The Covid-19 pandemic has proven to be really productive for me in regards to catch up on old series I haven’t had the chance to read before because I never heard of them when they got published. One of these series is the “Percy Jackson” series by Rick Riordan. The universe this author created is very extended at this point, but I had to start at the start. I read the first two books in respectively 2020 and 2021, but took a very long break afterwards. Now, I decided to squeeze the third book in this series into my reading plans. Was The Titan’s Curse another quick, easy and delightful read?

About the book

The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3
Published by Puffin Books on May 7, 2007
Pages: 294
ISBN: 9780141382890
Genres: Fantasy, Middle-grade

It’s not everyday you find yourself in combat with a half-lion, half-human. But when you’re the son of a Greek god, it happens. And now my friend Annabeth is missing, a goddess is in chains and only five half-blood heroes can join the quest to defeat the doomsday monster.
Oh, and guess what? The Oracle has predicted that not all of us will survive…

My review

Before reading

It has been a long while since I picked up the second book in this series, Percy Jackson & the Sea of Monsters. Even though I enjoyed it, I felt like it’s not a series I need to read back-to-back. These books are aimed towards younger readers and are therefore quick and easy reads for me. However, I didn’t find myself attached to them that much and I never felt the urge to continue reading about the adventures of Percy and his friends and revisiting this universe. It is therefore that I didn’t go into this reading experience with many expectations. It was more than four years ago that I last visited these characters and their world, so would I be able to get back into their story that easily? I expected to have an enjoyable time and to finish the book in quite a short while. The first came true, but the second?

Characters

We are reunited with Percy and his friends Grover, Annabeth and Thalia. Moreover, some new characters are introduced in this novel who all play a key role in this next adventure. Unfortunately, they aren’t elaborated as in depth as I prefer. For this story however, it’s enough. We get to know more about the Gods and Titans and that was quite interesting. However, I got a bit annoyed by the immaturity of the characters. I bought the Dutch ebook box back in 2020, so maybe this might be a translation thing. In this instalment, Percy is already 14 years old, but he doesn’t act his age. His expressions feel quite childish to me. But again, this could be the translation’s doing. It just bugged me, because this definitely influences my reading enjoyment. The other characters were no better. There was a lot of bickering and drama, which is suitable for teens, but to me it felt a bit over the top. I think the target audience will be able to relate to them. Besides Percy being a bit immature in his presence, he is still the hero we know him for. I just missed some character growth here, or it’s this subtle that it’s hardly noticeable.  

Writing

As this is a middle-grade novel, the writing should be accessible and not too difficult. Riordan really succeeds in this. The chapters are short, but action-packed. The chapter titles match the occurring events, which makes them attractive to the target audience. For me, this made this book indeed an easy read I was able to finish quite quickly. However, the writing didn’t suck me in.

Plot

The story picks up a few months after the final events of the previous book. It’s set in the middle of winter, but an emergency forces Percy and his friends to complete a quest and stay at Camp Halfblood for a while. The plot dives more deeply into the Greek mythology and continues on the past events. There’s a war looming and it’s time for Percy and his friends to act and try to lift the Titan’s Curse. As I’m used to from this series by now, the pacing is fast.

The plot contains a lot of action and therefore is pretty attractive to the younger readers. It’s set over the course of a few days, so it definitely needs to be fast paced. For me however, it was a bit too fast paced. Call it my age or reading experience, but I missed some time for the characters to reflect on their actions. I mean there is, but it goes by so quickly. It therefore provides too little time for them to grow because of the mistakes they made.

The world building is again excellent. It’s a fantasy world created within the modern world. The story takes place across multiple US cities this time. We travel from New York to Washington, to a little village in New Mexico, to San Francisco and back to New York. Riordan uses magical and mythological creatures to facilitate this travel. This provides a place for these creatures in the story, combined with some modern technology which speaks to today’s readers. Unfortunately, when looking at the bigger picture, the plot didn’t really intrigue me as much as I’d hoped for. It’s good and action-packed, but I wasn’t fully emersed in it. For me, it was a bit too predictable, and things run too smoothly in the end.

Themes

the most important themes in this book are:

• Friendship – These characters have a strong friendship bond, but their dynamics change as their group changes. They have to learn to navigate around this change.
• Finding your own identity – Especially Percy learns a lot about himself in the final chapters of the book which is very influential to his future. What will happen to him? And why has one of the Gods such a strong opinion about him? Everything is so fresh for him that he truly doesn’t know how to deal with this discovery and therefore we readers don’t know this either.
• Trust – Despite the amount of bickering, the characters have to learn to trust each other, even though Riordan throws some new ones into the mix.

Final thoughts

Overall, I’m glad I read The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan, despite its flaws. Because that this book has its flaws for me may be clear by now. However, for the target audience, this story is great. There are a lot of relatable character moments, the plot is moving fast with short and action-packed chapters and the worldbuilding is excellent. Themes this novel addresses include friendship, discovering your own identity and trust. However, I missed some reflection from these characters, but that might be my age. Although I wasn’t fully intrigued by this book, I had a pleasant reading time. However, I know by now that I probably won’t be reading all the books in this universe. I will finish the books I own, but then I’m not too sure about the rest.