Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, #4)

by Rick Riordan

[CrowNoYami]

So much happens in this book that I don't even know where to start.

As with the other books in the series so far, the pacing is amazing. How Rick Riordan manages to fit so much into less than 400 pages, I don't know. There's everything we've come to expect in a Percy Jackson book. Monsters, fighting, nearly dying, some love-triangle, and children's choices impact the entire world.

What changes is the tone. While the other three novels are clearly geared toward middle-grade, I can't say the same can be said for this one. Unlike Books 1-3, the carefree nature of Percy doesn't resound as innocent as before. As he's getting older (15 at the end of the book), we start to see what is beyond the vale of childhood.

I'm not going to lie. Some of the scenes made me think that this was at least a YA, not middle-grade, as it deals with death and actually 'seeing' an innocent die. Several of them, in fact. It makes sense as Percy gets older since this is being told from his perspective that things become more serious and bring to light just what kind of danger he and the rest of the world is in.

However, I do want to warn you that there is death and the death of children in this book.

That being said the overall story is amazing and brings you right into the world. You -care- about the characters, even the ones who you barely know and you want the heroes to succeed. I can't wait to see what happens in book 5 (and the last in this collection), to find out how things get wrapped up (or if they do) before diving into the next set!