Review: #906
Title: The Burning Maze
Series: The Trials of Apollo – 3rd book
Author: Rick Riordan
Comments: The Burning Maze has a predictable story in a predictable structure, but it manages to still be enjoyable, albeit a tad bit average compared to the author’s previous works. The problem here is that the author tends to rely too heavily “modernizing” Greek legends but unfortunately stumbles by trying too hard and not having those modernizations feel fitting. The other negative is the constant “teasing” of the next significant character or the next major plot point. It’s quite annoying when it spends paragraphs leading up to the reveal, only to get interrupted and then spends a few more paragraphs before revealing it to you anyway. The story itself is the familiar Apollo must go ahead and stop the evil emperor. The emperor himself is set up as the main antagonist but has surprisingly limited appearances. Instead, the main villain is one of his servants and this makes the climax feel lacking. The reuse of jokes is tiring and you can see what 90% of the humor is going to be from a mile away, which defeats the purpose. The plot meanders too much to keep a good pacing. However, it is surprising that the novel had the courage to kill off characters. On the flipside, nearly all characters feel one dimension, as if one trait dominates them and that’s all they are. Recurring characters appear bitter and this makes them unlikable. Certain subplots that appear to be significant going forward doesn’t get developed or is dropped. At the end of the story, it doesn’t feel like the series’ overarching plot moved forward at all, The Burning Maze felt more like filler than anything.
Rating: 6/10