The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, #3
Source: Bought
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: April 8, 2008

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...

I'm going to come right out and say that The Titan's Curse was probably my least favorite of the series. I think I have a little something called "third book syndrome" because the third is always my least favorite. I mean, it would make perfect sense. I skipped the "second book syndrome" gene... I got something much worse. But enough about me and my genes.

We came here to talk about the book, so I'll begin. Probably my biggest problem with this one was that there was no precursor. I felt like the beginning was lacking - just thrown into a secret mission I know nothing about? Jeez, I'm confused now. All of the others at least had some hint of what was going on. Not to mention the fact that Annabeth goes missing about a chapter in... and Percy without Annabeth? Well, he's a little bit off. I think that Annabeth really balances Percy out, so without her around to mediate, he was kind of... impetuous, but also... a bit sad.

And I just missed Annabeth - she's a big part of the books for me, so with out her there it kind of fell apart. I did like the introduction of new characters, though. Nico, Bianca and Thalia all have a great part to play, and each has a distinctly different personality. I enjoyed Thalia's fiery attitude and headstrong ways; a few times I was even sure that her and Percy were going to outright battle over something!

There were several unexpected twists, and a few expected ones. I had my suspicions about Bianca and Nico - it turns out that in the end, I was right. All in all, The Titan's Curse is my least favorite of all the Percy books, but obviously it holds information that is important to me.