The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Might contain spoilers.
The saddest of the books so far. My heart goes out to Mrs. O’Leary, even though we only just met her. While I’m glad she unofficially joins Camp Half-Blood, meeting campers whenever they’re around and come to see her is hardly the same as living with Daedalus—a fascinating and compelling character, incidentally.
I’m not sure how I feel about the Rachel and Percy digression.[1] It’s logical for there to be some conflict between Percy and Annabeth, and it doesn’t feel gratuitous, yet it doesn’t quite seem necessary either. I also don’t understand Hera’s visit in the Labyrinth. It doesn’t seem to accomplish anything in the narrative except for her to appear in the story. In fact, it put me in mind of the stark difference between the vacuous Aphrodite & socialite Hera of this series and the important characters of Venus & Juno in the next one.
The Calypso episode is over rather quickly, which is just as well. Her lack of character makes this first appearance a bit irritating—all that distinguishes her is a vague sadness unjustified by the time spent with her. I can’t believe there’s a whole (eponymous) battle after Percy leaves her island. I knew it was yet to come, but I thought the book was finished!
- I don’t know what else it can be called.↩