#94 The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
This book has spoilers for previous volumes in the Percy Jackson Series. There are no real spoilers for The Last Olympian.
Percy Jackson knows that he is the subject of a great prophecy. At sixteen, he will make one choice that will determine the fate of the world, quite a hefty responsibility for a high school sophomore. War is brewing between the gods and the Titans, with the kids at Camp Half-Blood caught up in between. When a powerful Titan named Typhon begins a rampage across the country, the gods must rally together to hope to bring him down, leaving only Percy and the other demi-gods behind to defend Olympus against Kronos, the lord of time.
The Last Olympian is a satisfying conclusion to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The most action packed of all five books, Riordan delivers a conclusion that is not only exciting, and epic in scale, but filled with great character moments. Percy not only has to defend all of New York City against Kronos, but sort out his romantic feelings for his friends Annabeth and Rachel before the book is through. The Last Olympian is the most serious in tone of all five books. Characters that we've know for several books do end up dying. At the same time, I was happy to see that the author did not abandon the humor of the series, which has always been one of my favorite parts. The ending of the novel is incredibly satisfying, as Riordan manages to resolve all of the plot-lines in a satisfying way while leaving a window open for a future series.
There were a few things that surprised me about this book, which is interesting because I've always found this series a bit predictable (it still is, but less so in this volume than others). For one, I did not expect the battle for Manhattan to take up more than half the book. Riordan does a great job of keeping the tension up by providing action sequence after action sequence. The result does not feel episodic at all (as previous books in the series did), but rather nail biting. Another thing I didn't expect was how Manhattan became almost a character in itself this book. Riordan, obviously knowledgeable about the city, does a great job of incorporating real life details into the novel. We've seen this in previous volumes of the series, which were always road trip novels. but not to this extent. One great example, is when Percy brings the lions in front of the New York Public Library to life in order to help defend the city. These little details do a great job of making the battle seem more grounded in reality, and somehow more believable than if the book had described Percy fighting next to random buildings, and detail-less statues.
Fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will find an enjoyable read in The Last Olympian. Reading this series this year has been quite a journey. Although I had some frustrating moments with The Sea of Monsters, the series itself has been overall satisfying and I look forward to reading more novels written by Rick Riordan in the future.
Rating: four and a half stars
Length: I was listening to the audiobook, but the print version is 381 pages
Source: Lewiston Public Library
Similar book: Eion Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series and The Harry Potter Series ( read my reviews)
Other books I've read by this author: The Lightning Thief ( my review), The Sea of Monsters ( my revivew), and The Titan's Curse ( my review), The Battle of the Labyrinth ( my review)
xposted to temporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads
Percy Jackson knows that he is the subject of a great prophecy. At sixteen, he will make one choice that will determine the fate of the world, quite a hefty responsibility for a high school sophomore. War is brewing between the gods and the Titans, with the kids at Camp Half-Blood caught up in between. When a powerful Titan named Typhon begins a rampage across the country, the gods must rally together to hope to bring him down, leaving only Percy and the other demi-gods behind to defend Olympus against Kronos, the lord of time.
The Last Olympian is a satisfying conclusion to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The most action packed of all five books, Riordan delivers a conclusion that is not only exciting, and epic in scale, but filled with great character moments. Percy not only has to defend all of New York City against Kronos, but sort out his romantic feelings for his friends Annabeth and Rachel before the book is through. The Last Olympian is the most serious in tone of all five books. Characters that we've know for several books do end up dying. At the same time, I was happy to see that the author did not abandon the humor of the series, which has always been one of my favorite parts. The ending of the novel is incredibly satisfying, as Riordan manages to resolve all of the plot-lines in a satisfying way while leaving a window open for a future series.
There were a few things that surprised me about this book, which is interesting because I've always found this series a bit predictable (it still is, but less so in this volume than others). For one, I did not expect the battle for Manhattan to take up more than half the book. Riordan does a great job of keeping the tension up by providing action sequence after action sequence. The result does not feel episodic at all (as previous books in the series did), but rather nail biting. Another thing I didn't expect was how Manhattan became almost a character in itself this book. Riordan, obviously knowledgeable about the city, does a great job of incorporating real life details into the novel. We've seen this in previous volumes of the series, which were always road trip novels. but not to this extent. One great example, is when Percy brings the lions in front of the New York Public Library to life in order to help defend the city. These little details do a great job of making the battle seem more grounded in reality, and somehow more believable than if the book had described Percy fighting next to random buildings, and detail-less statues.
Fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will find an enjoyable read in The Last Olympian. Reading this series this year has been quite a journey. Although I had some frustrating moments with The Sea of Monsters, the series itself has been overall satisfying and I look forward to reading more novels written by Rick Riordan in the future.
Rating: four and a half stars
Length: I was listening to the audiobook, but the print version is 381 pages
Source: Lewiston Public Library
Similar book: Eion Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series and The Harry Potter Series ( read my reviews)
Other books I've read by this author: The Lightning Thief ( my review), The Sea of Monsters ( my revivew), and The Titan's Curse ( my review), The Battle of the Labyrinth ( my review)
xposted to temporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads