The Titan's Curse: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3

I got these for my husband to read and he read the whole series in 2 1/2 days he was so into it. It’s exciting and tense book. You won’t be let down. Even if your bored just try reading it, it is for younger kids but no shame in us adults reading it too.

When I first read the *Percy Jackson* series, I was a bit underwhelmed. I mean, I had heard so much about how awesome it was, and it seemed just such a let-down. It appeared to me to be, quite frankly put, a weaker version of *Harry Potter*. Now, I know that isn't fair or accurate, but that was my first impression. While the second book in the series, *The Sea of Monsters*, helped to change my mind on this, it was still a bit underwhelming. Yes, this is not just a takeoff of *HP*, it is it's own unique series. Not only are there many differences beyond the surface-only similarities, but I learned recently (as of the writing of this review) that Riordan started writing this series before *HP* was published, so, yah, not based on *HP*. So critics who use this argument, including *myself* at first, are just silly. I'm admitting I was an idiot, yes.As I said, though, the second book still didn't quite wow me. The whole narrative felt like basically an endless series of cliff-hangers with little to no character development and not enough plot. The cliff-hangers seemed to be far more numerous than most quest books in fantasy settings. Now, this isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the first two volumes, but just that they didn't quite (other than some interesting stuff such as likable characters and references to myths) *do* it for me, so to speak. This third book, however, really did make me a major *Percy Jackson* fan, and was absolutely a great read. The rest of the review will show why.The plot is simple. In a rescue mission to save two fellow demi-gods, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and their new friend Thalia, encounter trouble. Though they save the twin half-bloods, Annabeth goes missing, and to make matters worse, so does a powerful goddess ally, Artemis.Of course, a quest is in order. But the questions are rather more complicated than one might think in this case. Normally, these quests are, of course, quite dangerous. But in this case, the sense of danger, really the *fact* of danger, is more persistent. Because a prophecy from the Oracle is that at least two of the members of the quest will not make it back alive...While the plot is relatively straight-forward at first, the narrative and plot developments this time were quite a bit more complicated. Not only did Riordan expand on the mythology of the series, and the connections to Classical Greek myths, but the structure was different. Gone was the nearly every chapter cliff-hanger, with the accompanying desperate rushes from one danger to the next, one clue to the next. In it's place was a slower and more long-term story progression.Don't get me wrong. The sense of excitement and adventure was just as strong, but the story was a better one in this way. This is because there was more time taken to spend more time exploring the characters and their thoughts and the world-building, as well as both delving into the past of this world and laying down groundwork for future plots. This all was a net plus for the book and made it far, *far* better than the predecessors.Included in this are tidbits that answer the big questions that some might have, including, why, oh why, do the Olympians not *do* anything to remedy these problems themselves. Well, the answer is that they are a) kinda personality-driven, and this interferes with some proactiveness, as they have their own stuff to attend to and their personalities dictate this, and b) related, they are *busy*. Not only do they have the duties they have always had, but they are also dealing with the fact that the coming hostilities with the forces of Kronos are causing other supernatural gods and god-like beings to cause problems that make their jobs harder. For that matter, there is a delicate power balance that too much action on the part of *anyone* will upset.The reason I liked this one as well is that the characters are kinda coming into their own and beginning to grow up. Annabeth is becoming more mature and able to forgive and see others' points of view more. Meanwhile, Percy is faster on his feet where he can handle things without constant directions. Though he still isn't the strategist that Annabeth is, and thus doesn't do as well as when he's teamed up with her, he still acquits himself admirably.Grover, though, is a disappointment here. He's reduced to little more than comic relief. That annoys me in that while he was the weakest member of the quest, he's still a knowledgeable and capable guy. Or should be. I hope that he gets more impressive again in coming books.I can't say much about other characters so as to not give away their roles, but just to say that Riordan does a good job with fleshing out their characters and arcs in a way that really makes them vivid to the reader and gets you to care about them.I can honestly say now that I really enjoy this series and that it has become one of my favorites.Highly Recommended.Rating: 5/5 Stars.

I have heard readers of the Percy Jackson series claim this is one of the weakest entries. I personally think it’s one of the strongest. This book had me laughing, hooting and hollering, and crying all within the span of a chapter. Easily one of my favorite out of the entire series.

