When Annabeth and Artemis are kidnapped Percy and the campers at Camp Half-Blood team with the Hunters to find the two young women. The story starts six months after The Sea of Monsters when Grover finds two strong demi-gods at a school in the Northeast: Bianca and Nico di Angelo. They discover that the vice-principal is a Manticore and interested in the two demi-gods.
Percy attempts to stop the Manticore from kidnapping the di Angelo children and is poisoned by one of his scorpion thorns. He is too weak to fight and is brought along with the demi-god children to the edge of a cliff where the Manticore's allies plan to collect them. Percy sends a message through his empathy link to Grover and the satyr comes to the rescue with Annabeth and Thalia.
Suddenly silver arrows rain down on the Manticore and the Hunters of Artemis reveal themselves. The part-human-lion-scorpion monster attacks Percy and Thalia and Annabeth attacks him with her knife. The two fall off the cliff. Artemis appears and reveals plans to hunt a monster capable of killing the gods. She sends her hunters to Camp Half-Blood while she hunts and Thalia joins the crew leaving her brother in the care of Camp Half-Blood. When they return to camp Thalia and Percy are forbidden from rescuing Annabeth.
After Chiron announces the camp would play Capture the Flag with the Hunters the campers scatter to prepare. Percy goes to the Oracle with a dream of Annabeth holding up the sky in the place of Atlas. The Oracle doesn't respond, but later goes to the Captain of the Hunters--she never leaves the Big House. It is determined Thalia, Bianca and several other members of the assembled groups will quest to save Artemis and Annabeth.
Percy is kept at Camp Half-Blood, until a dream reveals Artemis has taken Annabeth's place and the questers only have until the Winter Solstice to rescue them. He wakes to find Blackjack (a pegasus) in his cabin asking him to rescue a sea-cow whom Percy names Bessie. To stop Nico from following, and to further his own goals, Percy takes off on Blackjack to follow the quest.
The quest encounters skeletal soldiers created from dragon's teeth, dirt, and blood; the Nemian lion; Apollo; the Erymanthian Boar; skeletal soldiers again; and Talos, a mechanical monster that Bianca defeats but that kills her when it lands on electrical lines. All the while they are moving westward and arrive at Hoover Dam to discover a girl who can see through the mist: Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Rachel helps Percy escape the skeletal soldiers and meet his friends, and the group escapes.
In San Francisco Percy wrestles Nerus, the old man of the sea, and discovers Bessie is the creature Artemis searches for. With help from Dionysus and Posiedon they manage to get the sea-cow back to Camp Half-Blood. The troupe continues to where the earth meets the sky on Mt Tam to rescue Annabeth and Artemis. Percy fulfills his part of the prophecy and the demi-gods trick Atlas back into his prison between earth and sky. After a meeting with the gods on Olympus the heroes return home to Camp Half-Blood.
Riordan's take on Greek Mythology in the modern world is fascinating, not only in how he interprets the creatures of the past into today's terms and technology, but in how he brings the characters to life with his stories. Percy's destiny still looms before him and his friends are but a single battle from being taken from him, but the son of Poseidon fights for the continuation of his world. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stand up for each other and defy both fate and authority to protect their friendship. The Titan's Curse is aimed at older elementary readers and may be enjoyed by readers of all ages.
No comments:
Post a Comment