The Titan’s Curse is the 3rd installment in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians fantasy book series by Rick Riordan. This review is spoiler-free for those who have already read the previous books. However for those who have not yet read the series, I suggest reading my review for The Lightning Thief (Book 1) instead.
Percy Jackson - The Titan's Curse (My Paperback Copy)
I was barely 10 pages into Titan’s Curse when I decided that I loved the book. I thought it was funnier and more hilarious than the previous two but little did I know, this was gonna be my least favorite of the Percy Jackson series (so far).
Just like Sea of Monsters, Titan’s Curse also gives brief recaps of the events from the prior books which is really helpful for someone like me who reads a single book over the span of several weeks. 
In this third part of the series, Percy’s goat friend Grover finds two new powerful half-bloods/demigods. Naturally, Percy and his friends are tasked to get them to the safety of Camp Half-Blood before the monsters capture them. Team Half-Blood does get new members but it also loses some along the way, including one of the original trio and here lies my biggest problem with this book.
Many new characters are introduced here. The hunters of Artemis were successful in getting into my nerves (poor Percy) while Apollo is one heck of an odd but fun character. We finally get to know all the Olympian gods and instead of a trio we now get 5 main adventurers.
Riordan took a risk by deviating from the original format of centering the adventures around the Percy-Annabeth-Grover trio and the book really suffered from it. I missed the original trio. There was just too many new characters here for the main events. There are deaths but I hardly cared about them. The new characters just weren’t developed enough.
Indeed, Titan’s Curse is the funniest of the three Percy Jackson books I’ve read so far. I like how in supposedly serious discussions, some characters still manage to squeeze in some joke or funny line. The dance in the beginning is also one of my favorite parts here. Subtle hints of romance are preferable, thank you. I’m fast becoming a Percy+Annabeth shipper. 
Aside from those few points, I didn’t find much to like in this book to mark it as a favorite. I didn’t like how dreams were used too much here. Another dream?! Seriously, it’s getting old, repetitive and thus uncreative. And then there’s the titular curse a.k.a. prophecy.
The prophecy thing was poorly executed. It felt forced and didn’t really sound like a compelling prophecy. I hate how things have to be explained that this event was this part of the prophecy instead of making the reader decipher it. The characters themselves didn’t even seem like they were particularly concerned about the prophecy. The only times the prophecy was mentioned was when they needed to justify why this or that thing happened.
I don’t know if it’s just because I hate the idea of prophecies in novels but the one here in Titan’s Curse was just lame. It felt as if the author first came up with the idea of thinking up some cryptic prophecy then decided that the adventures will revolve around that. That would have been fine but the problem is the prophecy itself which is boring and unconvincing.
And lastly, I hated how Percy almost always has the solution. It’s like he just magically comes up with an idea at the last second. I never got the impression in the previous books that Percy was that bright of a kid. The book tricks you into thinking that all hope is lost then suddenly Percy does something extraordinary so all is well, at least for a while. This happens way too many times in this book that I couldn’t help but roll my eyes after the nth time! Many of the conflicts and resolutions simply felt too contrived.
Granted that the first two books also didn’t exactly have complex plots, at least it felt like things made more sense in them. I had more “huh?” and “wtf” moments while reading this third installment. Titan’s Curse just feels like a mishmash of action-packed adventures having the sole purpose of proving a prophecy.
UK edition cover looks disturbingly similar to the 3rd book of another series... Buckbeak?!
The Titan’s Curse started really well in the first few pages but quickly turns into something very different towards the middle. Fortunately, it ends quite nicely just like the previous two books with a yet another surprising twist. This is the only thing that redeemed this book for me not to deem it a complete disappointment.
I really enjoyed reading books 1 and 2 and I simply didn’t expect to get slightly disappointed by part 3. I can only hope that the last two books are better than this.
Read other reviews and purchase The Titan’s Curse at Amazon.com
I have just finished reading the series and I think that they are the best books that I have ever read! This series made me really like the greek myths of gods and heroes. There are also two books in the Heroes of Olympus series (also by Rick Riordan) out now, so get reading!
i had percy and the olympians stashed and filed under my “to read” list for sometime. i finally got around to doing it. AND I LOVED IT! … i just started reading last week and now i’m already in book 5.. call me sponge but the greek myths have always held a special space in my heart… kudos to riordan.. i do hope the film (will be released in february this year) will do the book justice..
enjoy reading!
Me too, Arianne. I loved Greek myths even when I was still a kid. I remember getting so engrossed by Edith Hamilton’s Mythology book.
About the film, as much as I hate to say this, I think it won’t do the book enough justice. Just being realistic here.
what the…???
you guy’s are CRUEL!!
you dont know how to appreciate books!!
Hi Miguel. Sorry if I came across like a hater in the review. But I assure you that you won’t see anyone else more appreciative of books than book bloggers.
I really need to start reading the first book of this series soon!
Please do! I’d like to read what you think of it. I’m afraid that in this blog I’m just overhyping this book and I’m the only one who sees it’s good.
Patrick, is this book the last of the series? If not, would you know how many more books the author has intended to write? I really want to read the first book, The Lightning Thief; although my wariness of series books has just kicked in. I hope this is just a trilogy.
There’s actually five books in this series. For once, I’m happy that it’s not just a trilogy. The storyline’s good and the characters are so likeable it would have been sad only to have them in 3 books.
Hi, Patrick! Wouldn’t you know it–I’m also at Book 3 of the Percy Jackson series! It was one of the last few books I finished last year. One of my close friends ranks it as his favorite among the five, but for some reason, I liked book 2 better. I’m waiting for the new shipment of books 4 and 5 at Fully Booked. Last I checked, they ran out of copies.
Enjoyed your review!
Yay! Book 2 has been my favorite too so far. Still don’t know yet if 4 or 5 could beat it in its overall awesomeness! Well I hope they do. This series better end great.
I haven’t been to the “normal” bookstores for a while. Are they really always out of stock? Oh man…
Darn it! Now I want to complete this series. Perhaps Percy’s “bright ideas” were a result of his dyslexia? But I can only speculate as I’ve yet to get the first book this month.
I think all the half-bloods have some sort of abnormality too and I can assure you not all of them are that bright.
I suggest you read book 1 before the movie is released. Or else, you’ll be picturing the scenes according to how the movie showed them which 90% of the time is really bad.