With The Last Olympian, Rick Riordan completes his thrilling and exciting "Percy and the Olympians" saga. Over the course of four previous volumes, (The Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, and the Battle of the Labyrinth) Riordan has introduced readers to a fully realized world that seamlessly incorporates Greek mythology with modern adolescence.
Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, is a "half-blood," an individual with one mortal and one immortal parent. Appropriately enough, since the age of 12, he has been trained in the ways of hero-ing at Camp Half Blood. His instructor is the legendary centaur Chiron, instructor to less a hero than the legendary Achilles of "The Iliad" and Trojan War fame. Together with his friend Annabeth (a daughter of Athena), and the Satyr Grover, Percy has worked to stop the return of Kronos, lord of the Titans, father of the Olympic Gods, and disembodied and imprisoned in Tartarus since the dawn of time.
In The Last Olympian, Percy must unravel one last prophecy (the mummified, disembodied spirit of the Oracle of Delphi reveals a prophecy to one half-blood in each volume of the series.) in order to confront Kronos who by now has obtained a physical form by possessing another half blood.
A half-blood of the eldest gods-
shall reach sixteen against all odds
And see the world in endless sleep
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus to preserve or raze
Along the way to the final showdown with Kronos and his army of titans, traitor half-bloods, and monsters, Percy travels to the underworld, takes a dip in the river Styx (ask Achilles how well that one works out), practices his driving, his his first (sort of) kiss, visits his father's palace at the bottom of the ocean, learns the intricacies of the prophecy, and confronts his final destiny.
The battle of New York (Mt. Olympus is located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building as it has migrated following the focal point of western civilization over the years) is well paced, exciting, and dangerous. The threats are very real, and there are casualties on both sides. Riordan knows how to raise the stakes for this last volume of the series. Statues come alive, time gets stopped, bridges and tunnels are destroyed, and both the East and Hudson rivers team up to defend the island of Manhattan.
Overall, I was sad to see Percy's adventures come to an end, although fans take heart, the book ends with a new prophecy, and his afterword, Riordan refers to the end of the current series, thus hinting that further advantures (if not of Percy, then at least set in the Camp Half Blood universe) might lie in store. I was very pleased with Riordan's interpretation of Greek mythology throughout the series, and if the cool-yet-considerably-shorter-than-me people that I hang out with on a regular basis are any indication, then the author has spurred interest in these gods, monsters, and heroes for an entire new generation.
My one dislike about this volume is the depiction of the Titan Prometheus. His story (stole fire to give to humans, and was punished by Zeuss for all eternity as a consequence) is one of my personal favorites, and I didn't appreciate him being portrayed as a slimy, smarmy wheeler-dealer wearing a tuxedo and sunglasses. Can't win them all, though...
The battle of New York (Mt. Olympus is located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building as it has migrated following the focal point of western civilization over the years) is well paced, exciting, and dangerous. The threats are very real, and there are casualties on both sides. Riordan knows how to raise the stakes for this last volume of the series. Statues come alive, time gets stopped, bridges and tunnels are destroyed, and both the East and Hudson rivers team up to defend the island of Manhattan.
Overall, I was sad to see Percy's adventures come to an end, although fans take heart, the book ends with a new prophecy, and his afterword, Riordan refers to the end of the current series, thus hinting that further advantures (if not of Percy, then at least set in the Camp Half Blood universe) might lie in store. I was very pleased with Riordan's interpretation of Greek mythology throughout the series, and if the cool-yet-considerably-shorter-than-me people that I hang out with on a regular basis are any indication, then the author has spurred interest in these gods, monsters, and heroes for an entire new generation.
My one dislike about this volume is the depiction of the Titan Prometheus. His story (stole fire to give to humans, and was punished by Zeuss for all eternity as a consequence) is one of my personal favorites, and I didn't appreciate him being portrayed as a slimy, smarmy wheeler-dealer wearing a tuxedo and sunglasses. Can't win them all, though...
