I imagine this is why my kids love these books so much, they relate on a level I am unable to match. I started off not really caring for the characters in The Burning Maze but, in time, found myself more empathetic to their situations. That is fairly tough stuff for what I consider to be young adult books and a definite game changer from his Percy Jackson run. I am not saying he has failed to kill background extras in the past but rather this time an obviously central being is slain. One thing that stands far above the rest is the fact that Riordan has taken a more adult approach to storytelling in that characters die in this series. I also feel the re-emergence of familiar people and creatures into the story seems to ground the tale in known territory and also lightens the mood a bit. But perhaps that is just a perspective issue. A lot of travel, a lot of misdirection and realization occurs but I think the biggest takeaway I see is the characters seem better developed than in times past. I am not an idiot, I did catch that fairly quickly and The Burning Maze is only the third book I’ve read by him (I am taking ten points for my house, thanks). I did recognize a character or two, leading me to the belief that the author is weaving not just a story but a collection, not unlike the pantheon of the gods themselves did. This friendship and fellowship is a powerful device that serves a myriad of plot development points. And they split up a time or two in the labyrinth but always rejoin to complete the task at hand. There is a certain cadence to a Riordan novel, in this respect there always seems to be three or more on these adventures. He is doing so with the help of others, as always. Lester/Apollo must seek the oracles and restore them to their former place. As with all of these stories, there are trials and adventures to mark a path to redemption. In this particular tale, however, Apollo has angered Zeus and found himself banished to Earth in the form of a teen named Lester. I vaguely have a recollection of him transporting people (Percy and others) to and fro.
I am not a constant reader of Riordan’s work but I will do my best to give you a glimpse of what I saw.Īpollo (Greek god of sun, music, archery, and more) has been seen in other books prior to this series and was always fairly benevolent, if memory serves me correctly. The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze serves as a halfway point for the series and, as with all of Rick Riordan‘s books, enables first time readers to not feel alienated or unable to submerge themselves into his story. So when people dive into my review and start getting upset that I failed to catch something that I should have, I will fall back on this rather than a sword. I did not read the first two books in this series.