PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS
Third Book
THE TITAN'S CURSE
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Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace, go to Westover Hall in Maine after Grover Underwood discovers two sibling half-bloods named Nico and Bianca di Angelo. They narrowly escape an attack by a manticore named "Dr. Thorn," with some help from Artemis and her hunters, which include Zoë Nightshade. Though they survive the attack, Annabeth is captured by Dr. Thorn.
Percy and his friends must look for Artemis before the winter solstice meeting of the Olympian council, when the goddess's influence could change an important vote on the war with the Titans. Percy joins Thalia, Zoe, Bianca di Angelo, and Grover on their dangerous quest. They also are searching for a rare monster that Artemis was trying to hunt down when she went missing; it is so strong that it can obliterate Olympus. Percy is called by a hippocampus to rescue a marine cow-like creature trapped in the Long Island Sound called the Ophiotaurus, whom Percy names Bessie, not knowing it is male.
Percy is forced to trail slightly behind the rest of the travelers, catching up with them by flying Blackjack, a pegasus he liberated in The Sea of Monsters to Washington, D.C. Along the way, they stop to rest briefly on the ledge of the Chrysler building. Dionysus, director of Camp Half-Blood, appears, ensnaring them in grape vines (see front cover). He explains that he dislikes heroes since they use innocent mortals to get what they want, then hang them out to dry. His now immortal wife, Ariadne, was once one such mortal.
He also spots Dr. Thorn there as well, and follows Dr. Thorn into a private meeting at the National Museum of Natural History, which Percy infiltrates by using Annabeth's invisibility baseball cap. As he watches, Dr. Thorn is severely berated by a man known only as "the General," who uses dinosaur teeth to grow skeleton warriors trained to track down and kill the hunters. Percy races across to the National Air & Space Museum to warn the others, but just as soon as he arrives, the museum is attacked by the Nemean Lion, which they manage to subdue and defeat. When they spot a helicopter following them as they flee, they enter the Washington Metro to throw it off their trail.
Apollo finds them at a freight yard and supplies them with a way to Cloudcroft, New Mexico – hopping into cars on an autorack freight train, which delivers them to Cloudcroft the next day. In Cloudcroft, Grover senses the presence of Pan, the Greek god of nature, and a wild gift from him, the giant Erymanthian Boar, comes to carry them further on to Gila Claw, Arizona. It takes them to the junkyard of the gods, and Percy meets Ares and talks to Aphrodite, at which point it is hinted that Annabeth and Percy will most likely have a romantic future (Aphrodite frequently insists that Percy is deeply in love with Annabeth, despite Percy's denials).
Eventually, the group enters the junkyard, where Bianca tries to steal a statue for her younger brother. She accidentally awakens a prototype of Talos, a giant man of bronze, and dies after being inside the metal giant while it was shocked by telephone poles, but still successfully destroyed it. While being attacked by skeletal warriors at the Hoover Dam, Percy meets Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a mortal girl who can see through the Mist. She saves Percy by confusing the skeletons, allowing Percy and his friends to escape after another ambush by praying to Zeus to animate two angel statues on the terrace, which take them to the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
Per Apollo's advice, Percy seeks out Nereus, All-Knowing Old Man of the Sea. Percy forces him to reveal what the monster that could destroy Olympus is. It's the Ophiotaurus.
Here, they are ambushed by the manticore and some henchmen. The Ophiotaurus is in the water behind Thalia, who Dr. Thorn almost coaxes into sacrificing the innocent creature. This would give her power to destroy the gods. The Giants tried to do this and succeeded in killing the creature, but Zeus sent an Eagle to snatch the entrails before they could be burnt. This seems in place with the much alluded-to Great Prophecy, which says that the next demigod child of Zeus, Poseidon or Hades who reach the age of sixteen will either save the age of the gods or end it. Thalia will turn sixteen the next day. Percy, Zoe, and Grover pull her away, hide from Thorn and friends in a pavilion on the dock, and Iris-message Mr. D. Dionysus reluctantly saves them by killing the manticore and turning his mercs insane. They decide to send the Ophiotaurus to Olympus with Grover, Percy gives the Lion-Skin to his Father as an offering for this.
