Marshmallow reviews Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse (Book 3 of the Percy Jackson Series) by Rick Riordan

Marshmallow has already reviewed books 1 and 2 in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series; you might like to check out her review of The Lightning Thief and her review of The Sea of Monsters before reading further.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you liked some of Rick Riordan’s other books or if you just like Greek mythology, then this might be the book for you. 

Marshmallow’s Summary: Fourteen-year old Percy Jackson is not a normal teenager. He is a demigod, or a half-blood, as they call themselves. In the summer, he attends Camp Half-Blood and trains to survive in the world. (Monsters intent on killing them try to attack the half-bloods so they have to watch out and know how to fight back.)

Percy and his friends, Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace, go to a boarding school where their friend, Grover Underwood, told them that there were two half-bloods. The school is having a party and they see the two half-bloods, Nico and Bianca de Angelo. They need to take them to Camp Half Blood. They meet the school’s vice principal Dr. Thorn, but when they use the Mist on him (Mist is a magical fog that the half bloods use to fool mortals, humans), he seems like he is still suspicious. While Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover are trying to act normal, Percy notices that the other half-bloods are gone. He goes after them and finds that Dr. Thorn is trying to take them away. When Percy tries to stop him, Dr. Thorn reverts back to his original form, a manticore. He forces Percy and the di Angelos towards a cliff where Dr. Thorn’s allies are approaching with a helicopter to take them away. But then Annabeth attacks Dr. Thorn with the help of her hat, which makes her turn invisible when she puts it on.  As they fight, Dr. Thorn jumps off the cliff with Annabeth on his back, because he knows that he will come back. (Monsters in the books always come back once they are killed, but not necessarily immediately.) As the helicopter draws nearer, Artemis’s Hunters come from the woods and attack it. Once the helicopter is driven away, Thalia is very upset that Percy went to stop Dr. Thorn on his own.

When the friends arrive at the Camp, the Oracle, a mummy of the last Oracle of Delphi, announces a new prophecy.  

“Five shall go west, to the goddess in chains, 
One shall be lost in the land without rain, 
The bane of Olympus shows the trail, 
Campers and Hunters combined prevail, 
The Titan’s curse must one withstand, 
And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.”

When Percy is not picked to go on the mission, he sneaks out on his own to do it anyway, using Annabeth’s invisibility hat. What can go wrong?

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a very good book but it probably could be sad and scary for younger children. Annabeth appears dead at the beginning of the book and a couple other deaths occur in the book. Otherwise, it is a great book for people who liked Rick Riordan’s other books or just people who like reading about Greek mythology.

I think that you can relate with many of the characters in the book. Percy’s sadness after he believes Annabeth is dead makes you feel compassionate towards him. I also felt a lot of sympathy towards Nico because I too have a little brother (hi Caramel!).

This book will not make much sense if you have not read the first two. But if you do go ahead and read all three, you won’t be disappointed. These books are good!

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%.