Book Review: The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3) by Rick Riordan

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BOOK review

Started on: 20 January 2021
Finished on: 30 January 2021

 

The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3) by Rick Riordan

 

Title: The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3)

Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Pages: 448 pages / 448 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2018
Price: Rp 160,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 5/5

*for those who haven't read the first book, this review may contain spoiler. 

Review for The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1) by Rick Riordan here.

Review for The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan here.
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"Power makes good people uneasy rather than joyful or boastful. That’s why good people so rarely rise to power."

With the help of his demigod friends, Apollo managed to survive his first two trials—one at Camp Half-Blood, and one in Indianapolis—where they received The Dark Prophecy. The prophecy revealed that the Roman emperors of Triumvirate Holdings have plans to attack Camp Jupiter; and so Leo flies on Festus to warn their friends at the Roman camp. On the other hand, Apollo and Meg must go through the Labyrinth to find the third emperor and rescue the Oracle who is chained inside the burning maze. With the help of their satyr companion, they embark on another adventure to regain Apollo's position in Olympus.

"Promise me one thing. Whatever happens, when you get back to Olympus, when you’re a god again, remember. Remember what it’s like to be human."

"Pain is an interesting thing. You think you have reached your limit and you can’t possibly feel more tortured. Then you discover there is still another level of agony. And another level after that."

I am in complete shock when I finished reading this book. I needed some time to process what just happened and I kept questioning why Rick Riordan did it. The Burning Maze is the best book in this series so far because it is so intense and the second half kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. In this book, we are accompanied by Grover—one of the main characters from Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and also Jason Grace and Piper McLean—main characters from The Heroes of Olympus series. I was really excited to be seeing these characters again because they have incredible powers. Grover has magical powers, Jason Grace is the son of Zeus/Jupiter so he has amazing strength and abilities, while Piper McLean is the daughter of Aphrodite and she possess the ability to charmspeak. Considering that Apollo and Meg are accompanied by these reliable people, I thought they would have things totally under control. But turns out, I was wrong. I let my guard down and was taken aback by a sudden death that happened to one of the characters. Of course, I won't spoil it in this review; but if you've read this book, I'm sure you didn't expect it as well.

One of my favorite parts in this book is Apollo's character development. I was quite astonished by his act of self-sacrifice in one of the most critical moment. I was utterly surprised because right from the beginning of this series, Apollo is described as someone who only cares and thinks highly about himself—not other people. It was very heartwarming to see that change of character, especially when Apollo has to bear the guilt of their friend's death. He is now a lot more determined to complete the quests that are ahead of him and to defeat the emperors of Triumvirate Holdings. Finally, after 3 books I am starting to like Apollo's character 😄

"The people who deserved to die took forever to do so. Those who deserved to live always went too soon."

We also get to know Meg's character a little better this time and know what happened to her in the past. Her tragic past and how she ended up losing her father was revealed, explaining why she ended up living as Nero's step-daughter. Her strength and abilities haven't ceased to impress me so far. She managed to plant and awaken The Seven Meliai, who will do whatever she commanded them to do. I wish The Seven Meliai can go with them on the rest of their journey; but I think the adventure would be too easy then 🤣. I also adore all the dryads that we met in Aeithales—especially Aloe Vera, a dryad of an aloe plant who uses her aloe goo to make healing ointments. I think that's really cute 😊

I actually have to say about Jason and Piper's role in this book but I'm afraid I'm going to spoil too much if I mention it all here. All I can say is, I'm sure a lot of people who ships them both will be greatly disappointed by what happened. It's also tragic to see Piper's dad being depressed because he practically lost his career because of Triumvirate Holdings. I'm not sure if we will be seeing their character again in the future or not but I hope they will recover from the damage they had experienced.

"Heroes have to be ready to sacrifice themselves."

"It's been my observation... that you humans are more than the sum of your history. You can choose how much of your ancestry to embrace. You can overcome the expectations of your family and your society. What you cannot do, and should never do, is try to be someone other than yourself..."

Another interesting thing that I'd like to note in this review is Herophile, the Oracle of Erythaea, that Apollo and his friends are trying to rescue from the burning maze (thus the title of this book). They had to solve a series of crossword puzzles to be able to make progress because technically she can only speak in the form of riddles—which was very fascinating. The scene where they had to solve the puzzle was absolutely hilarious! 🤣🤣 Even though some parts of this book is quite depressing, the humor managed to cheer me up a little. Rick Riordan also threw in some words of wisdom that inspired the characters in this book, which in one way or another inspired me as a reader as well 😊.
 

Overall, I'm really enjoying how the series is progressing so far. As always, Rick Riordan's series gradually gets more intense and the middle books are usually my favorites (my favorites from The Heroes of Olympus are The Mark of Athena and The House of Hades). I can't wait to see what kind of adventure awaits in the next book—hopefully no one else died *fingers crossed*. Next we will be meeting Frank Zhang, another character from the previous series. Up to this point, they've come across all of the Roman emperors of Triumvirate Holdings. I'm curious to see how Apollo is going to defeat them and finally regain his position as a god.

"But from now on, I would be more than Lester. I would be more than an observer.

I would be Apollo.

I would remember."

by.stefaniesugia♥ .