The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan is the 3rd book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
So far, what has impressed me the most is that the books in this series are equally good. I liked The Titan’s Curse as much as Sea of Monsters. Despite the fact that Riordan relies on a predictable formula that kids love – Percy Jackson and friends face monsters and (usually) win! – he does it very well. I think another major factor in keeping the series fresh is that although many characters are in multiple books, there are always new characters to keep you guessing and interested.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Some slow dancing. We meet Artemis and her band of Hunters. Any girl can join so long as she permanently rejects romantic love and will forever remain unmarried and a maiden. Thalia says that Apollo is “hot”. Artemis warns Apollo not to flirt with her hunters or call them sweetheart. Aphrodite tells Percy to follow his heart. Angel statues start to tell about their time with lady statues but one of them remembers that Percy & his friends are just kids.
Profanity – “Oh my Gods”, “jerk”, “dam” and yes, I know the swear isn’t spelled that way, but everyone’s at the Hoover dam and they keep joking around about the “dam” french fries or “dam” t-shirts. It’s a pretty cheap way to get around actual swearing.
Death, Violence and Gore –As with the other books, the book is a series of battles. I feel a bit guilty not enumerating the actual acts of violence, but I feel like I’d be typing the books word for word in certain sections. The battles for the most part aren’t overwhelmingly scary. Riordan has the reader’s trust that horrible things won’t happen. There are of course a host of new! scary! creatures to battles. Highlights include the Nemean lion, a robot warrior and some skeleton warriors that are armed with guns. Percy dismembers these skeletons but they just reassemble. I don’t want to give anything away, but not everyone makes it through this one unscathed. But as I mentioned before, Riordan has the trust of his readers, so don’t expect him to break your heart.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Dionysus, god of wine is still camp director. Thalia’s mother died in a drunk driving accident. Percy’s mom drinks wine.
Frightening or Intense Things – Mostly the battle stuff listed above, and of course, that creepy dead mummy thing that is the oracle is still creepy.
Still love these books. I’d be reading along and be introduced to a character and quickly remember the myth associated with him/her and laugh at the twist that Riordan put on them. FYI, he has a new series that takes on Egyptian myths- very, very similar to both the Percy Jackson series and The Alchemist series. Both good though, if you’re into that sort of thing. Which I am.