While refusing to feel any guilt at all for enjoying a children’s series, I picked up the third and fourth Percy Jackson books and devoured them last weekend. In book four, The Titan’s Curse, we get to know some new characters, go off on an adventure to save a goddess, and generally get into trouble and peril on an hourly basis yet again. Awesome!

 I normally don’t like a whole lot of characters being continually added in the middle of a series. Oftentimes, it detracts from the flow of the books, resulting in a disjointed storyline that’s frustrating to read. Plus, it can cause confusion when you try to keep up with people.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are off on yet another adventure together—and this time, they’re recruiting two new demigods that have come up under the radar. Percy, who isn’t used to having Thalia around, is a bit resentful of the new demigod. (Spoilers ahead.)

While you might think these new demigods are yet another broken promise from the truce between Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon, it turns out that Hades has kept his word (as far as we know). Remember the casino Percy, Annabeth and Grover were stuck in and lost track of time? These two children were kept there for decades, making them the same age as our heroes. They’re a sister and brother who have no idea that they’re demigods, but after receiving explanations from our heroes (and a surprise group of huntresses and their leader, the goddess Artemis), they take to it very quickly.

The adventure begins with Annabeth being nearly gored by a manticore and falling to her apparent death (which could have been followed with a little more sorrow on Percy’s part, in my opinion), and goes straight into Artemis being kidnapped and a quest in which her huntresses, Percy, Grover, and Thalia must recover her—a quest in which, as usual, much mythology awaits! During the adventure, it’s revealed that Annabeth is alive (of course!) and Luke is still up to no good, continuing with his plan to resurrect the Titan Kronos.

In The Titan’s Curse, we witness two deaths of heroes—both characters who are introduced in this book—and a goddess who stands up for our demigods for saving her life. Thalia also joins Artemis’s clan, releasing herself from the prophecy. Finally, the gods agree that Kronos is a threat, and that they must work to defeat him. (Yay Percy and friends!) Now it all comes down to just how they will do it…