A review by finnft4
The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

BRO. ALRIGHT. ToA has officially redeemed itself.

Non-spoiler stuff first lmao. This is the first book where I actually like Apollo and Meg as characters and am not consistently annoyed by their appearances. I'm really liking Apollo's arc; it no longer feels like a half-baked Kuzco. The lines where Apollo starts to doubt his entire identity as a god while he's being reduced to basically nothing are... man, they're good. It doesn't feel as rushed anymore, and it feels honest. Meg's whole arc with Nero and shit is also very good. Piper and Jason, who I didn't like in the past, are... better now. Not great, but this book gave them a bit more depth, which I appreciated. Grover continues to be one of my favorite characters. This is the first ToA book where I actually cared about the characters and what happened to them.

And there are STAKES NOW - one of the bigger improvements between this one and the other two books (which still had stakes but weren't very investing). This book was so fucking intense. Almost at House of Hades level with the amount of pain going on. I'm still in a bit of shock.

SO MANY GOOD LINES TOO. I'M SHAKING.

Spoilers below. 

Alright, to be honest, I was already spoiled on Jason's death before reading this book. And I was mostly indifferent to the news. Oh wow, this character that I don't care that much about dies? I'm... so sad. But I'm surprised by how much it got to me. The death itself was more "OH SHIT" than anything, but the characters' reactions and the time processing afterward were heart-wrenching. The way Jason went out though was kind of stupid. Like, my guy survived getting impaled in Blood of Olympus, and this is how he dies? Sheesh... No complaints other than my guy was nerfed.
 

I'm actually looking forward to the next book (previously I saw the ToA books as obstacles in between MCGA lmfao)

CURRENT RANKING
[1] PJO: The Last Olympian
[2] HoO: The House of Hades
[3] HoO: The Mark of Athena
[4] MCGA: The Sword of Summer
[5] PJO: The Lightning Thief
[6] ToA: The Burning Maze
[7] PJO: The Titan's Curse
[8] MCGA: The Hammer of Thor
[9] HoO: The Son of Neptune
[10] PJO: The Battle of the Labyrinth
[11] HoO: The Lost Hero
[12] PJO: The Sea of Monsters
[13] ToA: The Dark Prophecy
[14] HoO: The Blood of Olympus
[15] ToA: The Hidden Oracle 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings