Book 6: Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth

I'm back! I'm so sorry to have disappeared for so long, but I'll be back more regularly now. I moved, had a virtual book tour (for my novel Aureole, if you hadn't already heard), and then had a minor procedure on my knee. But I'm back, and we're returning with another Percy Jackson book. Did I mention that I love them?

Book 6:

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan

Summary:

Per usual, Percy Jackson is just trying his best to attend orientation for a new school when he fights with monsters and destroys part of his new school. Kid can’t seem to catch a break! But, of course, it was just the beginning of his adventures. After escaping the school, Percy heads to Camp Half-Blood, where everyone is in the midst of preparation for the struggles that lay before them. Percy meets a new member of the staff, Quintus, the new sword master. Then, during a battle drill, Percy and Annabeth accidentally discover an entrance into the Labryinth. The Labryinth is the one created by Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, but over the years has kept growing and now stretches across large parts of the world. It turns out that Luke is planning to lead an army through the entrance discovered by Percy and Annabeth to attack the camp.

They realize that they have to use the Labryinth to find Daedalus to ensure that Luke doesn’t find Ariadne’s string, which would help him navigate the extremely confusing maze and make it to the camp. Annabeth receives a prophecy, and they set off with Grover and Tyson, too. Over the course of their adventures, they interact with Nico, the teenage son of Hades who still blames Percy for the death of his sister. Percy and Annabeth also end up splitting up with Grover and Tyson, who go off to search for the god Pan. Percy and Annabeth go to Mount St. Helens, where they find the telekhines – “sea demons – who attack them. Before Percy causes Mt. St. Helens to erupt, he and Annabeth have an argument, leading her to kiss him before fleeing. The eruption pushes him out of the volcano, but also drains his energy.

When he wakes up, he is on the magical island maintained by Calypso. She treats his wounds, but he decides to leave and return to the world that needs him. Then he once again meets up with Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the mortal girl who can see through the Mist and therefore can help him make it through the Labryinth. The meet up with Grover, who has found Pan, but Pan is dying, and he asks them to spread the word that he has died. Once he does, his spirit passes into all present, especially Grover. They finally find Daedalus, who actually is Quintus, and they also learn that Kronos has gained enough strength by Luke. Unfortuatnely, Luke has already found Daedalus and gotten Ariadne’s string, and he sends an army to destroy Camp Half-Blood.

The camp fights a losing battle, and most of them are either injured or killed. But then Daedalus and Briares – Tyson’s hero who they met from their Labryinth journey – arrive. Finally, what turns the battle around is Grover scaring away the enemy using Pan’s power Panic. But even though their enemies have left, there is still the threat of the Labryinth, and Daidalus sacrifices himself to close it, as it is tied to his life.

To close the book off, the camp says good-bye to those who have died. Nico leaves, Grover leaves to spread the message of Pan, and Percy returns to his mother’s to celebrate his fifteenth birthday. There, Nico arrives with an idea on how to defeat Kronos. 

Book 3: Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

Book 2:

The Titan’s Curse, Rick Riordan

Summary:

Percy Jackson has been fighting monsters and searching for half-bloods with his friends Annabeth and Thalia since The Sea of Monsters ended. Grover has found two siblings – Bianca and Nico di Angelo – at a school, and in the ensuing battle against a manticore, Annabeth gets taken. The goddess Artemis arrives with her Hunters, and Percy’s next adventure begins with the search for Annabeth and the goal to save Artemis before the Olympian Council at the winter solstice. Grover and Thalia go on a quest with a Hunter named Zoe and Bianca, who has also joined the Hunters. After some adventures, Percy officially joins them, and they race across the country to San Francisco to stop the most recent component of Kronos’ plan to return. By the end of their journey, Bianca has been lost and Zoe has been killed, but both Annabeth and Artemis have been rescued. They have also learned that one of the children born of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon will sacrifice the Ophiotaurus at the age of 16 and will start the war among the gods. Thalia – daughter of Zeus and one day away from her sixteenth birthday – chooses to join the Hunters and take Zoe’s place as Artemis’ lieutenant, thus becoming immortal. This leaves Percy as the only child of the Big Three able to turn sixteen and the only one thus able to fulfill the prophecy – other than Nico di Angelo, who Percy learns is the son of Hades.

Book 1: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

Book 1:

The Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan