Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Title: The Battle of the Labyrinth
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4
Pages: 361
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Publishing date: March 6th, 2008
Rating: 5 stars
Spotify playlist: none, but I have been listening to a nightcore mix while reading this book.
(I'm going to become an expert on worthless book data with these lists.)
This book is SO good. I think my order for favorites is now this:
- Titan's Curse
- Battle of the Labyrinth
- Sea of Monsters
- Lightning Thief
The character development is spot on, the plot building is still aimed at a younger audience but great nonetheless, and the incorporation of the Greek mythology is close to genius.
And this time around, I actually know what I'm talking about with that. I got this cute little (it's 342 pages so 'little' is only joining this sentence for the heck of it, really) book about 'myths and sagas of the Greek world' from the library and decided to grope around in it for a bit. (It's Dutch, so here's the Goodreads link, but it's useless to international readers.) I got it because, in the Titan's Curse, there's a story involved that I really wanted to know the origin of.
I would've probably landed with the story of Theseus and the Minotaur regardlessly, because if you don't know, the basic concept of the Hunger Games is roughly based on that story. (Summary of the story follows in the spoiler section if you're unfamiliar with it.) Being the fan that I am, it was only a matter of time. I'm not reading the whole thing because even though there are little pages, the text is small and so are the margins. Maybe I'll borrow it again at some point and read the whole thing, but only after I finish my Rick Riordan books. Wouldn't want mythology to spoil me, would I?
I feel like such a smart-ass, knowing the background information of a middle-grade book.
Synopsis:
People go on a quest. There are battles. Labyrinth. All the rest is spoilers.
Spoilers down below
Because I've already talked so much about the series, I thought it would be fun to talk about the plot from the perspective of the original story, which is the myth of Theseues and the Minotaur. If you're not familiar with the story, here's the basics of how it all went down:
Zeus had the hots for a young girl called Europa, so he transformed into a bull. He was such a cute bull the princess went to sit on his back and Zeus abducted her. After he announced himself on Crete, she became his lover. Europa got Zeus two sons: Minos (you know him) and Phiastos. They both got a part of Crete but Minos expelled his bro and made Crete a prospering kingdom, as well as claiming other small islands around Greece.
So one day Minos asked Poseidon for a bull to sacrifice to him, but when Poseidon gave him one, Minos did not deliver it to him and kept it for himself instead. Poseidon cursed Minos' wife and made her fall in love with the bull. Here's where Daedalus comes into play. Minos' wife made him disguise her as a cow so she could be with the bull. He did, and their relationship spawned the monstrosity called the Minotaur, a half-bull half-human creature that ate human flesh. Minos did not think such a beast very convenient, so he locked it up in the Labyrinth Daedalus made for it. The only problem: the Minotaur still demanded to be fed the humans he so desired.
Minos got mad at the people of Athens, who killed his son during some sports event. His monster came in handy when he needed to punish them. Every year, fourteen children, seven boys and seven girls, would be sacrificed to the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.
Now the king of Athens had a son, Theseus, who got reaped into the Minotaur Games. Theseus was not just a prince, but also a son of Poseidon. He wanted to kill the Minotaur. When he arrived on Crete, Ariadne fell hopelessly in love with him. She tried to help Theseus and together they got the String from Daedalus that helped Theseus kill the Minotaur. Together with the other kids, they fled back to Athens. They stopped in between, though, and Theseus left Ariadne in a cave or something. He did not really love her. Theseus came home, but his father had attempted suicide when he'd believed his son to be dead.
Ariadne
An interesting difference between the myth and Rick Riordan's interpretation is that Ariadne being a mortal has absolutely no connection to the mythological plot. However, I find different parallels between Ariadne's ending and Percy's story.
1. Percy left Calypso on the island while she was very much in love with her.
2. In a previous book, Dionysus says he holds a grudge against heroes because of what one did to his wife. He says he found her, very sad after a hero had just left her there, even though she'd helped him. Guess who Ariadne's married to?
The Hunger Games parallel:
Note that Ariadne was hopelessly in love with Theseus but he did not love her. In the first book, Peeta's love for Katniss is similar: fierce but unanswered. In a way, Katniss 'leaves him' at the end of the book, saying her part of the romance was an act.
Minotaur
Rick Riordan stays very true to his own ideas, leaving the Minotaur completely out of the field. He's dead, after all. I was surprised at first that he even barely mentioned the monster, but it makes sense.
Daedalus
I didn't read the other stories for Daedalus, but I only want to take a careful look at the way he matches with this one. In both stories, Daedalus is a figure of great wisdom and intelligence who turns to help the young and innocent. And I liked his character overall. He's undeniably flawed and selfish and really embodies what intelligence can do to a human being. Daedalus shows that you cannot outrun justice and rightfulness but that it's never too late to show that you are not inherently evil.
