The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

The Labyrinth is constantly shifting and attempting to kill its inhabitants. The Labyrinth connects many locations different locations on Earth and time can run differently within, making a few minutes in the Labyrinth an hour in the outside world or even a couple of days traveling turn into several days in the outside world. Over the centuries, it expands all over the planet, honeycombing beneath the planet's surface like an invasive root system. The Mark of Athena is a classic Riordan novel about quests, friendship, laughter, determination, culture, and how the differences between characters become their greatest strengths.The Labyrinth is a self-aware, self-expanding maze with a malevolent consciousness given to it by Daedalus against the warnings of Apollo. Tensions are high and fights are had, yet there is also a feeling of unanimous excitement and determination that this ragtag team will succeed in their mission, no matter what.

The Mark of Athena also continues the epic journey our heroes took to Alaska and Canada in the previous Heroes of Olympus books, but here the idea of “going to new places” is taken to another level, as their quest takes them to the original seats of the gods in Italy and Greece. Given the stakes of the looming fight against Gaia, this is a deeply important undertaking. In this book, we see the Greek and Roman demigods together for the first time on a joint quest to both save the world and locate the Athena Parthenos, an ancient relic the daughters of Athena have long been searching for. The third Heroes of Olympus novel takes the top spot for its (literal) cliffhanger ending alone book readers will know exactly what I’m referring to, and those of us who had to wait for The House of Hades to come out will remember the pain we felt. With such an exciting physical setting, the plot of The Battle of the Labyrinth is a fast-paced and enjoyable read, with our heroes facing dangers they have never seen before and using their wits to navigate the chaotic, ever-changing environment. Time and distance don’t mean the same thing in the Labyrinth as they do in the world above 20 minutes in the Labyrinth could take you from the West Coast of the U.S. It can be entered through multiple hidden doorways. In the modern day, the Labyrinth grows by itself and sits directly underneath North America. That requires navigating the Labyrinth, an ancient, expansive maze. Our heroes find themselves on another quest to find both Pan (the god of the wild) and Daedalus. That said, I think The Battle of the Labyrinth deserves this placement. I will openly admit that the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur is one of my favorites, so I have a personal bias in favor of this novel. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan