The third book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Titan’s Curse, begins during winter break of Percy’s seventh grade year. He, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia are trying to help two newly discovered demigods get to Camp Half-Blood. However, in the attempt, a monster takes Annabeth captive. Desperate, Percy and his friends team up with the Hunters of Artemis to save her—and to stop a Titan from rising.

By this book, Percy is more secure in his abilities, but with rising tensions among the gods and war on the horizon, he’s still scared—an aspect of his personality that adds depth. He is a hero, but one with doubts, and compared to the heroes from Greek mythology, this is refreshing.

Annabeth and Grover continue to be excellent teammates for Percy, as well as having their own significant, well-written character arcs. Our new characters—Thalia, Zoë, Bianca, and Nico—are fantastic. Their interplay with each other and with our familiar crew is wonderful. And the appearance of several notable mythological figures was a delight to see.

My favorite new character, though, is Nico. He is a sweet child, but goes through a lot in this book. His story arc makes me FEEL things. And he promises to be a significant character in the later books, which I love.

On the other hand, Artemis’ characterization is not my favorite. She’s an aggressive misandrist, which I found tedious in that it’s rather one-note. On the other hand, I appreciate seeing Percy still treat her with respect even though he does not precisely see eye-to-eye with her worldview. It’s satisfyingly mature of him. And reading about the strong sisterhood her Hunters form with one another was great.

In the end, this is a solidly entertaining middle installment in this five-book series. The stakes are steadily intensifying, and Percy and his friends continue to be a fabulous team. This is an excellent book—funny, exciting, and clever.

Overall rating: 8.5/10