Still, despite all the close calls, my son and I were laughing out loud at Percy’s adventures. His friend Grover, the young satyr, ended up getting some of the best parts, but the chapter where Percy ends up riding the mythical pig was an absolute hoot.

Blackjack, Percy’s Pegasus buddy, puts in an appearance in this book as well, and absolutely steals the show for a while. “God alert,” Blackjack warns. “It’s the wine dude!” Of course, he’s referring to Dionysus, the Greek god that’s currently serving punishment as head of Camp Half-Blood. In fact, Mr. D actually steps into the thick of things more forcefully in this volume. But the line, typical pre-teen terminology, had my son and I cracking each other up for days as we kept repeating it.

In every book in the series, there’s always a quest. In the first book, Percy had to find the thief who took Zeus’s mystical lightning bolt. In the second, Percy had to save Grover. But in the third book, Percy has to save his best bud, Annabeth, with whom he’s becoming even more enamored. This quest sends Percy and his friends zooming across the United States again, and reveals even more Greek mythological geography that’s been relocated to this continent.

Athena is back on hand, as well as Artemis and Apollo. Luke’s efforts to resurrect Kronos is still in play, and it looks bad for our heroes. There’s a prophecy (told by the Oracle in a way that is extremely humorous) that foretells the death of one of the heroes on the quest.

Riordan’s pacing is fabulous. There’s never a dull moment in one of these books. Things -- and threats -- just keep happening at a mile-a-minute. This book truly felt like trying to stay on top of an avalanche as we hurtled to the ending. And it only left us hungry for Book Four: The Battle of the Labyrinth.