The Titan's Curse: Rick Riordan

I am loving this series! Rick Riordan has created a cast of characters who are real and relatable, adventures that are exciting and inventive, and language that is readable. As much as I love Harry Potter, Percy Jackson strikes me as far more average. He's dyslexic, slightly ADHD, and he has trouble relating to girls.

This third volume in the series presents problems specific to the latter of Percy's realistic traits. As his feelings for Annabeth grow, he is confronted with a new crisis involving the goddess Artemis and her pack of girl Hunters. Artemis and her hunters are perpetual adolescents who have sworn off boys, which poses a real problem when Percy is thrown in with them on a quest to save Annabeth.

In The Titan's Curse, Percy is forced to face more serious emotional and mental battles. Is he the one who will fulfill the prophecy that has the potential to bring down all of Olympus? As his relationship with his father improves at a snail's pace, Percy is given the chance to see how terrible an Olympian parent can be. How is he going to protect Camp Half-Blood against some of the most evil gods and monsters in the world? And as an unpleasant new twist, Percy must now also convince Athena that he will not be responsible for the downfall of Olympus. As Annabeth's mother, Athena is suspicious of Percy and his involvement with her daughter.

The series is going along at a fast pace, and I'm really enjoying it. I only hope that Riordan has the foresight to keep the characters in the forefront, opposed to Rowling's decision to progressively make the stories about the battles, leaving our beloved characters to fall flat.