The Burning Maze

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The Burning Maze
The Burning Maze cover.jpg
U.S. cover of first edition.
Author Rick Riordan
Cover artist John Rocco
Series The Trials of Apollo (book 3)
Genre Fantasy, Greek and Roman mythology, Young adult
Publisher Disney Hyperion
Publication date
May 1, 2018
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback), audiobook, e-book
Pages448 (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 American author 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.

Contents

The story follows the Greek god Apollo, who has been 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 Erythraea, 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 story begins a few days after the events of the previous book, "The Dark Prophecy". Apollo, in the body of the 16-year-old Lester Papadopoulos, ventures through the Labyrinth with 12-year-old Meg McCaffrey and the satyr, Grover Underwood in a bid to find the third emperor of the Triumvirate Holdings. As the trio face a continuous attack of Strix, Grover unleashes the cry of Pan, the lost god of the wild, and brings them to Aeithales, which is later revealed to be Meg's former home, in Palm Springs, California. Mellie, the wife of the satyr Gleeson Hedge, asks Apollo and Grover to go and check up on Hedge, who is in an army surplus store nearby. The duo goes there, only to face Naevius Sutorius Macro. They escape, when seemingly, a horse, comes and contacts somebody. They head back, and Apollo reveals that the horse is Incitatus, and the third emperor is Caligula, the most feared and bloodthirsty Roman emperor, famous for his murderous reign and insanity.

Mellie reveals that Jason Grace and Piper McLean had gone into the Labyrinth. Apollo and Meg pick up Piper, who is moving away to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and Jason, who is at school and occasionally has fights with monsters disguised as teachers. Jason secretly tells Apollo that he had met with Herophile, the sibyl inside the Labyrinth, who told him that when the next time the duo comes, one of them will die. Fearing Piper's demise, Jason keeps this to himself.

Apollo, Meg, Jason, and Piper sneak into Caligula's ship to steal his shoes, which are a priority according to the Dark Prophecy. All of them are captured by Pandai, loyal servants to Caligula. They escape with the help of Crest, a young Pandai, and Apollo finds the shoes, but then they are captured by Incitatus the right-hand horse of Caligula. Jason engages Caligula in a one-sided battle to buy time, only to be stabbed twice by Caligula's spear and kicked by Incitatus. Jason calls his venti (air spirit) before dying, helping the others escape. Upon reaching Piper's home in Malibu, Piper angrily blames Apollo as the reason for Jason's death. Caligula meanwhile sails North to Camp Jupiter.

Apollo, Meg, Grover, and Crest enter the Labyrinth and are faced with riddles that seemingly lead to Herophile's prison. However, Apollo panics and gives the wrong answer to one of them. Facing certain death, Apollo decides to find the cause of the flames that have been engulfing the southern lands for a long time and discovers the faded but still burning body of Helios, the former titan of the sun being used by Medea in order to make Caligula the new sun god, and Apollo promises to exact revenge for Helios.

The trio reaches Herophile and is faced with another prophecy that Apollo dreads. They get out with the help of Meliai, ash-tree spirits Meg had earlier planted. They kill Medea and Incitatus but Crest also gets killed in the process. Apollo and Meg entrust Aeithales' safety with the Meliai and continue their journeys. Jason's body is given to Apollo for burial at Camp Jupiter, and Leo takes Hedge, Mellie, and Piper to Oklahoma.

Characters

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. [1] Ebook and audiobook editions were released the same day. [2] [3] The audiobook is read by actor Robbie Daymond and published by Listening Library. [2]

The Burning Maze had a first printing of about two million copies. [4] It sold more than 52,000 copies during the first week. [5] Upon release, the book debuted at No. 1 on the Publishers Weekly Children's Frontlist Fiction bestseller list [5] and No. 3 on the overall list (remaining there for 2 weeks). [6] [7] The hardcover edition debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's Teen & Young Adult Greek & Roman Myths & Legends bestseller list [8] and the Kindle ebook at No. 1 on the Teen & Young Adult Sword & Sorcery Fantasy eBooks list. [9] The next week, the book was the 6th sold among fiction novels on Amazon. [10] It debuted at No. 5 on the USA Today bestseller list. [11] On The Wall Street Journal fiction bestseller list, the book debuted at No. 2. [12] In the first week of release, The Trials of Apollo series was No. 2 on The New York Times bestseller list. [13]

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. [14] The Puffin edition also included a Percy Jackson short story. [15] Although many non-English editions used John Rocco's cover art, a few have unique covers by other illustrators. [3] Additionally, Barnes & Noble released a special edition exclusive to its customers, which also included a removable puzzle collection. [16] Another edition was also released, which included Riordan's autograph, a frontispiece, endpapers, and slipcase. [17]

The book is recommended for 12-14-year-olds on Disney's website. [18]

Sequel

The sequel, The Tyrant's Tomb , was released on September 24, 2019. [19]

The fifth book in the series, The Tower of Nero , was released in 2020.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze (Book 3), by Rick Riordan". Read Riordan.
  2. 1 2 "The Burning Maze".
  3. 1 2 "Editions of The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan". www.goodreads.com.
  4. ↑ "The On-Sale Calendar: May 2018 Children's Books".
  5. 1 2 "Children's Frontlist Fiction". Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "TOP 10 OVERALL". Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  7. ↑ "This Week's Bestsellers: May 14, 2018".
  8. ↑ "The Trials of Apollo Book Three The Burning Maze". Archived from the original on 7 May 2018.
  9. ↑ "The Trials of Apollo, Book Three: The Burning Maze Kindle Edition". Archived from the original on 7 May 2018.
  10. ↑ "Amazon Charts Top 20 Books". Amazon.com.
  11. ↑ "Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze". Archived from the original on 10 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Wall Street Journal – Best Sellers". Associated Press. 10 May 2018. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  13. ↑ "Children's Series Books - Best Sellers - The New York Times".
  14. ↑ "The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo Book 3) by Rick Riordan". www.penguin.co.uk.
  15. ↑ "Out now! Percy Jackson: The Burning Maze, third title in Rick Riordan's The Trials of Apollo series".
  16. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "The Burning Maze (B&N Exclusive Edition) (The Trials of Apollo Series #3)". Barnes & Noble.
  17. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "The Burning Maze (Special Limited Edition) (The Trials of Apollo Series #3)". Barnes & Noble.
  18. ↑ "The Burning Maze - Disney Books - Disney Publishing Worldwide".
  19. ↑ "The Tyrant's Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4)". Goodreads . Retrieved 23 May 2018.
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