CBR2 Book 95: "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan

Publisher: Hyperion
Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: October 18th, 2010
Date finished: October 19th, 2010

WARNING! CONTAINS A SPOILER FOR THE SEA OF MONSTERS, THE PREVIOUS BOOK IN THE SERIES!

Another year, another adventure for Percy Jackson, demi-god son of Poseidon. He, his friend Annabeth (daughter of Athena) and recently turned back from a tree, Thalia (daughter of Zeus) are at a military academy on the lookout for two half-mortal kids they believe may be in danger. Shortly after finding the two half-bloods, Bianca and Nico, things go horribly wrong. A giant manticore tries to kill them, the goddess Artemis intervenes, and Annabeth falls off a cliff while fighting the manticore.

Artemis travels with a team of eternally adolescent young girls, who have all gained immortality in return for staying chaste and loyal to the goddess of the Hunt forever. Her second in command is a very hostile girl who Thalia calls Zoe Nightshade. Zoe and the rest of the hunters are ordered to go with Thalia, Percy, Bianca and Nico to Camp Half-Blood, while Artemis hunts a legendary monster that may bring about the end of the Gods. But before she leaves, Bianca joins her little crew of adolescent huntresses. Nico is too busy collecting Greek myth trading cards to really care.

The group have not been back at camp long before it becomes obvious that Annabeth is not the only half-blood to have disappeared recently. Percy is convinced she is still alive, as he keeps having dreams where he sees her in danger, just like he saw Grover in danger in the last book. After a few days back, they receive news that Artemis has been captured, and a quest has to be launched to save her. Zoe refuses to have any men with them, but the Oracle claims they have to bring both half-bloods and hunters, or the quest will fail. When at the last minute, one of the hunters can't come, Percy sneaks after the group wearing Annabeth's cap of invisibility. He knows that she is in the same place as Artemis, as he has seen them together in his portentous dreams.

The series really holds up, and is a lot of fun to read. It is clear that if Aphrodite gets her way, Percy and Annabeth are on their way to one heck of a tragic romance, not entirely sure if they want to play into her hands, although Percy is getting more and more taken with his friend. He is certainly very worried when he found out that she was considering joining Artemis' huntresses, thereby swearing off boys forever.

Even more Greek mythology is explored. As well as the manticore, there are pegasi, cow serpents, zombies made from dragon's (well, technically dinosaur) teeth, we find out more about Artemis and Apollo, the Hesperides, their father, and yet again Percy and his friends have to work to save the Greek pantheon and the world from destruction. The books follow a formula, but are enjoyable nonetheless.

CBR2 Book 65: "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Page count: 304 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: June 30th, 2010
Date finished: July 1st, 2010

CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS!

In The Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson has almost managed to survive an entire school year without getting expelled. On the last day before the summer holidays, however, all hell breaks loose, and the gym ends up burning down because giant monsters are trying to kill him with fireballs. Maybe he can blame it on asbestos, as Buffy Summers tried to do when she arrived at Sunnydale High?

His mother doesn't want him returning to Camp Half-Blood, but he goes anyway, and takes Tyson, a mysterious homeless kid with him. At the camp, he discovers that Chiron has been sent away, and the tree that keeps the camp safe is dying, so everyone there is in danger. It's also revealed that Tyson is not only a mythological being, a cyclops, but that he shares a father with Percy. Percy keeps having dreams where his best friend, the satyr Grover, who went off on a quest at the end of the last book, is in grave danger, and he will die if Percy doesn't come save him. When it turns out that by saving Grover, Percy can also fetch the one thing that will help save the camp, the Golden Fleece, he takes Annabeth and Tyson with him, despite being told he will be risks being banned from the camp forever.

The Sea of Monsters is another fun adventure tale, featuring vicious chariot races, cyclopes, sirens, the Bermuda Triangle, the return of Percy's nemesis Luke, Circe the sorceress and Grover in a wedding dress. It was yet another fun read, and I am looking forward to the next one in the series.

CBR2 Book 17: "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan

Publisher: Hyperion
Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: December 26th, 2009
Date finished: December 27th, 2009

Percy Jackson has been expelled from a number of schools. He is known as a troublemaker, dyslexic, diagnosed with ADHD, and hates his slob of a stepfather, but adores his mother. His father left his mother before he was born. On a school trip to the Met, his maths teacher suddenly turns into a clawed, winged monster and tries to attack him. He manages to vaporize her, and as they are going back to school, it appears that they have had a different pre-algebra teacher all year. Was it all a hallucination?

Percy and his mother go to Montauk when he returns for the summer, that was where his mother and father met. During a sudden, mysterious storm, his best friend from school shows up saying Percy is in danger, and his Mum pushes them into the car to get them to a safe place. When their car is attacked by a giant bullheaded man, who Percy correctly identifies as the Minotaur, Percy realizes that there is a good reason why he always felt different. He is.

When Percy arrives at a special summer camp, it turns out the wheelchairbound history teacher from his most recent school is a kentaur, the camp is run by Dionysus, and all the kids there have one mortal and one divine parent. Percy's father is Poseidon, one of the major Greek gods, and Percy is in great danger, as Zeus thinks Poseidon sent him to steal his lightning bolt. If the bolt is not returned before the summer solstice (in about two weeks' time), Zeus will declare war. Percy has to go on a quest to find the bolt, to prove his innocence and prevent the war.

The Lightning Thief is the first in the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which looks like it's one of the many fantasy/adventure series that Hollywood hopes will succeed Harry Potter as a lucrative adaptation project. The first book has already been turned into a film, and there are five books in the series (so far). It's a perfectly entertaining adventure book geared at teenagers, with clever twists on Greek mythology. I am looking forward to checking out the other books in the series.