Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Title: The Battle of the Labyrinth
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4
Published: May 2008
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages:
From: Barnes and Noble
Rating: 7/10

And we’re back.

In the fourth installment of American author Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, we see Percy and his friends battle through the Labyrinth from ancient Greek mythology to save Camp Half-Blood.

But, things take a dark twist when someone is not who they say they are.

I really enjoyed this novel, like I’ve enjoyed the rest of Riordan’s Percy Jackson series. It feels like Riordan has even enjoyed the adventure himself, always maintaining his writing style and integrity throughout each book. He, yet again, has managed to blend ancient and modern into one book and still make it relateable to his young demographic.

It was a very wild ride, this one. We met monsters on the road in the Labyrinth, introduced new characters like a possible love interest for Percy, and kept on our toes by the twists and turns Riordan wrote that mimic the passages within the mythological underground maze.

There were just a couple things I didn’t like about this one. I felt the beginning was very fast paced. There just wasn’t enough introduction for me to get into it before we were thrown into one of the underground labyrinthine passages and the adventure was underway. It threw me for a loop. Second, and while this may be a hopeless idea, I was really hoping there would not be a love triangle or square or line or whatever. I like that Riordan has his characters follow the science and real lives behind human beings, so that when Percy hit his early high school years he would be interested in girls, but at the same time, I was hoping that would be avoided since it isn’t exactly totally pertinent to the story Riordan is telling. Also, I’m getting sick of love triangles.

But, in the end, this novel was well written and just as exciting as, if not more than, its predecessors and I am looking forward to a long bath to relax in while reading the final installment of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian.

To read the other Percy Jackson and the Olympians novels, or to check out Rick Riordan’s other series The Kane Chronicles, The Heroes of Olympus or Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, go to Barnes and Noble or Amazon in store or online.