The Battle of the Labryinth, (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4)
by Rick Riordan

*Caution: This review contains mild spoilers.

I think this might have been my favorite Percy Jackson book so far! Percy’s adventures kick into high-gear right off the bat in this fourth installment of the Olympians series, and the stakes are higher than ever. When Rachel Elizabeth Dare (whom we met in book 3) and a few demons show up for Orientation Day at Percy’s new school, he knows something bad is about to happen. Then he arrives back at Camp Half-Blood to learn that Grover is on trial, and an army of monsters is preparing to invade camp. When they discover an entrance to the Labyrinth that poses a threat to the entire camp, Annabeth finally gets her chance to lead a Quest and Percy, Tyson and Grover accompany her in what proves to be one of their most dangerous adventures yet!

The action is non-stop in The Battle of the Labyrinth, with plenty of scary new monsters and more life-threatening situations than ever before. A variety of interesting new characters adds to the already great cast in the Percy Jackson series. Throughout the book Riordan stays one step ahead of the reader, ensuring that you’re never quite sure who to trust or what will happen next. And just when you think the action is all over for this installment, there’s a bit more to The Battle of the Labyrinth that sets up the fifth (and final) book perfectly.

Happy news for fans of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series! It seems we no longer have to be sad that the original series has ended because a new spin-off series is in the works! According to the author Heroes of Olympus will be a five-book series. The new series is set in Percy Jackson’s world and Percy has an important role to play, but a new cast of main characters will take center stage this time around. The first book will be called The Lost Hero and is set to be released on October 12, 2010.

Here’s a brief description of the first new book from Amazon.com:

Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she’s his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids.” What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea—except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he’s in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn’t recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all—including Leo—related to a god.

Rick Riordan, the best-selling author of the Percy Jackson series, pumps up the action and suspense in The Lost Hero, the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series.  Fans of demi-gods, prophesies, and quests will be left breathless–and panting for Book Two.

I already have a guess as to what Percy’s involvement might be, but it’s far too soon to start speculating. I’m just happy to hear there will be more Olympian and Half-blood stories. And this means I can go ahead and read books 4 and 5 of the Olympians series which I’ve been saving.

Have you read the Percy Jackson books? Are you happy to hear that there will be more Olympians stories? Will you read this new series?

I’m off on a little vacation tomorrow and like any bookaholic, selecting the books I’ll be taking with me is an important part of the packing process!  For the most part it’s easy – I just pack my Sony e-reader with a good selection of books on it and I’m set! But, for the actual air-travel portion of the trip I like to have a ‘plane-book’ with me.

What is a plane-book you ask?  Well, basically it’s a small, light-read book. Physically small and light so it’s easy to stash, read and hold while I’m juggling an armload of other stuff. With all the line-ups and waiting involved with flying, I like to be able to pull my book out and read in line, and don’t want to lug around anything too heavy. And I always pick something fluffy and easy to read because I find air travel very stressful, and you’re interrupted so often that I can’t get into anything too involved. I opt for a physical book because they don’t tell you to turn it off during the no electronics portion of the flight, and there’s no flicking it off and on when you’re reading for a minute here and there in between security checks.

My ‘plane-book’ for this trip will be The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3) by Rick Riordan.  It fits all my criteria for a plane-book perfectly!

So, what kind of books do you like to travel with? Do you have preferences for the plane? The pool/beach? Do you bring extra books with you, or just one and buy more along the way if needed?

Happy Friday Book Peeps! A few months back we shared some popular book related wallpapers for our Friday Freebie. At that time I was all about the pretty Fablehaven desktops, but now I’m all wrapped up in the Olympians series so I thought I’d share a new batch of lovely designs that I’ve uncovered.

I’m currently enjoying this shiny Percy Jackson wallpaper, but I’ve also found  a few other nice ones from some of the other books we’ve been talking about here at WAGB. Here are a few to choose from:

• Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians
  (Click on Adventure tab)

• More from Percy Jackson & the Olympians
  

• Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy

• Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies

Have you found any other book-related desktops/wallpapers? Please share them with us in the comments below!

Do you have any favorite books that you’d like to decorate your world with?

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson & the Olympians #2)
by Rick Riordan

It’s the end of another school year and Percy Jackson is looking forward to returning to camp. Except there’s trouble at camp Half-Blood and he’s supposed to steer clear. But when he’s attacked at school, he’s left with no choice but to return to camp in search of answers. Unfortunately trouble is everywhere, and camp is not the safe haven it used to be. When it becomes clear that things are only getting worse, Percy, Annabeth and new addition Tyson embark on another adventure in hopes of setting things right.

