As many of you are aware The Titan’s Curse is the third book in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the halfway point. Both in terms of the series but also in terms of the character’s timeline as it is the only book to not take place over the course of a summer but instead takes place over winter break. It opens on Annabeth and Thalia picking up Percy, and snagging a ride from his mom, to go help Grover get two demigods, siblings Bianca and Nico, to camp. As always, things never go to plan so Percy and Thalia end up arguing, Annabeth ends up missing and presumed dead, and the goddess Artemis shows up with her immortal hunters who hate all boys. Artemis decides to offer the older of the two demigods, Bianca, a spot in her hunters before leaving on an emergency hunt. The hunters, led by Zoe, take the remaining demigods and Grover to camp by hitching a ride with Apollo. Upon discovering that Annabeth is alive and was used to lure in Artemis and that both are being held by Luke’s forces, Zoe leads a quest to rescue them and takes Bianca, Thalia and Grover, with Percy sneaking away to join them anyway. Their final destination, the Garden of Hesperides.
I found it rather interesting that this is the only book in the series not based in the summer, as previously stated, but in the winter. That makes sense though as it is the halfway point between when the series started, the summer Percy turned twelve, and the end point which, in theory, would be the summer Percy turned sixteen due to the prophecy about that birthday. Another thing that makes this book unique is that it is the first time that Percy goes on a quest without Annabeth, mind you he is going to rescue her but still he is not traveling with her. He instead travels with Zoe, Bianca and Thalia only some of whom he gets along with. Zoe hates all boys, much like most hunters, and really hates the person wielding riptide, Percy’s sword, so they don’t get along for most of the book. Bianca is pretty friendly but she is also fairly new to the whole world of demigods and monsters. The friendship between Thalia and Percy is entertaining. I say that because it almost perfectly fits the prior prediction of them being so similar that they would either be best friends or end up hating each other. It seems to frequently go back and forth between the two. The only thing that seems to keep them friends is their mutual friendship with Annabeth. I know they eventually get past that, I mean Percy and Annabeth did, but it is still entertaining to read. Another thing that I greatly enjoyed about this book is the continuing humor that is present. There is definitely a style that is developing throughout the series that is rather iconic, a fine blend of sarcasm and wit that is highly entertaining. Mind you, Percy often toes the line right into utter stupidity but hey, we can’t all be smart like Annabeth now can we. Overall, it is a good book and a fine continuation of the series. I am giving it four out of five stars.
Much like the previous books in the series I would recommend this book to other readers, especially younger readers who enjoy fantasy. In my opinion, due to the abundant humor, it would probably appeal to a wider age range but I know many adults don’t like reading what they view as kid’s books. I say go ahead and read it anyway as kid’s books are great. This is also a good series to help introduce your kids to the basics of Greek mythology as well. I know it helped it flame my interest in the subject as a kid. As always, let me know what you think in the comments as I look forward to hearing what you think about this book or this series.