The Battle of the Labyrinth

Speedy introductions of familiar and new characters and previous plot summaries may briefly confuse a new listener, but fans will savor them. It's not long before Percy Jackson, half-god son of Poseidon and a mortal mom, learns of his fourth mission: searching the Labyrinth for a way to stop Kronos's plan to unite the evil forces of the underworld. Jesse Bernstein is on target whether he's narrating blow-by-blow accounts of Percy's sword fights or inventing cameos for various other characters: Hephaestus, who repairs a Toyota; an aged Daedalus; and Grover, Percy's slow-witted sidekick. Bernstein is just as skillful at wringing humor from the witty dialogue and from the contrasts between the modern and ancient worlds. In Percy's world a half-god can summon the dead with McDonald's Happy Meals. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 14, 2008
Percy Jackson’s fourth summer at Camp Half-Blood is much like his previous three—high-octane clashes with dark forces, laced with hip humor and drama. Opening with a line for the ages—“The last thing I wanted to do on my summer break was blow up another school”—this penultimate series installment finds Percy, Annabeth and the satyr Grover furiously working to prevent former camp counselor Luke from resurrecting the Titan lord Kronos, whose goal is to overthrow the gods. When the heroes learn that Luke can breach Camp Half-Blood’s security through an exit from Daedalus’s Labyrinth, they enter the maze in search of the inventor and a way to stop the invasion. Along the way they encounter a lifetime supply of nightmare-inducing, richly imagined monsters. Grover’s own quest to find the lost god Pan, meanwhile, provides a subtle environmental message. Percy, nearly 15, has girl trouble, having become something of a chick magnet. One of Riordan’s strengths is the wry interplay between the real and the surreal. When the heroes find Hephaestus, for instance, he’s repairing a Toyota, wearing overalls with his name embroidered over the chest pocket. The wit, rousing swordplay and breakneck pace will once again keep kids hooked. Ages 10-up.