The Burning Maze

The Burning Maze
U.S. cover of first edition.
Author Rick Riordan
Cover artist John Rocco
Country United States
Series The Trials of Apollo (book 3)
Genre Fantasy, Greek and Roman mythology, Young adult
Publisher Disney Hyperion
Publication date
 May 1, 2018
Media type Print (hardcover), audiobook, e-book
Pages 448 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4847-4643-1
Preceded by The Dark Prophecy
Followed by The Tyrant's Tomb

The Burning Maze is an American fantasy novel based on Greek and Roman mythology written by Rick Riordan. It was published on May 1, 2018, and is the third book in The Trials of Apollo series, the second spin-off of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series.

The story follows the Greek god Apollo, turned into a human teenager named Lester Papadopoulos, in his quest to free five oracles of Ancient Greece from Triumvirate Holdings, a group of three evil Roman Emperors, in order to regain his immortality. Joined by the demigod Meg McCaffrey and the satyr Grover Underwood, Apollo goes to the Labyrinth in search of the Oracle of Erythaea, the next Oracle to be rescued.

The novel was published in hardcover, audiobook, ebook, and large-print editions and the cover was illustrated by John Rocco. The Burning Maze received positive reviews from critics, who praised Apollo's narration and the book's humor. It was a bestseller on Amazon.

Plot summary

The book opens two days after the close of the preceding novel, The Dark Prophecy. During this period, Apollo, Meg McCaffrey, and Grover Underwood have been navigating the Labyrinth. They escape from attacking strixes sent by the third emperor and break out of the Labyrinth. Meanwhile, Apollo has a dream vision of the captured Sibyl Herophile, beckoning him to rescue her. After awakening, they travel to Aeithales, a greenhouse built by Meg's father that currently serves as Grover's base. They meet with the spirits of a Joshua tree, a prickly pear, and aloe vera among others. They also meet Mellie, who guides them to find her husband, Gleeson Hedge, at an army-surplus store, where they battle Naevius Sutorius Macro's automation and spy upon a talking horse instructing a servant to destroy Aeithales. Apollo comes to the conclusion that the horse is Incitatus, and its owner is the third emperor, Caligula.

They return to Aeithales and convey the news to the spirits. Grover tells Apollo about a part of the Labyrinth that is burning, causing droughts and water shortage in the upper world. Hedge and Mellie reveal that Piper McLean and Jason Grace had explored the Labyrinth. Apollo decided to meet with them. Meg plants the seeds with which her father had planned to reincarnate the Meliai. Apollo, Meg and Grover meet Piper and bring Jason, who had broken up with Piper, from his school the following day. Jason confidentially tells Apollo that Herophile told him secretly that if he and Piper went into the Labyrinth together, one of them would die. He makes Apollo promise to carry on his work of temples for all gods at both camps in case he dies. They are captured by pandai while attempting to steal Caligula's caligae to enter the burning maze. Apollo threatens to kill himself until Caligula releases his friends as the latter requires Apollo's essence to make himself the sun god. Apollo stabs himself with an arrow, while Jason unleashes a tornado to rescue them, battles Caligula and gets stabbed twice by him, causing his death.

Piper and Apollo carry Jason's body to the former's house. Grover, Apollo, and Meg find the entrance to the burning maze with the help of Crest, a young, friendly, music-loving pandos. Wearing the caligae, Apollo guides Meg and Grover into the maze, solving a series of puzzles to advance, which together give a prophecy. Apollo makes a mistake, and he falls into a pit of fire. Apollo convinces the essence of Helios, which causes the fire, to retreat in return for killing Medea. They meet a chained Herophile and continue solving the prophecy. They meet Medea, who plans to combine Apollo and Helios' essence to create ichor for Caligula and to turn him into a new sun god. A chained Apollo resists Medea's chants with the help of Crest, whom Medea kills, and completes the prophecy. Piper arrives with the newly-reincarnated Meliai and kills Medea. Helios disintegrates to Tartarus, thereby ending the fires. Leo Valdez arrives; heartbroken after hearing Jason's fate, he conveys that Camp Jupiter won the battle with heavy casualties. Apollo feels personally responsible for Jason's death and vows to remember his promise.[1]

