The Blood Of Olympus

Well, after ten novels, it's time to say good-bye to Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and the other residents of Camp Half-Blood – not to mention their new-found allies and friends (when they're not trying to wipe them out) from Camp Jupiter. But first they have to stop Gaea and her army of giants from wiping out the gods, humanity, and all life as we know it.

Just another day for these demi-gods, really.

As is the norm for Riordan's books, our heroes are faced with a series of tasks which build up to a major confrontation – this time, a couple of them. It's amusing as usual to see these kids outwit various minor gods, titans, etc. Good teacher that he is, Riordan gives his readers plenty of education about the Greek and Roman pantheons under the thin disguise of plot development.

The big epic battles that he's been building for since the beginning of this series – well, they were epic. They were tension filled. And still managed to be funny. And will likely be read with breaths caught, and lumps in throats. Possibly the funniest visual in Riordan's works appears in the midst of one of these battles, and for a second I was torn between enjoying it and turning the page to find out what happened next.

My one quibble was that the resolution to the Gaea story was a little too easy, a little too quick after all this build up. Still, the way he wrapped up the other story lines and conflicts was sufficient, so I was able to move past it easily. Riordan continues dabbling in themes I'd prefer not to see in MG books, but I know I'm in the minority on that.

At the end of the day, especially at this point in these series, it's the characters that readers care about. I read this ahead of my son (who started these back when there were only three in the original series, and is now a good deal older than the target audience) and made a joke about something bad happening to Grover – and the glare he gave me probably took a year off my life. It'd that kind of dedication that Riordan instills in his fans. As such, there's plenty of development and resolution given to these characters – Riordan doesn't spell out their futures the way that Rowling did at the end of her series, but he gives us enough to be able to say good-bye.

Riordan does right by his characters – Reyna, Jason, and Frank particularly. Annabeth and Piper shine like neither has before. And Leo Valdez is developed best of all (if I'm going to talk about my son's soft spot for Grover, I'd better be honest about my Leo-centric focus). I'm not saying they all survive, or are otherwise unscathed, but Riordan treats his characters with respect and keeps his readers turning the pages.

It'll be odd not getting a new adventure with these characters next year, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Riordan does with the Norse pantheon (and learning about them, too).

Perfection! This series was perfection. I laugh-cried near the end so much.

This was a stunning conclusion to The Heroes of Olympus series. The ending was really nice, especially the part with Nico and Will 😂 The final battle and conclusion was everything I like in Riordan's books. So many people worked together. Super fun to read. Tied up so many loose ends and set up for Trials of Apollo.
Also, pretty hardcover.

SPOILERS

I really liked the book, altough I was pretty disappointed that there were no Percy and/or Annabeth chapters, and those two are my favorite characters, especially Percy, he's so funny ^^. But I have really come to like Nico in this book, I already really liked him, but he's grown on me even more. I am also very glad that he finally found happiness. It was one of my favorite parts of the book where he told Percy that he had had a crush on him this whole time and Percy was totally flabbergasted and Annabeth highfived him and then he went back to what I think to be his futere boyfriend. I totally ship them!!(Wico?) ;P
So all with all; I really liked it, but it could have been better.

To me the best part of the entire series was that one chapter when Leo met Calypso on the island. The way Rick Riordan developed the relationship between them...it's just sooo good, and he did it all in a chapter. The beginning of the chapter was when they first met and tensions were high, but at the end of the chapter they couldn't bear parting with each other. First read it when i was 12, then reread it again when I was 15 and this part still trumps every other moment in the series for me.

WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL ENDING.
Like, don't get me wrong, this isn't the best book in the series imo. But if you've read any series of books published within like the past eight years or so, then you know damn well that the ending is often a hassle and sometimes disappointing too.
THIS WAS NOT THAT.
It did not beat House of Hades for me, but I think I can honestly say that it's probably only because of the lack of Percy and Annabeth chapters.
Don't get me wrong, Jason and Piper are GREAT characters, BUT their chaptors just aren't as good as any of the other characters. Like don't even get me started on Reyna and Nico who absolutely delivered the best chapters of them all in this book, like they had me hooked from the first word every single time a new chapter with them started. Their plotline was just the greatest, and I really finally started to appreciate Coach's presence during those chapters. And Leo did his part well too, like Leo is just such a good character to come from these books, and everybody knows it. But the absence of Percy and Annabeth chapters, like idk they're just more fun to read from than Jason and Piper.
BUT THE BOOK WAS SUPER DUPER WUPER LUPER GOOD, OKAY, PLEASE GO READ THIS SERIES, IT'S LITERALLY SO GOOD

FANTÁSTICO!!!
Não salvou meu último update mas, Okay, os sentimentos são os mesmos. São até mais!
Chorei como se estivesse, lendo um romance bem água com açúcar, em cada cena de luta não com o medo da batalha mas com todo o sentimento lá envolvido. Cada olhada que alguém direcionava a Leo...
Como pode, né!?
A escrita impecável, era como um real filme passando pela cabeça. Eles, lutando com os deuses, lutando os 7 como uma equipe! A união dos dois acampamentos, tão ricamente descritos...
A luta final com Gaia. Começou com os 3, Piper, Jason e Leo, e termina com os três.
Um desfecho simples, (claro, um esforço do Hades, mas ótimo). Achei sutil e a cara nobre de atitudes impensáveis de dar adeus ao Leo...

This book was definitely amazing. I am hoping Rick Riordan will make an exception to his five books in a series rule so we can see Leo reunite with the other demigods. First of all, I just want to make sure Leo gets off the island okay. Back to the point, this was a very good book. They finally defeated Gea, and there were lots of major plot twists like Leo waking up at the end, how all his friends thought he died, Nico and Will (yuch), and basically how all the demigods can live peacefully and happily. Now I just hope that Rick Riordan decides to make a series about Jason or someone, because I don't think I could wait more than another year for greek mythology goodness.

I have that feeling you get at the end of a long series. It's strange that it's over!

I made a point to reread the whole Heroes of Olympus series before this book. I was trying to do it before the final book came out, but I was still 1.5 books behind when release day came. I managed to keep myself rereading before diving into the new book, and I'm glad I did. I didn't remember the first couple of books very well and I felt like I really knew the characters much better.

SpoilerI think it's interesting that there were no chapters from Percy or Annabeth's POVs, but the first book in this series didn't have Percy in it at all, so maybe it was a bookending thing. I did feel like, after a book full of scenes with Percy/Annabeth alone together in House of Hades, there wasn't enough resolution for them without any of their POVs.

I'm really glad that Leo ended up with Calypso after he “died”

Rick Riordan announced a series called “Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard” which is obviously Norse mythology, but people also wondered if he's related to Annabeth Chase. There was a throwaway comment made by Annabeth about an uncle and cousin in Boston that she hasn't seen in a long time. I'm guessing that's the tie-in.