Titan's Curse Book Review
By: Rick Riodan
Characters:
Percy Jackson
Thalia Grace
Annabeth Chase
Annabeth Chase
Grover Underwood
Bianca di Angelo
Zoë Nightshade
Luke Castellan
Nico di Angelo
Summary:
When Percy Jackson receives an distress call from his friend Grover, he immediately prepares for battle. He knows he'll need his powerful friends , Annabeth and Thalia, at his side; and his bronze sword, Riptide. The heros race to the rescue, to find that Grover has made an important discover. Two new powerful half-bloods whose parents are unknown. But that's not all that awaits them. The Titan lord, Kronos, has set up a trap yet, and the young heroes have just fallen right into it.
They’re not the only ones in danger. An ancient monster has arisen and Artemis, the only goddess who might know where it is , is missing. Now Percy and his friends have only a week to find the kidnapped goddess and solve the mystery of the monster she was hunting.
Review:
There was just something lacking in this book. Percy came off as a bit of an attention hog. Percy finds himself with something of an identity problem. He's fourteen, been looked up to and treated as a competent demigod, and suddenly Thalia comes back and its all changed. He feels discounted, like people don't see him anymore. It's not so much that he's looking for attention, but positive acknowledgement would help. It also doesn't help that Artemis and her handmaidens view all males as incompetent, egotistical, and worthless. On the other hand, I don't think the target audience is going to notice this. Kids will see it as another fast paced mystery adventure with great new monsters. The Titan's Curse was a bit more character-driven than the previous three books, but also a bit slower. I realize it was necessary for the development of the overall story line, but I got a little bored with the quest between Washington, D.C. and Arizona. Riordan also explains why Mr. D (Dionysus) hates heroes and Percy sees first hand how they have hurt people. These realizations will influence Percy for the rest of the series. Good character development, a good bad guy, creepy new minions, but a bit slow at times. But what bothered me doesn't seem to bother the middle grades kids, which is fine. I recommend picking up the audiobook from the library or reading to the family. It just seems that maybe those slow parts would be a bit more interesting if read out loud. Overall, it was a good book and I liked the book - it gets 4 out of 5 stars.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