Ratings: ★★★★★
After a year of not reading this series I cannot believe that I made it to the grand finale and it was epic, beautiful, and satisfying. All I got to say is that this book should have been longer like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I blame that on Riordan's part of creating a major gap of time between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian. I witness maturity in this book as we come to full circle with the gang and I wish that Percy was already in high school and the prophecy was meant for him when he turns 18 because it would have impacted me more than having him as young teenager.
This book jumps ahead one year after the previous book and Percy is with Rachel Elizabeth Dare on summer vacation away from the city. You do not get the luxury of knowing what has happened within the missing gap year but apparently everything was amazing even though Kronos is preparing a war that hasn't been seen in eons. Percy is a confused teen because he has intense feelings for Annabeth but between what happen in the previous book and the avoiding the topic of Luke, he is unclear where he stands with her while Rachel is taking the opportunity of being a flirt and trying to hook up with Percy even though its clear he is destined for Annabeth.
Out of nowhere Blackjack storms in and lands in front of Percy warning him that the moment has arrived. Percy quickly rushes off to begin the plan of destroying a ship that has tons of monsters and Kronos heading to Manhattan. Everything goes according to plan except that Kronos was expecting them already meaning that there is a spy in Camp Half-Blood. In an attempt to succeed the plan, Charles Beckendorf decides to sacrifice himself in order for Percy to escape the explosion.
Between the previous book and this first major death, Percy realizes that this is war and tons of innocent people are going to die because of Kronos and him. Plus he discovered that Kronos who is possessing Luke's body is indestructible and cannot be easily destroyed.
While all this drama is going on hell is breaking loose everywhere around this Earth. Poseidon is having war in the ocean with the other Titans, the Olympians are trying to kill Typhon as he is trying to reach Olympus and destroy the Gods. Each day grows darker for demigods and Gods alike and only Percy and his friends are the last hope for Mankind. Percy finally receives the Great Prophecy and he learns that he may die while protecting Olympus and decides that if he is going to die then he is going to die without a fight.
Nico di Angelo comes along pressuring Percy that in order to defeat Kronos/Luke, he needs to know more about Luke's past in order to understand everything. Plus Nico has been pressuring Percy that he needs to get stronger in order to have a chance of winning and to do that he needs to dive into the River Styx and suffer its toxic waters in order to get the special ability of super strength but at the cost that he has an Achilles heel in the center of his back and if anyone stabs him at that exact spot then his mortality will reveal and he will die instantly. Sounds fun.
All that drama sounds like it could be the summary of the entire book but that is only a glimpse into this grand finale. This book reminded me so much of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and since they shared similarities that means like the Battle at Hogwarts that we witness, as readers we get to witness the Battle for Olympus in Manhattan. I believe this book has become my favorite Percy Jackson book because the characters are older, the superficial innocence adventures are gone, and I believe this book feels older and mature between the fights, the drama, and the darkness that creeps into this book.
If I have to give a rant about this book I will have to say that I wished Rick Riordan had spend time on the minor characters. Unlike J.K. Rowling, she dedicated her time introducing everyone and making sure that even the minor characters were just as important as the main three and when some of them died you felt the pain and sadness of their deaths. Since Rick Riordan was trying to stay true to Greek Mythology and having the main cast go off on quests, we didn't get to see much of the minor characters and because of that I believe that their deaths was less impactful and because they are so young I didn't find it relatable compare to Harry Potter.
I do not know why and I would love to know if anyone else got this vibe but I felt like the ending of this book was a direct copy between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz. What I mean by that especially with Star Wars is how everyone taught that Luke Skywalker was the chosen one when in fact it was his father (Thank God! I do not like you Luke).
Except for few of the Gods, everyone predicted that Percy was the hero of the Prophecy who would either destroy or help Olympus and die at the end. Midway through Rachel Elizabeth Dare clears that up for us and I can understand how Percy was pissed off about this whole ordeal. I felt like Rick Riordan did this on purpose with naming the main villain as Luke so in a tiny way he could correct another fantasy series before a famous someone filmed the prequels.
With Wizard of Oz is because how each and everyone in this series was award for their bravery. Literally it was like watching the movie and instead of courage, intelligence, and heart we get special titles and special bragging rights. I have to admit that I agree with Percy Jackson's wish to the Gods but I will say that if I were him I would have dumped Annabeth and received the God's generous offer.
Annabeth in the last few books was very difficult to deal with and because of that she came off as this obnoxious girl that I didn't want to deal with at all. I loved her in the beginning and seek forgiveness by the end of this book but I wanted Percy to be this phenomenon and not be tied down because of one person. Rick Riordan needs to wrap this series with a bow and I understand Percy Jackson decision but Annabeth shouldn't have been the only reason for this grand decision.
I am very pleased with this series and I believe for those who have never read Percy Jackson, you should definitely pick it up and by the time your reached the Titan's curse, the series become infinitesimal fantastic and plenty of action to witness. I cannot wait to dive deeper into Rick Riordan's books and I cannot believe this is a goodbye to all these lovely characters. Until next time...
