Title: The
Titan’s Curse
Author: Rick
Riordan
Publisher:
Hyperion Books New York
Publish
date: 2007
ISBN: 978-142310148-2
You can
tell I like this series, as it’s the third one I’ve read in a row. They go down
like sherbet fizz: very quickly.
Another fun
tale. Percy learns the importance of deference and self-sacrifice through the
medium of a rescue-mission for a goddess and uncertainty of whom trust –
including his own impulses.
This author
is extremely good at judging how to mix-and-match characters that offset each
other. Also at the rate at which to introduce those characters. You never have
someone turn up on Page 10 and are never seen again, while someone whom you
haven’t heard hide nor hair of pops up mid-book and takes over the narrative.
There is of course the character of Nico, who appears at first and then only
comes back as a book-end, but that’s his function in this novel: to backstoried,
without being a part of it directly.
The author has
a forte in characterisation, and in balancing differing moods throughout the
narrative. This is a large portion of the reason that the narrative runs along
at such a brisk pace. The reader is never bogged down in the same slurry of
mood for long, nor do they have to wallow in endless examination of one mood of
one character. Light, deft brushstrokes with a very generous amount of
good-natured humour. Never goes amiss. Not to say that the narratives lack
emotional input. It’s simply not laboured.
By this
third in the series, the ease with which the backstory so fat is acknowledged is
accomplished with greater ease. It feels a bit more self-confident. Not
apologetic, just light.
In sum,
another great romp, with admirable skill. What’s to detract? Five out of five
moose-hoofs up.
