My Thoughts: The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan

The Burning Maze
(Trials of Apollo #3)
by Rick Riordan
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Publication Date: May 1st 2018
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 431
ISBN: 9781368024129
Genre: Middle Grade | Fantasy | Mythology
Source: Own

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The formerly glorious god Apollo, cast down to earth in punishment by Zeus, is now an awkward mortal teenager named Lester Papadopoulos. In order to regain his place on Mount Olympus, Lester must restore five Oracles that have gone dark. But he has to achieve this impossible task without having any godly powers and while being duty-bound to a confounding young daughter of Demeter named Meg. Thanks a lot, Dad.

With the help of some demigod friends, Lester managed to survive his first two trials, one at Camp Half-Blood, and one in Indianapolis, where Meg received the Dark Prophecy. The words she uttered while seated on the Throne of Memory revealed that an evil triumvirate of Roman emperors plans to attack Camp Jupiter. While Leo flies ahead on Festus to warn the Roman camp, Lester and Meg must go through the Labyrinth to find the third emperor—and an Oracle who speaks in word puzzles—somewhere in the American Southwest. There is one glimmer of hope in the gloom-filled prophecy: The cloven guide alone the way does know. They will have a satyr companion, and Meg knows just who to call upon. . . . (Goodreads)

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I am enjoying the Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan, and The Burning Maze is just another great addition to this already fantastic series. (I thought I had already done a review for this book, but I see that I have not. My thoughts for this book are going to be a little short and sweet, because while I have read the book twice now, I have read quite a few books since, and my brain is a little jumble-y. Bear with me!)

So a while back I set out on a journey to read ALL of Rick Riordan’s books, which I read 1 book per month until I was officially caught up, and now I get to do the impatient yearly wait for a new book to release. (This is not fun. I definitely enjoyed binge reading more. *grin*) But these books are definitely worth the wait, and I am more than happy to do so.

The Burning Maze picks up right where The Dark Prophecy leaves off, and is an adventure from the start of the book to the end of the book. In this third book, we get to see if Apollo will survive the third task he needs to accomplish in order to get back his godly status, all with the help of some really awesome friends. (It’s SO nice to see some of the characters from different books again!) The storyline for the book is completely fascinating, and full of twists and turns. (Oh, and there is one thing that will probably break your heart. I know it did mine, and I’m still a little upset with Rick over it.)

One thing I love about these books is that I am totally learning so much about mythology. We didn’t learn most of this stuff in schools, and I’m absolutely fascinated by it. (Seriously, I can’t get enough!) And, this knowledge has come in handy for more than one episode of Jeopardy!

Another thing that I love about the series are the characters. Both new and old, you’ll love them all. I especially love that Apollo is growing on me more and more as the series goes along. I am SO rooting for him now, and I can’t wait to see what the next two trials, (and books), have in store for him.

I also want to add that I have been listening to the audiobooks for this series, which are narrated by Robbie Daymond, who narrates all of the books in this series so far, and he does SUCH a great job with all the different voices. Very entertaining! If you have the opportunity to listen to these books on audio, I highly recommend them.

Overall; The Burning Maze is another great addition to the highly addictive Trials of Apollo series! I can’t wait to get started on the next book, The Tyrant’s Tomb, which is officially out as of September 2019! I hope it’s great!