The Burning Maze

The third Trials of Apollo book is where Rick Riordan stops playing it safe. Apollo — still stuck as the hapless teenager Lester — and Meg navigate the Labyrinth into the American Southwest, and the stakes finally feel real. A major character death lands with genuine emotional weight, and the series earns a new seriousness here. The mythology is woven in with Riordan's usual invention, and the pacing is sharp. Parents should know this one is meaningfully darker than earlier entries: graphic violence, a significant death, an attempted-suicide subplot, and Apollo's recalled loves including both genders. Common Sense Media rates it 12-plus, and that feels right — sensitive younger readers should wait. For established fans in the appropriate age range, it's the series at its most resonant.