Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Titan’s Curse – Final Thoughts

Still thinkin’ Bianca’s alive…

So at last I bid a fond farewell to The Titan’s Curse. Though this one also took me the longest to blog my way through, that’s nothing to do with my enjoyment of it. In fact, this is my favorite of the series so far. Things got complex, stakes got higher, and save for my dislike of the junkyard, I enjoyed everywhere the plot and characters went. I’m eager to see how book 4 measures up.

But first, let’s look over my flailing attempts at predicting the book before I cracked the cover!

• At some point, Grover will turn up at the perfect time to rescue someone. (I’m recycling predictions!)
  Well, sort of? He’s the one who got Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia to come rescue Bianca and Nico, and he was instrumental in getting Bessie away…but I don’t know if that’s close enough to the prediction for me to get credit. Judges?
• Zeus will make a brief cameo.
  Longer than a cameo! A small part? A long cameo? No points for me on this one, in either case. But I’m cool with that.
• Percy will get a message from Hermes, but we won’t actually see the god in this one.
  Wrong on both counts, aren’t I? I don’t actually remember for sure that he didn’t get a message from Hermes, but I know we saw him at the Solstice.
• We’ll meet Apollo, and he’ll have the biggest part of all the gods in this book. (Okay, so I really just want to see Apollo.)
  Woohoo! I’m giving myself points for this one, though Artemis pretty much ties with him, and is more integral to the plot. Darn those competitive twin rivalries!
• The fact that one of the nine Muses is also named Thalia won’t be mentioned.
  Yep! (Though I guess this sort of prediction is only one step above things like, “Gluten-free donuts won’t be mentioned.”
• Clarisse will get along with Thalia better than she gets along with most people.
  Given Clarisse’s absence from most of the book until after Thalia already left, I guess we’ll never know. …Then again, that means they didn’t fight with each other, so, technically…
• Thalia and Annabeth will not get along at all, until the end of the book.
  This would’ve been far more accurate if it were “Thalia and Zöe.”
• “Mr. D.” will get some character development.
  I’d say this is a yes. At least, his means of helping Percy et al. against the manticore was both a fun sequence to read and made me think a little better of the guy. So I’m countin’ it!
• And let’s go for a hail-Mary pass on this one: Before the end of the book, one Olympian god will DIE.
  And as with most hail-Mary passes, no dice. (Woohoo! Mixed metaphor!)

Not batting 1000 by any means, but I could’ve done worse, right? And now here’s my chance, as I make my predictions for book 4, The Battle of the Labyrinth:

First, here’s what I know:

• The book is called The Battle of the Labyrinth.
• That’s pretty much it.

And my guesses:

• There’s going to be a labyrinth (that’s not a prediction), and so the minotaur Percy killed will be back. You can’t have a labyrinth without a minotaur, it’s a union rule! His rapid return will be explained as a side-effect of the monsters rising.
• What Grover thinks is Pan will actually turn out to be a trick of Kronos, trying to play to Grover’s weakness.
• Tyson will have a medium-sized part.
• Nico will get over his anger with Percy before the end of the book, but not before it gets him (and everyone else) into some major trouble.
• Bianca will be revealed to be alive.
• The reason why Luke survived his plummet will be revealed.
• Bessie will be mentioned, but not seen.
• Hera will have the largest role of all the gods & goddesses in this one. (Shot in the dark here.)

So there we go. I’ll be snagging a copy of the book soon, coming up with a new graphic in its honor, and, plunging ahead just as soon as I can!