The Battle of the Labyrinth
Rick Riordan, 2008
Fantasy Young adultContemporary fiction
Percy Jackson's summer starts with an exploding school and leads into a living maze beneath Camp Half-Blood, where every turn has a myth waiting. A quick, witty adventure full of camp friendships and mythic surprises, with a summer-camp warmth that keeps the maze's darker turns light.
Feels like joy, wonder and dread. About friendship, adventure and identity.
Who it’s for
You may like this if you enjoy middle-grade fantasy with joking narrators, loyal friends, and Greek myths turned into puzzles. It is the fourth Percy Jackson book, though, so starting here may leave you missing earlier friendships, running jokes, and series setup.
Why read it
It gives you a fast, funny quest through a myth-filled maze, with friendship and identity at the center and Riordan's classroom-honed knack for making old stories feel immediate.
A page from the book
What summer break looks like when you're the reason the school exploded.
The last thing I wanted to do on my summer break was blow up another school. Rick Riordan.Riordan was a middle-school teacher when he invented Percy Jackson for his son Haley, who was struggling with ADHD and dyslexia; Percy shares both.
Books that feel like this
More by Rick Riordan
The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan, 2005
A twelve-year-old with ADHD and a talent for trouble discovers the Greek gods are real, and one of their lightning bolts has gone missing.
The Blood of Olympus
Rick Riordan, 2014
Greek and Roman demigods race to stop a rising earth goddess, armed with prophecies, old grudges and very bad jokes.
The Sea of Monsters
Rick Riordan, 2006
Percy Jackson returns to camp just as its magical borders fail, and the only fix lies across a sea full of monsters, old myths and awkward friendships.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Battle of the Labyrinth for me?
- You may like this if you enjoy middle-grade fantasy with joking narrators, loyal friends, and Greek myths turned into puzzles. It is the fourth Percy Jackson book, though, so starting here may leave you missing earlier friendships, running jokes, and series setup.
- What is The Battle of the Labyrinth like?
- A quick, witty adventure full of camp friendships and mythic surprises, with a summer-camp warmth that keeps the maze's darker turns light. Feels like joy, wonder and dread. About friendship, adventure and identity.
- What should I read after The Battle of the Labyrinth?
- If you liked The Battle of the Labyrinth, try Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling), Looking for Alaska (John Green) and The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster).
A taste of the feed
The courage nobody applauds is the kind you spend on a friend.
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone · J.K. Rowling
The case for being seventeen and certain nothing can end you.
When adults say, “Teenagers think they are invincible” with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.
Looking for Alaska · John Green
The honest inventory of a girl who knows exactly how much trouble she's in.
By the way, my name’s Rose Hathaway. I’m seventeen years old, training to protect and kill vampires, in love with a completely unsuitable guy, and have a best friend whose weird magic could drive her crazy.
Frostbite · Richelle Mead
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