The Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan

Facts: I read this in about 2 days. It was published in 2008. It had 360 pages, or 20 chapters. I suppose the chapters don't really matter though. Then again, neither does how long it takes me to finish a book. The only time I'm excited about my reading speed is when I finish a really good book in one day. I'll let you know when that happens.

My Opinion: This Percy Jackson book was a pretty good one. Sometimes it's hard keeping track of so many characters, but I can handle it. I still enjoy reading about all the different Greek legends and gods and monsters. You can unwittingly learn a lot of stuff reading this way. Like the story about Daedalus inventing the labyrinth. You know, I also used to remember the myth about a Greek man and his son escaping a dungeon by making temporary wings with feathers and wax, and the son flew too high so the sun melted the wax and the boy dropped into the sea. I didn't know that that guy was Daedalus too. Some things like that just connected in my brain.

The story was exciting, and from the end I can tell that the final show-down will be in the next book. It has to be. I mean, Percy turned 15 and the prophecy revolves around him turning 16. Plus Kronos is in Luke's body and there's definitely going to be a big Olympian war. Another thing I enjoyed was reading about Percy's kinda messed up love life. Like, he seems to like Annabeth and she must like him, since they've known each other through all the books and saved each other a hundred times. But there's a human who can see through the magical Mist, Rachel, who Percy seems to also have a semi-crush on. It makes me really wonder who he'll end up with when the world is saved and it's all over. Well, hopefully the world will be saved. That's all up to Rick Riordan, though.

I have a feeling that I won't be reading an awful lot this week, since I need to work hard on my SAT studies. So don't expect any book reports until after the 14th. If something does happen to turn up on this book club blog, I sure hope it's a book that Jacoby's read. (Please don't make me do all the work around here.)

*Edit* BTW, Q, I thought of you every time Percy's sword/pen Riptide was mentioned. I'm still confused about how it came to be in your possession. Think you can clear it up for me?

The 39 Clues ~ The Maze of Bones, by Rick Riordan

Facts: I lost track of when I started this book, but I think it only took me around 2 days. It was published in 2008. It's only 220 pages long, with 20 chapters. This is a series that I believe will be written by various authors. I was interested because Rick Riordan wrote the first one. This 39 Clues thing has a whole website for playing games and looking for clues of your own. I'm registered already as FloraSunnair. It's an okay site, but I doubt it's as fun as Jacoby's 100 clues game is going to be. Besides, the prizes and stuff that they apparently hand out (I never believe those things) are only elegible to under 14 year-olds. Maybe Brian or LouMac could try out for winning. Here's the website, if you feel so inclined to join, but before you do you should read the book first.

My Opinions: I like the book a lot better than I like its site. The story is that a grandmother dies and she leaves a sort of treasure hunt for her relatives  in her will. This family is apparently the most powerful family on Earth, with a bunch of famous people distantly related to them. The 39 clues should lead someone or some group to a great treasure or something that will make them have a very strong hold over the human race. Something along those lines.

The main characters are young and smart, so they're my kind of people. Amy and Dan Cahill, 14 and 11 respectively. You know, when I read about some of Amy and Dan's competition, Ian and Natalie Kabra, I was somehow reminded of the rivalry between the characters in the Spy Kids series. Remember in the 2nd, Gary and Gertie Giggles? They were who I thought of when I read about Ian and Natalie. So after that I thought of Amy and Dan as Carmen and Junie. I know, this is all probably confusing if you've never seen Spy Kids, let alone read the 39 Clues. You'd have to have done both to appreciate the comparison.

If you don't care for joining the website, that's completely fine. It's not the kind of site where you make friends. It's a lonely search for the clues. You need to play silly games to get them anyway. But if you'll just read the book, you'll find a neat little clue right in it's pages. Hint: Pay special attention to the page numbers, especially near the end.

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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Titan's_Curse

Also the series' Wikipedia Article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Jackson_and_the_Olympians

Below is Rick Riordan's website:

http://www.rickriordan.com/

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: