Percy Jackson & The Olympians: Book IV: The Battle of The Labyrinth - A Season for the Most Grotesque-Looking Monsters, and Beginning of A War!

Title: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Book Four: The Battle of The Labyrinth

Author: Rick Riordan

Price: RM49.90

Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children

361 pages

Beware! Spoilers Inside.


Salam. Hey, finally the wait is over! I can finally breathe again. I've waited so long for this wonderfully woven tale. If you have read my earliest book entry here, I already told you guys about the Percy series. This is actually the fourth of five instalments of the chronicles. So if you want to know more about the first three books, check out my post on Percy Jackson & The Olympians, or just google them in a click away. (Oh yea, excuse me for suddenly using English, because I think English books with so many weird terms should be explained in the language itself. and, FYI, the post that I mentioned before is in Malay, and not very detailed). Now let's go through the fourth book.

If you are following the story you should remember that the previous year, Percy got attacked by a manticore (lion with head of a man). This time two empousai (now monsters having one donkey-like leg, one bronze leg and brazen slippers, with nasty fangs) in cheerleaders uniform wanted to kill him in his new school. Accidentally he is in the same school with Rachel Dare, a mortal with the power to see through the Mist. Well, Percy actually met her in Hoover Dam when he is trying to save Annabeth in the Titan's Curse (Book 3).

Aww, this is going to be long, guess I'll have to make it shorter.

Well, after killing one empousa, and got the other threatening to destroy Camp Half-Blood, Percy immediately went there with Annabeth. On their arrival Percy discovers Dionysus' absence and Grover in a hearing to revoke his searcher's license after 6 months claiming that he heard Pan waiting for him. Percy also met Quintus, a new but mysterious swordsman.

Then, when playing a deadly camp game, Percy and Annabeth found an entrance to the Labyrinth. Luke is trying to invade camp from the entrance within the camp. This leads to a quest to search for Daedalus, the Greek inventor of the Labyrinth. But the only way that was known to steer the Labyrinth and not getting lost inside the maze is by using Ariadne's string. Annabeth, who was assigned to get the string from Daedalus before Luke does, enters the Labyrinth, together with Grover, who got his last chance to prove his claim in one week, Percy and Tyson, Percy's half-brother.

Don't forget Nico, Hades' son! He is trying to awaken his sister Bianca back to life. Falsely believing in King Minos' ghost advice, which is to trade soul with someone who cheated death with his sister's, Nico led his way inside the Labyrinth to find Daedalus to kill him. without knowing, Nico is helping the ghost king to seek revenge thousands of years ago.

Well, basically they all gather inside the Labyrinth and met all kinds of creatures, whether god or monsters. The characters are getiing weirder and weirder throughout the book! Let's see..we have Kampé, a vicious woman waist-up with a bottom part of a dragon, bat-like wings, Medusa-like hair and a 'belt' with animal faces transforming. Annabeth also met Janus, a minor god of doorways and choices, which unsurprisingly has two faces instead of one. Then we'll see Hekatonkheires, telekhines, dracenae, Laistrygonians, Typhon, Geryon, and, for your sake, a Sphinx, which I'm sure that this is the only creature that almost everybody is familiar with (and maybe the easiest to pronounce, too). But since they cannot go further unless they get lost and attacked, Rachel Dare finally came to the rescue. Surely you'll notice Annabeth is getting jealous!

Basically there are so many stories to tell, boy, should you read it by yourself. Especially the part when the half-bloods are preparing for the last battle with Kronos, the Titan Lord who has finally been resurrected from the pit of Tartarus. Seriously, it's exhilarating! The mysteries are solved well, and the ending was well written. Sad enough to hear that this series only has one more to come. Ah, I'm going to miss these stories after the launch of Book 5!



I've been thinking to rewrite the reviews for the other three books, in individual posts.

Before I forgot! Tell you something, what I bought was actually the first upper pic you see. The second pic in purple, is the UK-version new cover! It's improved and more beautiful than the previous ones, don't you agree? You can see Percy there with his Anaklusmos and watch/shield facing the nastiest monster yet, Kampé. Unfortunately, it will start to be sold in July, so anyone interested, you would have to wait for a little bit longer.

Hey, don't forget to check out the author's new and improved website, with more exciting features here. For the official website of the book, click here. Like the new British covers more than the American's? Click here.

Well, gotta go. Grab the book while it's still hot!

Karbala: Kuntuman Bunga yang Gugur

Judul: Karbala
Penulis: Faisal Tehrani
Penerbit: Aberdeen
Tahun: 2008
Harga: RM18.80

" Bahawa setahun setelah kelahiran Hasan, Fatimah melahirkan Husin. Nabi datang kepadanya dan berkata, ‘Wahai Asma, berikanlah kepadaku puteraku.’ Kemudian dia menyerahkannya dengan diselimuti kain putih. Nabi mengazankannya pada telinga yang kanan dan mengiqamatkan pada telinga yang kiri, kemudian meletakkan dalam pangkuannya dan menangis. Asma kehairanan dan bertanya kepada Nabi.’ Demi ayah dan ibuku apa yang menyebabkan engkau menangis ya Rasul? Nabi menjawab, ‘Kerana puteraku ini’. Asma berkata, ‘Dia baru sahaja lahir.’ Nabi menjawab, ‘Wahai Asma, dia akan dibunuh oleh kelompok yang zalim, yang tidak akan mendapat syafaatku.’ Kemudian Nabi berkata, ‘Wahai Asma, janganlah engkau memberitahu Fatimah akan hal ini kerana dia baru sahaja melahirkannya.’ "


Jujur saya katakan, hampir tidak pernah saya mendengar kisah pembunuhan Saidina Husin, cucu baginda Nabi SAW. Mungkin hanya sedikit, amat sedikit, ketika di sekolah menengah dahulu. Dan tidak silap saya kerana ketika itu lsaya selalu mendengar lagu kumpulan nasyid Far East bertajuk "A'syura", yang liriknya hanya disebutkan kalimah Al-Husaini yang merujuk kepada Husin. Begini liriknya sedikit sebanyak:

Lembut tuturmu tegas membela agama

Gagah berani tiada tandingnya

Mulia akhlakmu didikan rumah kenabian

Penyinar segala kegelapan

Ibundamu penghulu wanita di syurga

Jelmaan bidadari di dunia

Menyintainya adalah suatu ibadah

Puteri kesayangan Rasulullah

Al-Husaini

Kepahitanmu kurasai

Terkorban kau menentang kemungkaran

Rebah tersungkur masih di dalam senyuman

Tabah hati menempuh cabaran

Ya Allah sampaikan salamku kepadanya

Pemergian tiada pengganti

Pemuda syurga gelaranmu di dunia

Kau pepohon penyinta ketaqwaan

Zuhud sifatmu redha setiap ketetapan

Pedoman engkaulah tauladan

Hancur tubuhmu bercerai di Karbala

Darah suci merah mengalir

Tenang nafasmu menyahut panggilan syuhada

Iringan wangian pengasih

Sayu, bukan? Susunan irama dalam lagu ini turut menghidupkan 'ratapan' terhadap kesyahidan cucunda nabi kita ini. Begitulah, karya Faisal Tehrani ini, cukup menghibakan. Sentiasa merentap hati pembaca menyedarkan tentang peristiwa berdarah 10 Muharam yang kita panggil dengan Hari Asyura. Di padang pasir Karbala, Saidina Husin bersama kurang dari 100 orang Islam dibunuh oleh kuncu-kuncu Yazid bin Muawiyah. Bekalan air diputuskan, tentera dibunuh, dipancung kepala, dirobek sesuka hati. Masya-Allah!

Karbala sebenarnya sebuah novel drama, mengambil konsep dramaturgi Syiah yang dipanggil ta'ziyeh atau ta'ziyah. Dalam sebuah ta'ziyah, tiada pelakon khusus untuk satu-satu watak. Pelakon-pelakon dibahagikan kepada dua kumpulan yakni orang soleh dan golongan fasik. Apabila watak Saidina Husin dikemukakan di pentas, maka salah seorang dari kumpulan orang soleh akan terus maju untuk melakonkan watak tersebut. Bagi babak lain mungkin orang lain pula yang membawa watak tersebut. Sama situasinya dengan orang fasik. Dilatarkan dengan muzik yang merupakan asas ta'ziyeh, dari akordian dan biola contohnya, suasana medan peperangan dan juga kesayuan peristiwa itu dapat disampaikan, dihidupkan pula dengan suara latar. Seni catan atau lukisan mahupun slaid gambar latar tempat padang pasir contohnya juga digunakan bagi menambahkan lagi kesan realistik pada drama tersebut.

Melalui Karbala, saya pastinya dapat mengetahui kebenaran di sebalik peristiwa Asyura ini (akhirnya). Drama ini bagaikan benar-benar 'dipentaskan' dalam kotak fikiran saya. Mengandungi 3 babak pendek yang berasingan, saya senang mengikuti susunan tragedi yang menimpa umat Islam tika itu, biar hanya ringkas tapi padat. Tukang cerita dalam drama ini sentiasa mengingatkan pembacanya bahawa kita ini umat yang lupa, sial, sepatutnya malu kerana tidak tahu akan peristiwa besar ini. Antara yang paling melekat dalam ingatan saya ialah ayat ini: 'Nabi o nabi, layakkah aku meraih syafaatmu di akhirat kelak andai apa jadinya di Karbala pun aku tak peduli'. Semasa membaca, perasaan kasihan sentiasa datang ke jiwa ketika menghayati episod-episod penyiksaan dan penyembelihan tentera Islam di pihak Saidina Husin. Benci sebencinya pula, pada saat saya membaca epilog babak satu, ketika Syimir bin Dzil Jausyan menyembelih Saidina Husin dengan begitu angkuh sekali!

Selain ta'ziyeh, terdapat juga wawancara bersama penulis yang dalam Majalah Millenia Muslim dan Dewan Sastera. Bahagian akhir buku ini pula mengetengahkan kertas kerja sejarah Boria Pulau Pinang yang asalnya merupakan seni dari kumpulan minoriti syiah di Tanah Melayu suatu ketika dahulu, yang juga seperti ta'ziyeh, yang fungisnya untuk meratapi kesyahidan Husin. Melalui kertas kerja ini pembaca akan mengetahui lebih lanjut mengenai ta'ziyeh dan boria serta sejarah masing-masing.

Jika anda peminat setia penulis anda mungkin sedar Karbala sebenarnya telah disiarkan dalam Dewan Sastera mulai Disember 2006 hingga Julai 2007. Tahun ini akhirnya ia telahpun dibukukan bersama.

Karbala, sememangnya sejarah dan akar revolusi yang mesti dihayati oleh semua.