A book can get away with one or two coincidences to get the plot going, but it’s unwise to lean on coincidence too much. It’s a fun little section, and resolved in a way that clearly calls to mind actual mythology, but I can’t help but find myself just a trifle bothered by the fact that Percy and the gang have again stumbled into something they need purely by chance. I wonder if it will later be revealed that they fell into such things via divine guidance, or if it won’t be pointed out at all. Dispatching him leads them to the address to the Underworld entrance.
Or the comments, if you like…īuying a bed from a guy named “Crusty” probably isn’t a good idea, even if he isn’t a homocidal maniac.Īnd that’s when the chapter title comes into play at “Crusty’s Water Bed Palace.” Haven’t these kids learned not to talk to strange looking people who insist on trying to sell them things unrelated to their urgent quest?! “Crusty” turns out to be none other than Procrustes the Stretcher, who then tries to stretch them out to his exacting bed-size standards. I’m not sure Annabeth’s statement is entirely accurate (the gods often supported their champions with gifts, not all of which came at any price beyond facing the dangers they were already going to face), but that’s a debate for another time. Powerful stuff, but Annabeth warns that nothing comes free. They seem to be multi-purpose get-out-of-jail-free cards.
PERCY JACKSON THE LIGHTNING THIEF CHAPTER 17 DRIVER
So they make it to the Pacific coastline by taxi (I wonder if that Lotus credit card they give the cab driver will actually work, or if the driver will somehow get hit for credit card fraud in a month) where Percy picks up three pearls from the Nereid (yay!) he met in St. This is a novel, after all this stuff has to come out! (Sherlock Holmes would be so disappointed.) I’m glad Annabeth is at least suspicious, but she can’t keep those suspicions bottled up forever. It’s gotten to the point where they’re now twisting facts to suit theories rather than theories to suit facts. (Actually, this is the mysterious Monster in the Darkness from Rich Burlew’s Order of the Stick.)Īnnabeth’s suspicions don’t prevent them from continuing to try to suspect Hades.