P.S. This series finally completes my 2014 BookTubeAThon challenge! Begin and finish a series. It is never too late to finish any task!
This book jumps ahead one year after the previous book and Percy is with Rachel Elizabeth Dare on summer vacation away from the city. You do not get the luxury of knowing what has happened within the missing gap year but apparently everything was amazing even though Kronos is preparing a war that hasn't been seen in eons. Percy is a confused teen because he has intense feelings for Annabeth but between what happen in the previous book and the avoiding the topic of Luke, he is unclear where he stands with her while Rachel is taking the opportunity of being a flirt and trying to hook up with Percy even though its clear he is destined for Annabeth.
Out of nowhere Blackjack storms in and lands in front of Percy warning him that the moment has arrived. Percy quickly rushes off to begin the plan of destroying a ship that has tons of monsters and Kronos heading to Manhattan. Everything goes according to plan except that Kronos was expecting them already meaning that there is a spy in Camp Half-Blood. In an attempt to succeed the plan, Charles Beckendorf decides to sacrifice himself in order for Percy to escape the explosion.
Between the previous book and this first major death, Percy realizes that this is war and tons of innocent people are going to die because of Kronos and him. Plus he discovered that Kronos who is possessing Luke's body is indestructible and cannot be easily destroyed.
While all this drama is going on hell is breaking loose everywhere around this Earth. Poseidon is having war in the ocean with the other Titans, the Olympians are trying to kill Typhon as he is trying to reach Olympus and destroy the Gods. Each day grows darker for demigods and Gods alike and only Percy and his friends are the last hope for Mankind. Percy finally receives the Great Prophecy and he learns that he may die while protecting Olympus and decides that if he is going to die then he is going to die without a fight.
Nico di Angelo comes along pressuring Percy that in order to defeat Kronos/Luke, he needs to know more about Luke's past in order to understand everything. Plus Nico has been pressuring Percy that he needs to get stronger in order to have a chance of winning and to do that he needs to dive into the River Styx and suffer its toxic waters in order to get the special ability of super strength but at the cost that he has an Achilles heel in the center of his back and if anyone stabs him at that exact spot then his mortality will reveal and he will die instantly. Sounds fun.
All that drama sounds like it could be the summary of the entire book but that is only a glimpse into this grand finale. This book reminded me so much of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and since they shared similarities that means like the Battle at Hogwarts that we witness, as readers we get to witness the Battle for Olympus in Manhattan. I believe this book has become my favorite Percy Jackson book because the characters are older, the superficial innocence adventures are gone, and I believe this book feels older and mature between the fights, the drama, and the darkness that creeps into this book.
If I have to give a rant about this book I will have to say that I wished Rick Riordan had spend time on the minor characters. Unlike J.K. Rowling, she dedicated her time introducing everyone and making sure that even the minor characters were just as important as the main three and when some of them died you felt the pain and sadness of their deaths. Since Rick Riordan was trying to stay true to Greek Mythology and having the main cast go off on quests, we didn't get to see much of the minor characters and because of that I believe that their deaths was less impactful and because they are so young I didn't find it relatable compare to Harry Potter.
I do not know why and I would love to know if anyone else got this vibe but I felt like the ending of this book was a direct copy between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz. What I mean by that especially with Star Wars is how everyone taught that Luke Skywalker was the chosen one when in fact it was his father (Thank God! I do not like you Luke).
Except for few of the Gods, everyone predicted that Percy was the hero of the Prophecy who would either destroy or help Olympus and die at the end. Midway through Rachel Elizabeth Dare clears that up for us and I can understand how Percy was pissed off about this whole ordeal. I felt like Rick Riordan did this on purpose with naming the main villain as Luke so in a tiny way he could correct another fantasy series before a famous someone filmed the prequels.
With Wizard of Oz is because how each and everyone in this series was award for their bravery. Literally it was like watching the movie and instead of courage, intelligence, and heart we get special titles and special bragging rights. I have to admit that I agree with Percy Jackson's wish to the Gods but I will say that if I were him I would have dumped Annabeth and received the God's generous offer.
Annabeth in the last few books was very difficult to deal with and because of that she came off as this obnoxious girl that I didn't want to deal with at all. I loved her in the beginning and seek forgiveness by the end of this book but I wanted Percy to be this phenomenon and not be tied down because of one person. Rick Riordan needs to wrap this series with a bow and I understand Percy Jackson decision but Annabeth shouldn't have been the only reason for this grand decision.
I am very pleased with this series and I believe for those who have never read Percy Jackson, you should definitely pick it up and by the time your reached the Titan's curse, the series become infinitesimal fantastic and plenty of action to witness. I cannot wait to dive deeper into Rick Riordan's books and I cannot believe this is a goodbye to all these lovely characters. Until next time...
P.S. This series finally completes my 2014 BookTubeAThon challenge! Begin and finish a series. It is never too late to finish any task!
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