel to help, and we get the twist reveal that Quintus is Daedalus. So, it follows the formula as the other books, but mixes it up to keep us surprised. Even though I didn’t remember this book that well, I liked what we got and where it ended up.

We also get to meet some new gods, we get Hera and Hephaestus as well as Pan. Hephaestus has been mentioned since the first book, so it’s nice to finally meet him. We also get more expansion on Greek myths. Such as Calypso, whom Percy meets as well as a reference to Hercules labor of cleaning the stables. And then we get Daedalus, and the legend of Icarus and King Minos and the labyrinth. So, I like building out the Greek mythological world as it exists alongside the human world.

We don’t get too many new characters in this one, we meet Grover’s girlfriend Juniper, but she doesn’t really do much. We meet Ethan Nakamura, but again he’s not in it much although he does play a part in the prophecy. It’s nice to see Clarisse again and we learn what she was up to off screen in the last book, and I like the subtle relationship she has with Chris Rodriguez, giving her a little bit of a character arc in the background of the story. Quintus AKA Daedalus is an interesting character. I like setting him up as this double agent for Luke, but then it’s really Daedalus. It’s an interesting twist, because throughout the whole book Annabeth admires Daedalus as a hero, and then we find out all the bad things he did, but in the end she gets his laptop of invention ideas.

Similarly, Tyson meets his hero Briares, and is at first let down by him, but then Briares comes to the rescue in the end fight. And it’s a great moment for Tyson, we get more character development from Tyson in this book. He doesn’t come off as childish in this book and proves to be quite competent at times. I also like Grover’s arc in this, something that was started in the first book, and him being the one to find Pan and spread the message seems very fitting for Grover, and it’s good to resolve his mission in this book, before the last book. It’s also kind of cute that Grover has a girlfriend.

Even though this is Annabeth’s quest, it’s still Percy’s story, and sometimes I feel like Annabeth should be center stage when she’s really not. But we do get a lot of jealous Annabeth in this book. She’s clearly jealous of Rachel, even though Percy is a clueless teenage boy and has no idea what to do about these two girls that like, because he might not even know how he feels about them. I do wish we got more character development from Annabeth. Percy does try to talk to her about Luke, but I feel like we still need to explain more about why Annabeth is not willing to give up on Luke, and how Luke feels about Annabeth. I just feel like we never really got to see Luke and Annabeth being great friends, and this is a case where we need to show not tell in order for me to be invested in the redemption of Luke.

Speaking of Luke, I think this might be his best appearance. He finally feels like a villain, and threat, and then he literally embodies Kronos. So, I do like that we’ve taken Luke to a point of no return, because up until now, I just don’t think he was used as a good villain. I do like following up with Nico DiAngelo, and his character arc that we get in this is nice. He starts off hating Percy and using his powers, and talking to the ghost of King Minos, hoping he can bring back his sister. But in the end he stands up to King Minos, proclaims that he is the Ghost King and learns to accept his sister’s death and forgives Percy.

We don’t really get a character arc for Percy in this, but he does get some good moments, I think this book is more about Percy transitioning from that kid that we met in the first book, to a young man that needs to make big decisions about what’s to come in the war against Kronos, as well as figuring out his feelings about girls.

I also like the return of Rachel, I think she’s a fun character and a nice foil for Annabeth. And it’s interesting seeing a mortal being brought into this world of Greek mythology come to life. I also like the ending of the book with Poseidon showing up to Percy’s 15^th birthday party and calling him his favorite son. I do wish we got maybe more interaction between Sally and Poseidon though, because I want their story. Like how did they meet, and when did she learn that he was a Greek God? There’s a lot of questions there. But I think it’s a sweet way to end the book.

Overall, I think this book does a great job of following the Percy Jackson series formula, while adding in some new surprises and twists. I like meeting new gods as well as some of the minor Greek mythological characters. I don’t remember anything from the last book, so everything will feel new to me, and I’m curious how the series is going to wrap up. So, that’s it, those are my thoughts on Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth.

 

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