Monday, January 19, 2009

The Titan's Curse, by Rick Riordan

Title: The Titan's Curse
Author: Rick Riordan
Published: 2007
Pages: 312
Chapters: 20
Pages per Chapter (on average): 15+
Date Started: Jan. 18-----Date Finished: Jan. 19
My Reading Speed: 156 pages a day, or 10 chapters a day
The Main Characters: Percy Jackson, son of the sea god Poseidon, plus his friends Grover, a satyr, and Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
My Brief Synopsis: Well, this is the third book in this particular series, so people who haven't read the previous 2 probably won't be able to follow. But Thalia, the demigod who used to be the tree guarding Camp Half-Blood, becomes a big character because Annabeth, as well as the goddess Artemis, gets kidnapped by the Titans, so Percy, Thalia and Grover have to go on a quest to save them before the Winter Solstice.
The Conflicts: As usual in this series, there are a bunch of fights and cool, dangerous monsters, if you're into that sort of thing. Luke, a son of Hermes being manipulated by the titan Kronos, is the guy you'd label as the villain. There are also a couple of new demigods, Bianca and Nico di Angelo, who are introduced to the scene. Bianca becomes a Hunter, and both she and her brother have a mysterious past.
My General Comments: I wasn't very sure if I wanted to continue this series at first, but I actually liked this book. It was good and fast-paced, and even after a couple of years of being a hero, Percy still finds something new to learn about being a demigod every once in awhile, therefore allowing us, the readers, to learn as well. That's what I think a good hero should be in this kind of series. Humble, and always learning, never assuming to know everything about his/her world, unlike their arrogant foes.
My Favorite Part: I like the parts where Percy meets an Olympian God or Goddess, to see how these figures of celestial power are described and what their characters are like. When all the gods are together, as in the Winter Solstice meeting and the Olympian party, it's pretty cool.
My Favorite Things About the Book: I enjoy reading about all the allusions to greek mythology. Most of my knowledge about greek gods and stuff I got from the Disney movie Hercules, so it's fascinating learning about all the names and the myths. Pretty smart of Mr. Riordan to fuse that kind of education with these cool adventures.
A Personal Shout Out to Rick Riordan: Kudos to you, Rick. You must've spent hours studying your Greek Mythology literature. You created such a cool and original world, I can almost believe that the gods are still around and kicking.
Here's the link to The Titan's Curse's Wikipedia Article.
Also the series' Wikipedia Article
Below is Rick Riordan's website:
What is your favorite part? If you haven't read this book, sorry for all the spoilers, but you can comment and say if this book review was helpful. If you have read this book, please give me a comment or email me so we can discuss it. This would be the closest I've ever gotten to a book club, you know.

Edit: There's now going to be a movie of the original Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief. Here's a trailer:

1 comment:

J.N. Future Author said...

^.^ I want to read this book someday.

I used to have this book on greek myths. it was HUGE! and it was made for 7th'ish graders, so it wasn't a little kids book, but it was not hard to read either. ^.^ I read that book so many times!

I wonder where it went.....