They go to seek the help of Annabeth's father; who, after a brief discussion, lends them his car. They travel to the Garden of Hesperides, where Zoë meets her sisters and is bitten and poisoned by the dragon Ladon while trying to help Percy and Thalia pass. They continue to the Mountain of Despair on Mount Tamalpais up in Marin County, where Mount Othrys, the Titan capital, is now located. From the top of the mountain where Atlas held up the sky, they see Artemis taking on her burden. Annabeth is held captive by Luke, and has been handcuffed and gagged. Realizing that the prophecy made by the Oracle involves him, Percy takes the burden—the Titan's curse—from Artemis. In the ensuing fight, Annabeth's father helps by flying his Sopwith Camel (a biplane) and shooting celestial bronze encased bullets, and Atlas (the General of the Titans) throws his daughter Zoë, slamming her against the rocks.
Artemis tricks Atlas into taking his burden from Percy. Zoe dies (because of the poisonous bite from Ladon and the impact of the rocks(caused by her father)) and Artemis turns Zoë into a constellation, in memorial to her. During a battle between Thalia and Luke, Luke falls off a cliff and Percy assumes that Luke is dead. Later, Percy is told by Annabeth, and confirmed by Poseidon, that Luke has survived the fall.
During the Winter Solstice meeting the Gods decide to take action against the Titans. Thalia is asked by Artemis and agrees to join the Hunt to become safer and prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. The Gods debate on whether to kill Percy and the Ophiotaurus for their safety, with Athena voting for Percy's death, but the votes are in favor of Percy living and it is agreed the Ophiotaurus will be kept on Olympus.
At the book's end, Percy explains to Nico what happened to Bianca. Nico is enraged, blames Percy, and sends an ambush of skeleton warriors to the Underworld. He disappears, and Percy realizes Nico is a son of Hades. The only people he tells are Annabeth and Grover.
They promise each other to hide this fact from everyone else, especially the Titan's army.
Source, wikipedia.
First of all i would like to say welcome back to Thalia lol, must've been cramped in that tree. Oh and cheers, Bessy. Man, i love that Ophiotaurus. Honestly i thought it was a female at first too, Percy and me got that in common. Honestly i didn't see any use of that conversation with Aphrodite, so they talk a bunch of lovey dovey stuff, what does it got to do with the quest? Seriously Aphrodite. Though what happened to Bianca made me cry. She's a brave one.
Dear Bianca,
MOTIVATIONAL POSTER OF THE DAY
First of all i would like to say welcome back to Thalia lol, must've been cramped in that tree. Oh and cheers, Bessy. Man, i love that Ophiotaurus. Honestly i thought it was a female at first too, Percy and me got that in common. Honestly i didn't see any use of that conversation with Aphrodite, so they talk a bunch of lovey dovey stuff, what does it got to do with the quest? Seriously Aphrodite. Though what happened to Bianca made me cry. She's a brave one.
Dear Bianca,
Also Zoe died as well from that asshole of a dragon's poison so...
Luke, once again you made yourself be a major douche, i slow clap at that dude. I slow-fucking-clap. He really doesn't get tired of being evil does he? Kudos for the effort though. Annabeth came out a little annoying here but i forgave her, poor girl with the weight of the sky on her shoulders. I can't hold a grudge at that. Honestly i was annoyed during 1/4 of the book, several scenes and plots that are irritating but fits well with the story.
I rate this book five stars because its still a great book though i think its less exciting than the first two. I enjoyed reading it and it didn't lack good quality sarcasm and humor.
Quotes:
"Okay," Bianca whispered to me. "He's completely nuts."
"We have to jump off the cliff," I told her quietly. "Into the sea."
"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too."
-Percy-
I showed him Riptide, and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword just by uncapping it.
"Cool! Does it ever run out of ink?"
"Um, well, I don't actually write with it."
"Are you really the son of Poseidon?"
"Well, yeah."
"Can you surf really well, then?"
I looked at Grover, who was trying hard not to laugh.
"Jeez, Nico," I said. "I've never really tried."
-Percy-
He went on asking questions. Did I fight a lot with Thalia, since she was a daughter of Zeus? (I didn't answer that one.) If Annabeth's mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't Annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff? (I tried not to strangle Nico for asking that one.) Was Annabeth my girlfriend? (At this point, I was ready to stick the kid in a meat-flavored sack and throw him to the wolves.)
-Percy-