As with the first book in the series, The Sea of Monsters is filled with plenty of action, the dialogue is witty and never feels forced, and the characters are layered and likeable. The similarities to the Harry Potter world are far less evident in this second novel in the series, and I found Percy’s adventure in this installment to be filled with surprises.

Although I didn’t love The Sea of Monsters quite as much as I did The Lightning Thief, it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable and fun adventure that progresses Percy’s story along nicely. I can’t wait to get started on The Titan’s Curse, book #3 in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series!

*The Sea of Monsters is book #1 for the What’s in a Name? Challenge

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1)
by Rick Riordan

Let me just say that I adored this book! Set in a world where the Greek Gods still exist (in a manner of speaking), The Lightning Thief tells the tale of 12-year-old Percy Jackson, who after years of being a bad seed, realizes there might be more to his problems than dyslexia and ADD.  Trouble has always seemed to follow Percy wherever he goes, despite how hard he tries to avoid unwanted attention. Then when his mother takes him on a summer vacation, trouble comes for them in a big way. After battling an unbelievable creature, Percy finds himself thrust into a strange world that seems impossible, but just might explain the strange things that keep happening in his life.

I’ve always loved the stories of the Greek gods, and by weaving them into the tale of Percy Jackson, Riordan has created a magnificent world that feels entirely possible because so much of it is familiar to us.  I even spent time learning (or re-learning) the stories of the Gods, because I found it really added to my enjoyment of the book once I was up on the tales that were being referenced. There’s hardly a dull moment in the story, and by doling out bits of information slowly, the author ensures that we’re always wanting more. I really liked all of the characters in The Lightning Thief, and enjoyed learning the back-stories of Annabeth and Grover. I look forward to learning more about Chiron and Dionysus in the coming books.

We’re told at the beginning of the story that Percy is twelve, but I found I had a hard time picturing him as any younger than 16. Which, to me, is a good thing. I love my YA fantasy series, but I don’t like to feel like I’m reading a children’s book, and I believe that The Lightning Thief stands up well as a tale that will appeal to both teens and adults alike.

My one criticism of the story is the glaring similarities to the Harry Potter series. Yet even with the obvious parallels, it somehow doesn’t take much away from this wonderful tale.  It appears the author took the shell of the Potter series – magical land known only to those who are part of it; plucky, unaware young hero; whip-smart girl, and loyal boy to aid him in his adventure; wise, knowing elder to offer advice; and a young nemesis – but then filled it with a new world and new characters. While the framework of the two stories is almost identical, I found the similarities stopped there.  For example the fact that Percy is a young hero who is uneducated about his world and powers makes him similar to Harry, but Percy is often rude and sarcastic and the character is really nothing like Harry.

For those who are fans of the YA fantasy genre, the Percy Jackson series is not to be missed! The Lightning Thief is an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable read that sets up what looks to be a great series. I already have The Sea of Monsters and The Titan’s Curse, the next two books in the series waiting for me, and I can’t wait to dive in!

- The Lightning Thief is book #3 for the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge.

With movies that originate as books being so popular these days, I sometimes find myself buying books because the movie looks good, or seeing movies because I loved the book(s).  I think about this phenomenon often, and it’s fresh on my mind today because I just bought the first three books in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series based almost entirely on the movie trailer!  There were a few other factors involved in the final decision making process, but the original desire to read the books was 100% due to the fantastic trailer which my sister and I saw before the New Moon movie. (Yes, another one I saw because of the book!)

We were both so impressed by the trailer for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief that I was online learning about the movie (and subsequently the books) the next day. Of course I wouldn’t buy a set of books based on only a movie trailer, just like I wouldn’t buy a DVD based only on the movie trailer. But when I started reading reviews they were almost all positive, with many of them mentioning that fans of Harry Potter will likely enjoy these books (yes, we all know about my HP obsession), and then the set of three was only a few dollars more than a single book, so it didn’t make sense to just buy the one.

Have you read the Percy Jackson books? What did you think? And do you buy/read books because of the movie or vice-versa? What was the most recent movie you saw based on a book you had already read? What books have you bought because the movie intrigued you?

We’d love to hear your take! Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below!