The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
Might contain spoilers.
A grand and satisfying conclusion to the series. I’m so happy Nico and Reyna found a friendship with each other, and with Coach Hedge too. I firmly agree with Hades’s unexpected but touching sentiments: Nico has had more pain and angst than anyone should be expected to bear, and he deserves all the happiness he can get. I welcome the romance with Will Solace even though it’s a bit of an afterthought and a bit pat. Meanwhile, Reyna was a bit bland in earlier books and I had forgotten she was a viewpoint character in this one—she’s so much more interesting than we’d been led to believe, and just as deserving of happiness. I cried at many things, like when she pulls Nico into the light and hugs him as even he cries into her shoulders.
The way Nico destroyed Bryce may have been scary but from where I stood it was both amazing and
entirely deserved. Nike is hilarious (YOU CAN DO BETTER, STORM! GIVE ME A HUNDRED AND TEN
PERCENT!
). It’s so cute how Clarisse follows Coach Hedge’s family through the camp as a protective
godmother. It’s too bad the Hunters of Artemis didn’t make an appearance in the final battle,
though, or the real Party Ponies. I missed Dionysus, too. Where were all of them?[1]
The Olympians joining the fight in the Parthenon (complete with the Fates clubbing Agrius into dust) immediately after the restoration of the Athena Parthenos is awesome. Leo swooping in on Festus to grab the newly-awakened Gaia before she can do anything (finally, his chance to shine) is awesome. Jason getting glasses is… hilarious and the most humanizing thing to happen to him in the entire series, but his grand entrance as he lifts his lance, wreathes himself in lightning, and leaps forward to stab Porphyrion is awesome. I can just imagine it in slow motion. On the other hand, I like Piper and I don’t have any complaints about her character, but I do feel as though her arc was completed in the first three books.
Percy really is more a force of nature than an ordinary character. I think the story had to have Jason save him under the ocean to emphasize that he’s still fallible or else he’d just have been a walking deus ex machina.[2] He was never timid, selfish, or weak, but he grows before our eyes, and becomes such a strong hero and leader. I don’t quite feel the same way about Annabeth because even though she’s also grown and matured over time—and is the true leader of the camp—the change isn’t as drastic. She was always wise and quite levelheaded, despite how young she was when we first met her. (On an unrelated note, her fear of Percy’s bloodlust in Tartarus from the previous book doesn’t seem to be addressed, only discussed, even if he himself does see the parallels later when he’s surrounded by poison underwater.)
I’m sad that this series is finished and there are no more Percy Jackson stories, but I wish the entire cast peace and happiness. Particularly Percy and Annabeth, of course. And I can only hope somewhere the gods have smiled on Damasen and Bob as well.