Zeus had the hots for a young girl called Europa, so he transformed into a bull. He was such a cute bull the princess went to sit on his back and Zeus abducted her. After he announced himself on Crete, she became his lover. Europa got Zeus two sons: Minos (you know him) and Phiastos. They both got a part of Crete but Minos expelled his bro and made Crete a prospering kingdom, as well as claiming other small islands around Greece.
So one day Minos asked Poseidon for a bull to sacrifice to him, but when Poseidon gave him one, Minos did not deliver it to him and kept it for himself instead. Poseidon cursed Minos' wife and made her fall in love with the bull. Here's where Daedalus comes into play. Minos' wife made him disguise her as a cow so she could be with the bull. He did, and their relationship spawned the monstrosity called the Minotaur, a half-bull half-human creature that ate human flesh. Minos did not think such a beast very convenient, so he locked it up in the Labyrinth Daedalus made for it. The only problem: the Minotaur still demanded to be fed the humans he so desired.
Minos got mad at the people of Athens, who killed his son during some sports event. His monster came in handy when he needed to punish them. Every year, fourteen children, seven boys and seven girls, would be sacrificed to the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.
Now the king of Athens had a son, Theseus, who got reaped into the Minotaur Games. Theseus was not just a prince, but also a son of Poseidon. He wanted to kill the Minotaur. When he arrived on Crete, Ariadne fell hopelessly in love with him. She tried to help Theseus and together they got the String from Daedalus that helped Theseus kill the Minotaur. Together with the other kids, they fled back to Athens. They stopped in between, though, and Theseus left Ariadne in a cave or something. He did not really love her. Theseus came home, but his father had attempted suicide when he'd believed his son to be dead.
Ariadne
An interesting difference between the myth and Rick Riordan's interpretation is that Ariadne being a mortal has absolutely no connection to the mythological plot. However, I find different parallels between Ariadne's ending and Percy's story.
1. Percy left Calypso on the island while she was very much in love with her.
2. In a previous book, Dionysus says he holds a grudge against heroes because of what one did to his wife. He says he found her, very sad after a hero had just left her there, even though she'd helped him. Guess who Ariadne's married to?
The Hunger Games parallel:
Note that Ariadne was hopelessly in love with Theseus but he did not love her. In the first book, Peeta's love for Katniss is similar: fierce but unanswered. In a way, Katniss 'leaves him' at the end of the book, saying her part of the romance was an act.
Minotaur
Daedalus
I didn't read the other stories for Daedalus, but I only want to take a careful look at the way he matches with this one. In both stories, Daedalus is a figure of great wisdom and intelligence who turns to help the young and innocent. And I liked his character overall. He's undeniably flawed and selfish and really embodies what intelligence can do to a human being. Daedalus shows that you cannot outrun justice and rightfulness but that it's never too late to show that you are not inherently evil.
Let's talk politics for a hot minute!
I'm currently following the #Brexit tag on Twitter and I feel like a real sadist doing so. Literally everyone is freaking out. Scotland wants to leave the UK and stay in the EU, London wants to claim independence (no joke, that's actually true), and we're on the brink of getting Trump-ala-Tea Party on the Britain throne. This has to be discussed.
The Issue
So here's the deal: the UK launched a referendum (everyone can vote for a direct issue but the results are technically not binding) about whether they should stay in the EU or not. A lot of people in Europe are mad at the EU for multiple reasons. Here's some:
1. Rules.
2. It's too far.
3. Immigrants.
4. Investing money in surrounding countries and economies.
 |
| Say those who just lost, like, a crap load of pounds |
Anyway, yesterday was the Super Thursday of the United Kingdoms and today we passionately celebrate What Have We Done Friday!
What Do You Care You're Not British?
Now, you see, every country has their blonde asshole these days. The nationalist who wants to close borders and *grabs megaphone* RECLAIM THOU FREEDOM OF NOSTALGIA AND INDEPENDENCE THAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS *puts down megaphone*. Don't believe me?
Britain was blessed with two but only one is blonde. Diversity (;
And then there's the Netherlands.
You know that one kid who just got associated with the wrong people every time something serious happened? I'd feel like that kid if I lived in the UK at the moment. And as you can read above, I might actually become that innocent little bystander. If you know Dutch politics (which you do not), then you know that Wilders isn't actually in power now AND that in the Netherlands, you almost always need to form a coalition to 'take office'. This means that, unless he manages to get a 50% or more victory, he needs to cooperate with another party. Getting over 50% is not something you just do in this country. We have like a gazillion parties and 150 chairs. But in the picture down below, you can see what the Dutch peeps would vote if the referendum would happen now:
Blue means remain, red means leave. Doesn't that look unpredictable and risky as shit? But it's totally fine if the world economy collapses or anything now, right? I'm almost sixteen. I'm uncomfortable in crowds and small. I've never had a boyfriend. I'm not black, Asian, or Hispanic. Really, I'm your everyday dystopian female protagonist. I even have very cute, very mortal family members for the author to kill off. Now I just need to learn how to fight and get myself some 'special' DNA, and I'll be ready to go.
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