The Battle of the Labyrinth is the fourth book of Rick Riordan’s projected five-book opus, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The series began with The Lightning Thief and has constantly picked up steam as it’s progressed. I’ve been reading the series to my son, and we’re looking at the fifth and final book coming out next year with a mixture of anticipation and dread.

We want the next book. We want to know how everything turns out for Percy, Grover, Annabeth, and the rest, but we don’t want the adventure to end. Riordan’s imagination and zest for action is matched only by his wit and humor. We’ve become fans and end up talking about the books and Greek mythology quite often.

If you haven’t read the series yet, you’ve missed out on a lot. And you’ll probably want to stop reading this review now. Otherwise you’re going to trip across some spoilers for the earlier three books. Riordan’s books, Percy’s adventures, are an organic tale, growing and adding to canon with each new volume. Things just don’t stay the same in Percy’s ever-changing world.

Well, nothing stays the same except Percy’s continuing bad luck with schools. At the beginning of this one, Percy’s mom has a new boyfriend who gets Percy into a well-respected school that Percy normally wouldn’t have a shot at with his past record of suspicious destruction. Sure enough, almost as soon as Percy sets foot on school grounds, he’s attacked by demonic cheerleaders (the empousai, from Greek myth) and the school BURNS.

I couldn’t help laughing throughout the section as I read it. Friends of Percy are going to be blown away by the sequence even though they’re expecting it. My son and I kept cracking each other up for days afterward. These books just keep on giving!

The book turns more serious, to a degree, when Luke’s plans to invade Camp Half-Blood are revealed. Luke, Percy’s arch-enemy, is still trying to bring the Titan Kronos back to life so he can wreak vengeance against the Greek gods. Camp Half-Blood, because it houses and trains so many of the demi-gods -- the children of the gods with mortal parents — is a prime target.

As always, Riordan establishes the roots of his story in traditional Greek myth. This one deals with Daedalus, the famed inventor who created the Labyrinth that housed the Minotaur. According to Riordan’s story, the Labyrinth has become -- to a degree -- a living thing that continues growing throughout the world and time. I loved the concept and my son was totally engrossed in the idea that the world was honeycombed with magical tunnels. This is the kind of thinking I’ve come to rely on the author for.