Review: The Blood of Olympus

Title: The Blood Of Olympus
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion//Listening Library
Published: October 7th 2014
Series: The Heroes of Olympus #5
How I Served It: Audiobook (Read by Nick Chamian)
How I Got It: Borrowed (Library) (purchased the hardcover)


"Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over."  --- Goodreads

I hate endings.  I mean, this book had an amazing ending but I hate the thought that this was the last time I'll get to delve into this world.  A huge part of me was hoping Riordan would pull another Last Olympian and throw in another prophecy at the last moment and give us another series and... he didn't.  I guess it makes sense, what with them all being pretty close to too old to be the subjects of YA/middle grade books... but... :(  I hate letting go of books.  


So, I loved this book.  I loved this whole series.  I was talking to my friend when she finished it (about the same time I did) and we both agree that Riordan has come miles since the first series.  This is saying something considering the first series was awesome!  I just think that he's stronger with these teenagers rather than pre-teens and, oddly, he's stronger when he's splitting his viewpoint in seven (or eight? nine? I lost track...) as opposed to sticking with one.  WHO DOES THAT?  I'd kill to see how he organized himself for this.  Were there outlines?  Did he put post-its all over the wall? How many times did he write a chapter from Piper's perspective, re-read it and go "Aw shucks, this needs to be from Jason's POV?"  Maybe he did.  Doesn't matter, somehow he ended up with every chapter just right.

Honestly, I didn't know that these characters could do more developing after House of Hades.  Really, I thought they were all grown up.  And I mean, I guess for the most part they did plateau development wise.  Or at least, the crew of the Argo 2 more of showed off the new levels of development that they achieved in Hades.  Piper continued to defy any preconceived notions about daughters of Aphrodite by being a general BA and fighting with basically every weapon at one point or another... including blind feelings.  Annabeth and Percy both readjust after Tartarus and come to terms with their 

Reyna and Nico however, had some serious growing pains.  I feel like Nico has been on a character-development roller coaster basically since he was introduced, but this book was the first time I saw any actual hope for him and happiness.  He has a home now!  And a sister!  And friends!  And an implication of something else!  Yay Nico!

Actually, yay pretty much everyone but Reyna.  She's the only one of the POV characters who didn't really get a happy ending.  Frank has rank, Jason found a place he belongs, Percy and Annabeth are eventually going to college... But Reyna has no great love.  Yeah, she's got new friends and still has the Legion but... Aphrodite's remark about how she would not find love where she wished to is still hanging out there like a giant unanswered question mark.  And Riordan doesn't generally seem big on question marks.  So... maybe this will be how he continues the Olympian books?  A Reyna spin-off series?  I know he just announced a Norse mythology series, but... I will never be ready to say goodbye to the world of Percy Jackson. Never, I say!

Plot wise, this finale was pretty much just a continuation of the last book.  I kind of missed the episodic feel of the original Olympians books, but I liked how this series never really lost momentum after the seven met up.  It did seem kind of silly that they made it all the way to Athens only to (literally) be smacked back to Long Island, but the fight scene made it worth it.  I love it when the Gods team up with their kids and kick butt.  It was also super rewarding to see Jason finally meet his father (even if Zeus is kind of a butt-head).  I like how Jason is kind of taking on Percy's mantle of assuring representation for all of the gods.

Biggish Spoilers:
I thought the ending lived up to the expectations Riordan had created.  There were two major battles and plenty of angst.  The whole book I was kind of wondering about Leo.  He was so set on being the one to fall that he even stole the physician's cure from Piper.  A solid part of me was convinced that he would end up being wrong and that he wouldn't be the one to die and then someone else would die and not be able to be saved because of his decisions and... I guess that would've been a little heavy for a Riordan book, huh?  Not that teen-death isn't heavy enough!  I'm happy it all worked out though.  I like how his endings always leave me smiling.

But seriously, I want the reaction scene when the others find out that Leo was alive and waited weeks to tell them.  Piper's going to kill him.

The Final Noodle: Five Spoons Up!
This review was all over the place and I'm sorry about that :(, but I really, really loved this series.  The only fault with this book is that it's the last... for now at least! (I will always hold out hope).