I’ve reviewed the previous three volumes in this series here, here, and here. This volume, obviously the fourth, was released on Tuesday of this week in the U.S., and Barnes and Noble was nice enough to send me a 30% off coupon. Unfortunately, although I purchased it the day it came out (as did a lot of people; I got the second-to-last copy at my store), my schedule did not permit me to post the review of it until today. Anyway, Riordan is a former schoolteacher; these are his only books for younglings.

Percy Jackson is a hero, in that half-Greek-god sort of way. In the previous books, we learned that Kronos, Zeus’s father and Titan, has almost escaped from his prison, and is planning to overthrow the gods. Percy and the other heroes at Camp Half-Blood, along with the gods themselves, have been fighting against his minions for years, and now they must prepare for a full-scale attack on the camp. This means that Percy, along with Annabeth and others, will be sent on their most dangerous quest yet — into the Labyrinth. Can they save the camp and fullfil the prophecy without losing anyone?

There are so many ingenious things about this book. First, the use of Greek mythology — not necessarily that he is using it, but its integration into modern America. The Labyrinth runs under most of America. There’s a monster imprisoned under Mt. St. Helens. Hephaestus has a 1998 Toyota Corolla in his workshop. Second, the specific elements themselves. I liked the ophiotaurus in the last book; in this one, we’ve got flesh-eating horses, cheerleaders who are actually empousae (did they need to be scarier?), automatons of many forms, and sea demons, to name a few. We also get to know a son of Hades a little better, and he’s pretty frightening. His powers are remarkably strong, for one so young.

As the Labyrinth was designed by Daedalus, he plays a large role in this novel, mostly in absentia. We see highlights of his life — when his son Icarus flew too close to the sun; his nephew Perdix, whom he killed; Minos’s riddle, which he solved for Cocalus using an ant to thread a piece of string through a hole in a shell. Annabeth (who is actually his half-sister) almost worships him: she wants to be an architect, and after all, he designed the Labyrinth. His creations surround us, and he is both the key to and the greatest danger in the Labyrinth.

Percy gains a lot in this novel; he discovers that he can call the sea nearly anywhere. This causes some disastrous results, but (obviously) also saves his life, and marks an obvious gain in power. The nascent love affair, hinted at in the previous novel, expands in this volume. They’re all not quite fifteen, so not much happens, but it is entertaining, and also well-done. It’s subtle, although he does mine the “Boys are oblivious” ground quite thoroughly. I’m sure astute readers will know what’s happening long before Percy does.

In any case, it’s a worthy entry into the series. More people die in this volume than in previous volumes; not everything is rainbows and hippocampi, but it’s certainly satisfying. There are some surprising revelations, and I think it actually advances the overarching plot more than the previous volume. The cliffhanger ending, by the way, will have readers clamoring for more. 4/5 stars.