The Battle of the Labyrinth Review: Percy

Book: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Author: Rick Riordan

Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Standing: Book 4

POV: 1st person by Percy, past tense

Setting: New York City, modern day

Genre: Children's fantasy, mythology

Source: Physical copy

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Pages: 361

Release: March 6th 2008

Percy Jackson isn't expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse. In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.  (Goodreads)

                         ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭

In my opinion, this book has the best adventure in it. I mean, a labyrinth? Yes please!

The book picks off during Percy's freshman orientation. In true Percy style, he manages to leave for Camp Halfblood with a bang, only to discover that tension between the gods and Luke's/Kronos' army is growing higher and higher. Luke very well may have found a way into Camp Halfblood, and if he succeeds, there will be chaos. It's up to Percy and his friends to venture into Daedalus' Labyrinth and find a way to stop Luke from marching to Camp Halfblood.

Let me be the first to say that I've never been any good at mazes. But a maze that is thinking, and actively trying to trick you into your own death? No thank you. I wouldn't last five minutes before I either a) got killed b) lost my mind c) panicked. Percy, however, keeps his cool, along with everyone else. See? That's why they're the heroes. 

The one thing that really stuck out to be about Percy in this book was his heightened grace under pressure. There's a lot of stuff going on in this book, taking everyone by surprise. There's no immediate destination, no direct way to get there, yet Percy is able to keep his cool when they run into dead end after dead end, especially since the dead ends all happen to have monsters waiting. Another thing with Percy in this book is that he shows that he's not afraid of his destiny. When given the choice to run away from everything, he doesn't. He won't try to fight his destiny, especially if it means leaving his friends behind. Percy's loyalty goes to completely different levels in this book, and shows that he's a really good guy with the true makings of a hero.

There are two characters we get to know lot better in this book: Rachel and Nico. Rachel, as I suspected from when I read the third book, plays a key role. What I particularly liked about her was her backstory, and how that impacted the way she grew up. Nico, on the other hand, was a truly interesting character. He's one of my favourites, and we get to see him struggling with grudges. We also get to see the full of extent of Nico's powers, and let me tell you, they are awesome. Nico is just an awesome character, regardless of his initial intentions. I can't help but love him.

One thing that we get to see is more of Luke. Is he doing the right thing? At first, he was so convinced that he was. But now, it's easy to see that he's not completely certain. He still believes in the cause, but there's something bothering him. It raises a bit of sympathy, since there's a chance that he can't get away even if he wanted to.

Romance definitely was on the rise in this book. I completely ship Percy and Annabeth, and their sudden accidental moments in front of people were adorable. Jealousy played an interesting role in this book, but it didn't really do much expect emphasize Annabeth's feelings. It's a nice development, especially since they've come a long way from the beginning.

All in all, another fantastic book! This series only keeps getting better!