Characters

  • Apollo / Lester Papadopoulos – one of the Twelve Olympians, Apollo was cast down from Olympus and turned into a human named Lester by Zeus after the war against Gaea in The Blood of Olympus. As Lester, he frees the sibyl Herophile and receives the next prophecy. Caligula requires his essence (along with that of Helios) to make himself a sun god.
  • Meg McCaffrey – a 12-year-old daughter of Demeter.
  • Grover Underwood – satyr, Lord of the Wild.
  • Piper McLean – daughter of Aphrodite with her rare gift of charmspeaking.
  • Jason Grace – the demigod son of Jupiter, the Roman aspect of Zeus.
  • Caligula – the main antagonist. He is a legacy of Apollo and a Roman Emperor, infamous for his tyranny and insanity. Alongside Nero and Commodus, Caligula has influenced many events in history through Triumvirate Holdings.

Deaths

- Grover Underwood - Jason Grace

Release

The Burning Maze was first published by Disney-Hyperion as a hardcover in the United States on May 1, 2018, with cover illustration by John Rocco.[2] Ebook and audiobook editions were released the same day.[3][4] The audiobook is read by actor Robbie Daymond and published by Listening Library.[3]

The Burning Maze had a first printing of about two million copies.[5] It sold more than 52,000 copies during the first week.[6] Upon release, the book debuted at No. 1 on the Publishers Weekly Children's Frontlist Fiction bestseller list[6] and No. 3 on the overall list (remaining there for 2 weeks).[7][8] The hardcover edition debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's Teen & Young Adult Greek & Roman Myths & Legends bestseller list[9] and the Kindle ebook at No. 1 on the Teen & Young Adult Sword & Sorcery Fantasy eBooks list.[10] The next week, the book was the 6th sold among fiction novels on Amazon.[11] It debuted at No. 5 on the USA Today bestseller list.[12] On The Wall Street Journal fiction bestseller list, the book debuted at No. 2.[13] In the first week of release, The Trials of Apollo series was No. 2 on The New York Times bestseller list.[14]

In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations, English-language editions in hardcover were also released May 1 by Puffin Books with cover art by Ben Hughes.[15] The Puffin edition also included a Percy Jackson short story.[16] Although many non-English editions used John Rocco's cover art, a few have unique covers by other illustrators.[17] Additionally, Barnes & Noble released a special edition exclusive to its customers, which also included a removable puzzle collection.[18] Another edition was also released, which included Riordan's autograph, a frontispiece, endpapers, and slipcase.[19]

The book is recommended for 12-14-year-olds on Disney's website.[20]

Sequel

The sequel, The Tyrant's Tomb, is expected to be released in October 2019.[21]

See also

  • Children and Young Adult Literature portal

References

  1. ↑ Riordan, Rick (2018). The Burning Maze. Los Angeles: Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4847-4696-7.
  2. ↑ "The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze (Book 3), by Rick Riordan". Read Riordan.
  3. 1 2 "The Burning Maze".
  4. ↑ "Editions of The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan". www.goodreads.com.
  5. ↑ "The On-Sale Calendar: May 2018 Children's Books".
  6. 1 2 "CHILDREN'S FRONTLIST FICTION". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "TOP 10 OVERALL". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "This Week's Bestsellers: May 14, 2018".
  9. ↑ "The Trials of Apollo Book Three The Burning Maze". Archived from the original on 7 May 2018.
  10. ↑ "The Trials of Apollo, Book Three: The Burning Maze Kindle Edition". Archived from the original on 7 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "Amazon Charts Top 20 Books". Amazon.com.
  12. ↑ "Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze". Archived from the original on 10 May 2018.
  13. ↑ Press, Associated (10 May 2018). "WALL STREET JOURNAL-BEST SELLERS" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  14. ↑ "Children's Series Books - Best Sellers - The New York Times".
  15. ↑ "The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo Book 3) by Rick Riordan". www.penguin.co.uk.
  16. ↑ "Out now! Percy Jackson: The Burning Maze, third title in Rick Riordan's The Trials of Apollo series".
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "The Burning Maze (B&N Exclusive Edition) (The Trials of Apollo Series #3)". Barnes & Noble.
  19. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "The Burning Maze (Special Limited Edition) (The Trials of Apollo Series #3)". Barnes & Noble.
  20. ↑ "The Burning Maze - Disney Books - Disney Publishing Worldwide".
  21. ↑ "The Tyrant's Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4)". Goodreads. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
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