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MY RATING SYSTEM5 stars--WOW4 stars--would read again3 stars--was good, won't read again2 stars--read it, but didn't enjoy it1 star--didn't finish, it was so awfulDo I need to read books before this one: yesCliffhanger: a littleSUMMARYGrover sends a distress call just before winter break; he's found 2 demigods, Bianca and Nico, and smells a monster. Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia go to Bar Harbor to help. Artemis and her Hunters join the half-bloods to fight the manticore and its human mercenaries. It falls off a cliff with Annabeth on his back. Artemis accepts Bianca as a Hunter, then orders her Hunters to Camp Half-Blood and calls Apollo to give them a ride. Artemis leaves to hunt the monster sought by the manticore, leaving Zoë in charge.At Camp, Percy and Thalia can't convince Mr D to send them in a quest to get Annabeth. Clarisse is already on a sneaky one.Both Percy and Zoë have nightmares, demand to go on quests, denied. After a game of Capture the Flag, the Oracle comes to the river to deliver the quest:Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,One shall be lost in the land without rain,The bane of Olympus shows the trail,Campers and Hunters combined prevail,The Titan’s curse must one withstand,And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.Percy isn't chosen to go.EVALUATIONAnother fun telling of Greek myths! Percy's 14 now, aware of and awkward around girls, especially Annabeth. Thalia is old enough to drive. Nico plays a Greek gods card game with miniatures; is that Pokémon or Magic the Gathering? Apollo's explanation of the astrological sun and the philosophical sun is spot on.RECOMMENDATIONEveryone who's read books 1 and 2. If you haven't read those yet, get on it!FAVORITE QUOTES“One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian.” “An Olympian…athlete?” “No. One of the gods.” “Cool!” said Nico. “No!” Bianca’s voice quavered. “This is not cool!” Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. “Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—”“That boy in Colorado,” Zoë said. “You turned him into a jackalope.” “Ah, yes.” Artemis nodded, satisfied. “I enjoy making jackalopes."The least the Oracle could’ve done was walk back to the attic by herself.If there were ever any half-bloods who needed to worry about [being killed by a parent], it was Thalia and me. I wondered if maybe I should’ve sent Poseidon that seashell pattern tie for Father’s Day after all.“It’s cool. No sword. See? No sword. Calm thoughts. Sea grass. Mama cows. Vegetarianism.” [to a sea cow]It took forever—I mean, it was worse than the time I’d had to untangle all my video game controller wires.The clerk looked so lonely, I bought a rubber rat.Zoë got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as we flew by. Every time she saw a Target department store—and we passed dozens of them—she would peg the store’s sign with a few bulls-eyes at a hundred miles an hour.Apollo's haikus, Blackjack's Jersey accentPOSSIBLE TRIGGERS (SPOILERS)Sex: noneLanguage: 0 F words, 12 Lord's name in vain, 0 S wordsViolence: fights with myths

Spoilers contained!Percy thailia and annabeth arrive at west overhall and battle a manticore called dr thorn. they bsttle it and the hunters arrive but annabeth falls of a cliff and captured by the generel (atlas) and luke. ARTEMIS wants to slay a monster but she gets captured by the generel and luke. percy and zoe nightshads thalia and grover go ln a quest to rescue artemis and annabeth. im not gonna say more so go find it out by yoursdlves .Btw i have a xbox one and my gamertag is kingsharkboy136 and my roblox on pc is DJcrazy56

"There are parties, and then there are huge, major, blowout parties. And then there are Olympian parties. If you ever get a choice, go for the Olympian."Heh. I think this quote just sums up exactly why I like these books so much!We are back with Percy, aged 14 now, getting into mischief and breaking every rule.There is such a fine line between Percy being an annoying brat and a great character but I think Riordan definitely adds enough humanity and humour that he is very likeable, once you get by his rather immature moments. (It's okay Percy, I will snort at your stupidity sometimes and really want to slap you but I still like you)!The plot in this book is incredibly fast paced. There isn't a moment of downtime and not a page that doesn't have a meaning. It dives straight into the action from the first page.This book is definitely not suitable to be read as a stand alone. You need to have some sort of background. Even though we have reminders throughout the book about past occurrences, there simply isn't enough information for a new reader.I heartily recommend this whole series though.

My 9 year old son adores these. He is not massively bookish but he has now got through 3 in the series and requested more. I've read a chapter or 2 to him to see what they are like. As expected, good accessible with enough action to keep you interested. The interweaving of Greek mythology into a modern day setting is clever (sort of like blending vegetables into dinner so the kids don't notice!) I would recommend. But really the recommendation is that it keeps boys interested in reading...

I love Greek mythology and Percy Jackson makes me believe in it even more... Rick riodan is an amazing Twitter n his books are well structured n well written. I'll liked this book because finally so many questions are answered... you get to know any the prophesies n about thalia n one off my all time favourites Atlas (on of my fac God's IN Greek mythology) makes an appearance...it's all great. I love the way there a vision of the gods to be different from what they were portrayed to be in the Hecules series, the young Hercules series and in Xena (even though xena is not a real Greek character) Rick's worlds took me away to a whole new universe... I'm in love with Percy Jackson... but that's mostly because he is the son of Poseidon.... recommend this book.... definitely

after reading the first two books on holiday i was hooked and had to buy the next one.This one is definitely harder to follow than the first two but i enjoyed it becabuse it has a lot of mystery and a huge twist at the end.There are quite a few new characters in this aswell i am an eleven year old that has finished the harry potter books so if you have finished these go and try the harry potter books or if you have finished harry potter read these and i grantee you will enjoy it either way.Also if you finish these and you like the greek mythology Rick has wrillen plenty more about greek stuff.I dont know why but this book gave me a lot of ideas for art but all of the others did too do artists get reading .Great book for any age over ten :)