Review Detail

Reader reviewed by big-brain

Percy Jackson has been invited to Goode High. While at the freshmen orientation Percy has a run in with Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the mysterious mortal he met the previous winter at the Hoover Dam who can see through the Mist, and two demonic cheerleaders, the empousai. He's able to defeat one of the empousai, but the other, Kelli, escapes, but not before she sets the school on fire. With Rachel's help, he's able to get out of the school and runs into Annabeth, fellow demigod, and daughter of Athena. They were supposed to have a "date", but with the sudden interruption of the empousai and Rachel, their afternoon together is canceled and they head for camp.

On their arrival, Percy discovers Dionysus' absence and he attends Grover Underwood's hearing with the Council of Cloven Elders, who feel that they should revoke his searcher's license since he has found no evidence of Pan after six months of claiming to hear him. In attendance, is also Grover's girlfriend, Juniper, a dryad. They give him one week to find proof of Pan's existence. Percy also meets the new swordsman trainer, Quintus, an adult half-blood and his gigantic hellhound pet, Mrs. O'Leary.

As Luke's forces are gathering and plan to invade Camp Half-Blood, the demigods begin preparations. While playing a deadly game with giant scorpions, Percy and Annabeth discover an entrance into the dangerous Labyrinth.
Annabeth is chosen to the lead the quest to find the workshop of Daedalus, inventor of the Labyrinth and holder of Ariadne's string, and consult the Oracle. She's vague about the last line of the prophecy and breaks the rules by allowing three questers, Percy, Tyson, and Grover to come with her instead of two. Percy receives a mysterious Iris message that shows Nico talking to a ghost adviser, who turns out to be King Minos, and raising the dead by using cheeseburgers and soda to get answers to find a way to get a soul for a soul. Before descending into the Labyrinth, Quintus gives Percy a dog whistle, that when blown, will summon Mrs. O'Leary to him whenever he is trouble.

Once in the Labyrinth, they immediately get lost and don't know which way to turn. They meet Janus, the two-faced god of choices, and Hera, Queen of Heaven and the goddess of marriage. She guides them and tells them to seek out Hephaestus, who might have kept track of Daedalus≤ over the ages. Nico summons Bianca's spirit, who lets him know that Percy wasn't to blame for her death. Nico decides to remain behind at the ranch, while the others continue.

As they continue their quest to find Hephaestus, they come across the Sphinx, who upsets Annabeth by not having more challenging riddles, instead of just fact questions. They escape the grasp of the Sphinx and discover Hephaestus in one of his forges fixing a Toyota. He tells them that he'll help them find them find Daedalus if they found out whose been using his forge at Mount St. Helens. They agree, but split up along the way when Grover gets a scent of Pan. Tyson decides to go with him, leaving Percy and Annabeth to head to the forge. They discover telekhines, called sea demons, there, making a weapon for Kronos. Percy tells Annabeth to escape while she can, and she kisses him for good luck and departs to report back to Hephaestus.

The telekhines discover Percy and injure him by throwing lava on him. Percy summons all his powers to get rid of the lava and the telekhines, and ends up causing Mount St. Helens to erupt. He is then sent while unconcious to Calypso's island by Hera. Hephaestus arrives and tells him what he wants to know about Daedalus and what he'll need to guide him through the Labyrinth: Rachel. He leaves Calypso's island and heads for camp. He and Annabeth go looking for Rachel and finds her in Manhattan.

Together, they descend into the Labyrinth again, this time with Rachel as their guide, whose eyes are harder to fool since she can see directly through the Mist. They run across an underground arena being used to entertain, a giant son of Poseidon, Antaeus and Luke. Percy duels against a half-blood named Ethan Nakamura, who he spares in the battle.He then challenges Antaeus to battle and successfully kills him. The monsters begin to overwhelm them and he calls Mrs. O'Leary by use of the dog whistle to help them out. They escape and finally find their way to Daedalus' workshop to discover Daedalus is actually Quintus. Daedalus has built five bodies for himself over the millennium, by casting his soul into the humanoid automatons. Monsters attack again in his workshop, led by Kelli who has taken Nico captive. He had left the Labyrinth, but he was advised by Minos to return because Minos said Percy and Annabeth would be in danger. It is a trick , because Minos wants revenge on Daedalus for his treachery and giving the daughters of a rival king the tools to kill him. He reveals that once Nico got the soul, he would use it for himself, and not on Bianca. Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Rachel are able to escape on bronze wings and fly out of Daedalus's workshop, leaving him to battle the monsters with Mrs. O'Leary.

Rachel convinces a chauffeur to drive them into the city due to her wealthy status and she spots another entrance to the Labyrinth in a museum. Once in the Labyrinth, they come across a tunnel that leads to Mount Tam and the palace of Kronos. Percy can't help but check it out and discovers the telekhines from Hephaestus' forge have finished the new weapon for the Lord of Time, the scythe.Percy opens the coffin to discover Luke,who looks dead. Ethan,son of Nemesis(a minor god), enters with the telekhines and pledges his allegiance to Kronos. This is the last person Kronos needs to be complete, and he is resurrected in the form of Luke's body. Percy and his friends barely escape, and Nico uses his powers to cause the ceiling of the palace to cave in.

They continue on their journey back to New York and begin to sense something ancient and powerful in another tunnel. They find Tyson and Grover, and discover the lost god Pan in a crystal cavern. He wants Grover to tell the world he has died, since his kingdom has faded and that his spirit shall live inside all of them. He leaves Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel cryptic messages about their futures. Pan then dies and the crystal cavern vanishes along with its wonders. They then return to Camp, where Luke's forces have begun the invasion. They're able to beat them back, but have a few causalities. After the battle, Daedalus, by order of himself, is killed by Nico to destroy the Labyrinth.

The Council of Cloven Elders decide that Grover should be exiled and that the search for Pan should continue, but Dionysus returns and outvotes them. Percy hears the last line of Annabeth's prophecy and is upset to hear that And lose a love to worse than death, wasn't about him as she had thought, but Luke. She decides to stay at camp a while and Percy heads home to celebrate his fifteenth birthday with his mom, Paul Blofis, and Tyson. He gets a surprise visitor in the form of Poseidon, who gives him a sand dollar as a birthday gift. He also gives him a warning that ancient forces are stirring, the great monster Typhon is stirring from his imprisonment under Mount St. Helens due to the Titans rising and Percy's outburst.
I recommend this book for kids ages 10 and up. In my opinion, it is the best book of the year! it is frickin' awesome!!!!!