The Titan’s Curse is the third book in the Percy Jackson series, and while I’ve enjoyed them all, the first one is still my favorite. But I must say again how much I like Riordan’s style. It’s so funny! I mean, check out this first line, “The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school.” I laughed out loud in the first fifteen seconds after opening the cover. And again I praise (and stand amazed at) his chapter titles. These are so hard to do without giving too much away. My favorite three: “The Vice Principal Gets a Missile Launcher,” “Everyone Hates Me but the Horse,” and “We Meet the Dragon of Eternal Bad Breath.” He’s got a real knack for making you want to read on and decode each title.
Now add to that some of the other quirky features, like a sun god who writes haikus, fart arrows, hiding Mount Olympus on the secret 600th floor of the Empire State Building, and warriors growing from planted teeth. Here’s some other stuff that made me laugh:
“”The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy was clean-shaven, which seemed kind of backwards to me.”
“It seemed weird calling a teenager ‘sir,’ but I’d learned to be careful with immortals They tended to get offended easily. Then they blew stuff up.”
“The cafe windows wrapped all the way around the observation floor, which gave us a beautiful panoramic view of the skeletal army that had come to kill us.”
Again, I have the same cautions. These twelve gods sure have a lot of kids with a lot of different mortals. The “oh my gods” humor. And add to that the “dam” humor of the Hoover Dam scene. Still, this book is very mild. I would not object to my young kids reading it. And I must praise Riordan that while his books are based on danger and quests, the violence is never bloody or graphic. It’s always feels very fantastic (as in, unreal), and his ever-present humor keeps it light and safe. A great adventure. Once again, kudos, Mr. Riordan!
The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, book 3), Rick Riordan, 2007, Book Review
Next one “Battle of the Labyrinth” is my FAVORITE!! My mom said to tell you she kind of cringed at some of the language but found it OK (WAHOO!).
Funny, I just this moment finished book five (I should be writing!) and found your comment. I had forgotten this one was scheduled to post today. Yes, there were some moments I cringed too, but Riordan does write a rousing tale. I still like the first one the best.
Does the Heroes of Olympus series follow this one, taking off on the new Great Prophecy?
Great geuss! It does! Right now I’ve read the 2 books in the “Heroes of Olympus” series and I like them too! To give you a hint, Roman mythology is introduced in “The Lost Hero” (the first book in the “Heroes of Olympus” series). 😉
Ahhh…I’ll have to add them to my spring TBR list. (It’s already getting kind of long!)