Finally. I finally arrived home. Awaiting me was the latest volume of the Percy Jackson series: The Battle of the Labyrinth. I have talked before about this series, but here is a recap: Percy Jackson is the demi-god son of Poseidon and has to save the world. His friends are other demigods, a centaur, and a satyr. That’s it in a nutshell.
The Battle of the Labyrinth was enjoyable, but the “new car” smell of the series is wearing away. I must admit to being a bit disappointed. This feels a bit like Rick Riordan just wanted to get the book done and raced through it. It feels rushed as there were more than a few typos in the text as well - which makes me feel it got rushed through the publishing house.
As a Percy Jackson fan, I was happy. As an aspiring writer, not so much.
THE LIGHT SIDE: The action starts right away, which it usually does. Things always seem to mess up Percy’s life, and in this book he meets a new romantic interest. This complicates things since he has one already at camp. The character of Nico (a demi-god) is more fleshed out and gains some closure from the death of his sister. Percy’s half-brother, Tyson (a cyclops) has a strong role, which is fun. We get to see more of Percy’s dad, and we see Percy’s god-powers show up big time.
The characters continue to grow. They do so slowly, but the Percy in this book is somewhat different than in The Lightning Thief. The other characters have changed a bit as well.
THE DARK SIDE: The book seems rushed. Many younger age books I read race through their story, but do so in a way that you don’t really mind the lack of fleshing out. This book reads like a well-polished skeleton. Part of the problem may be Riordan usually writes for adults, but I think he’s selling the youth short on bulk.
Also upsetting is the lack of innovation. I was really hoping for a departure from the Percy Formula with this book, but it is rapidly becoming as predictable as the A-Team. So far, each book goes a little something like this: Percy gets attacked, Percy meets up with his friends, Percy and friends go on a quest, Percy and friends meet a Greek God, Percy gets sidetracked for a chapter in a parallel to a Greek Myth (The Lotus Casino in book one, Calypso’s island in this one), Percy escapes, Percy’s friends continue the quest, they sort of accomplish the quest but learn more bad things are on the way.
I think what really drives me crazy is the “sidetracked” part of each book. It’s an extra chapter in each book and doesn’t always do much to move the story along.
I had originally been very excited going into this series. It seemed like it would encompass five books - just like my favorite series, The Prydain Chronicles - and would really be quite a lot of fun. It is a lot of fun, but it is becoming repetitive. I enjoy it, and will keep reading it, but I wonder if I will ever want to reread it.
(I had this same problem with Harry Potter - I couldn’t put the books down. But I don’t really feel I’ll every have much urge to read them again.)
Whenever book five comes out, I will read it. I certainly hope it is better than the fourth. I would like to see a departure from the formula I have described. I would still recommend this series to any lover of young fiction, so I guess that’s a good thing. I am such an expert in it and all that