The Burning Maze

Unreleased

The Burning Maze is the third book in The Trials of Apollo series written by Rick Riordan. It is stated for release on May 1, 2018.

Synopsis
''The formerly glorious god Apollo, cast down to earth in punishment by Zeus, is now an awkward mortal teenager named Lester Papadopoulos. In order to regain his place on Mount Olympus, Lester must restore five Oracles that have gone dark. But he has to achieve this impossible task without having any godly powers and while being duty-bound to a confounding young daughter of Demeter named Meg. Thanks a lot, Dad''.

''With the help of some demigod friends, Lester managed to survive his first two trials, one at Camp Half-Blood, and one in Indianapolis, where Meg received the Dark Prophecy. The words she uttered while seated on the Throne of Memory revealed that an evil triumvirate of Roman emperors plans to attack Camp Jupiter. While Leo flies ahead on Festus to warn the Roman camp, Lester and Meg must go through the Labyrinth to find the third emperor—and an Oracle who speaks in word puzzles—somewhere in the American Southwest. There is one glimmer of hope in the gloom-filled prophecy: The cloven guide alone the way does know. They will have a satyr companion, and Meg knows just who to call upon…''

Development
The cover and excerpt of the first chapter of this book was released on January, 17th, 2018.

Starting on April 11th, 2018, a series of exercise videos featuring Gleeson Hedge were shown to promote the book.

Plot
Human Apollo, Meg McCaffrey, and Grover Underwood have been navigating through the Labyrinth for two days. They come across a narrow passage and barely miss a blast of fire, that means their getting close. Suddenly, they start to get chased by strixes, owl-like creatures who eat human flesh and will curse anyone who kills them. Upon reaching a fifty-foot circular chamber, Meg and Grover manage to hold most of them back with tomato plants but one breaks free and paralyzes Apollo. Grover, who can talk to animals, tries to makes peace with the strix. But the bird of ill omen replies that the emperor commanded them to eat them. Meg accidentally kills that strix by sending it flying into the brick wall. She and Grover make the tomato barrier stronger and duct tape Apollo to the satyr's back. During the climbing Apollo takes the Arrow of Dodona out for advice out the strixes. Meg couldn't summon Peaches to help fight and the strixes break free. The arrow says they can be repelled with "arbutus". Grover suddenly summons Panic which he received from Pan, all the strixes flee. Meg got paralyzed from the waist down but Apollo is feeling better, enough to be released from Grover's back. The top of the chamber was a domed ceiling, but Grover sees that it looks familiar. He and Meg realize that arbutus plants resemble strawberries. The strixes are coming back so Meg plants her seeds on the ramp. Grover and Apollo use music to make them explode like fireworks, the strixes hate that. Suddenly, the chamber rumbled, the strawberries were breaking the dome. The rocks kill the strixes but the plants continue to grow, the three used them as a trampoline to get out. Apollo gives Meg Ambrosia for the paralysis, they have reached Grover's base.

In a dream, Apollo sees a young woman handcuffed over a pool of lava. She apologizes to someone, and says Apollo must come save her even though it is a trap. After the woman dissolves into flames, the dream transitioned. This time Apollo was in a terrace near the Gulf of Naples at night. A young man is approached by a stronger man who calls him Princeps. The strong man has just killed someone with the victim's own pillow, the younger man said the "old pig" deserved it as he's been waiting years for him to die. When stepped into the moonlight, Apollo recognizes this man as one who is handsome yet horribly evil. The stronger man yells, "Hail, Caesar!"

Apollo wakes up on a tarp in the desert near twilight. He and Meg McCaffrey passed out for hours. They are currently on the outskirts of Palm Springs, they came out of a brickwork cylinder. The nearby ruins is the base of Grover Underwood and his "others", there have been lots of abnormal natural disasters happening. Meg is not happy to be here again, apparently she's been here before. Grover directs them to some old greenhouses to introduce them to "the gang".

Chapters

 * 1) Once was Apollo/ Now a rat in the Lab’inth/ Send help. And cronuts
 * 2) Now I'm a suitcase/ Duct-taped to a satyr's back./ Worst. Morning. Ever.
 * 3) Strixes do sucketh/ Yea, verily I tell you/ Much sucking is theirs
 * 4) Welcome to my base/ We have rocks, sand, and ruins/ Did I mentions rocks?