88. The Titan's Curse

The Titan's Curse. (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3) Rick Riordan. 2007. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: 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. We picked up my friends Annabeth and Thalia on the way.
It was an eight-hour drive from New York to Bar Harbor, Maine. Sleet and snow pounded the highway. Annabeth, Thalia, and I hadn't seen each other in months, but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much. Except for my mom. She talks more when she's nervous. By the time we finally got to Westover hall, it was getting dark, and she'd told Annabeth and Thalia every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about me.
Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. "Oh yeah. This'll be fun."
Westover Hall looked like an evil knight's castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden double doors. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking this big frosty forest on one side and the gray churning ocean on the other.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" my mother asked.
"No, thanks, Mom," I said. "I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."
"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."
I hoped I wasn't blushing. It was bad enough I had to depend on my mom to drive me to my battles.

Premise/plot:  The stakes have never been higher in the third adventure in the Percy Jackson fantasy series by Rick Riordan. The quest(s) in this third book make the other quests [in books one and two] seem easy-breezy. 

While The Titan's Curse certainly stars some of our well-known and well-loved cast [from previous books], plenty of new characters--both demi-god, god, and monster--are introduced and play integral roles. Like Bianca and Nico. This is also the first book where readers get a chance to learn about the newly resurrected from the dead, Thalia. [She was technically a tree for all of book one and most of book two.] 

Like the previous two books, this one mainly occurs outside of Camp Half-blood and involves a quest....or should that be quests. Because the stakes have never been higher, there will be BIG consequences if the quest goes anything like the prophecy foretells. And Percy, well, he may have to live with the fall out....

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this one! I did. The only one in the series that I am super familiar with is the first book, The Lightning Thief. Reading book two and three is like reading them again for the very first time. And that is such a delight. I think there are pros and cons to waiting so very long to reread a series you've adored in the past. I am loving the characters. I am enjoying the action. I am remembering all the reasons why I made my mom read this series with me.

© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews