Battle Of Labyrinth

 The Battle Of Labyrinth

Book 4

The Battle of the Labyrinth is a 2008 fantasy-adventure novel based on Greek mythology; it is the fourth novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Fictional demigod Percy Jackson (who is fifteen years old by the end of the book) attempts to stop Luke Castellan and his army from invading Camp Half-Blood through Daedalus's labyrinth by trying to convince the inventor not to give Luke Ariadne's string.

The Battle of the Labyrinth was published in the U.S. by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint or division of Disney Publishing (succeeded by the Disney Hyperion imprint). It was released on 6 May 2008, in the US and Canada.

Plot

The book opens with Percy Jackson attending freshman orientation at Goode High School, where he sees Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who helps him to recognize and fight two empousai disguised as cheerleaders, Tammi and Kelli. Percy is forced to flee to Camp Half-Blood, while Rachel stays behind. On the way, Percy runs into Annabeth, who is annoyed to find him in the company of a mortal girl. When they reach camp, Percy learns Grover is in trouble from the Council of Cloven Elders for not having made progress finding the god Pan after claiming he felt Pan's presence in New Mexico that winter. Percy also encounters a middle-aged demigod namedQuintus, who the new sword instructor of Camp Half-Blood. Chiron describes the man as "hard to read", a description Percy agrees with.

During a competition organized by Quintus, Annabeth and Percy accidentally find an entrance into the Labyrinth. Chiron holds a council of war, and it is revealed that Annabeth and Clarisse have been working together under the suspicion that Luke plans to use this door as an invasion route. To do so, he will use Princess Ariadne’s magical string, which is assumed to be in the possession of the ancient inventor Daedalus. Annabeth is given leadership of the quest to stop him, and chooses Grover, Percy, and Tyson to accompany her. Chiron warns that three heroes is the traditional number for a quest, but Annabeth is shaken by her prophecy and insists. That night, Percy receives a collect Iris-message and learns that Nico plans to bring back his late sister by exchanging her soul for one who has cheated death. Percy fears Nico will come after him.

The next morning, the four start the quest. After a rattling run-in with the minor god Janus, the questers encounter Hera, who offers to grant the questers a single wish. Annabeth wishes for a way to navigate the Labyrinth, but Hera tells her Percy already knows how. He has no idea what she means, and so the quest continues. Between their adventures, Percy also suffers from frequent nightmares about Daedalus, the Labyrinth, and King Minos, who is now "living" as a ghost advisor to Nico di Angelo. The quartet encounters the monster Kampê and her prisoner Briares; visits the ranch of Geryon, where they find Nico and commune with the deceased Bianca di Angelo; and meet with Hephestus, after which they part ways. Tyson and Grover go to search for Pan, and Annabeth and Percy go to Mount St. Helens. At Hephaestus's mountain forge, Percy confronts some telkhines (who are reforging what is later learned to be Kronos's scythe) and is almost killed, but triggers an earthquake that shoots him out of the volcano.

Prophecy

The prophecy given to Annabeth by the oracle reads:

You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze,

The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise.

You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand,

The child of Athena's final stand.

Destroy with a hero's final breath,

And lose a love to worse than death.

Meaning

1. Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover go into the labyrinth to find Daedalus.

2. The dead would be the ghosts Nico Di' Angelo raised; the traitor would be Ethan Nakamura; the lost one would be Pan.

3. At first the ghost king was perceived to be King Minos, the old enemy of Daedalus, but was later revealed to be Nico.

4. The child of Athena was thought to be Annabeth but was revealed to be Quintus (Daedalus), who "raised" Camp Half-Blood through his destruction of the Labyrinth.

5. Daedalus, whose life force was tied to the Labyrinth, gave his life to destroy the Labyrinth.

6. Annabeth finally admits (to herself and Percy) that she loved Luke, and the "fate" was having the Lord Kronos possess Luke.