Book Review: The Blood of Olympus

The Blood of Olympus
by  Rick Riordan
Date Read:  2/10/15
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Ok, let me start by saying I was very disappointed that there WAS NOT A CHAPTER FROM EITHER PERCY’S OR ANNABETH’S POV!! So this is more of a 3.5 star review.

This was the end to, let’s admit, another Percy Jackson series, and yet there was not even ONE chapter from either POV. So disappointing. But I will say that at least we didn’t have the really boring POV of Frank. We get to learn more about Reyna, which was a nice change.

To me, it didn’t feel like a lot happened in this book. The POVs kept switching back and forth and everyone was separated, so in the same space of time, two different things happened, but it didn’t seem like the story moved a whole lot. All of a sudden I was half way through and realized that only like 2 big scenes had happened.

I was also let down by how quickly the battle ended. We’ve had 4 books leading up to this big huge battle, and in the end it only lasted a couple pages. Don’t get me wrong, I hate it when things are dragged out over 20 pages, but we’ve had such a huge lead up to have it over so quickly. But that’s kind of how the whole book felt. So many people doing their own thing that the battle came fast and was over fast. I don’t know, it was kind of a let down to me.

I did like Leo’s story throughout, though his pining away for Calypso was a tad bit annoying. But overall his story was really good. Getting to see some more of Nico was nice too. I wasn’t huge on the whole “crush-on-Percy” thing…seemed kinda thrown in to the series. But I liked seeing him accept himself and grow as a person in this book.

I did giggle like a school-girl when some of our old favorite characters showed back up. Most of them just made cameo appearances, but really, that’s all I needed.  [SPOILER: When Blackjack was shot with the arrow my heart sank! I was going to kill Riordan if he killed him! PHEW. And Tyson’s brief appearance was my other favorite. Rachel was more just talked about rather than seen, but hey, she’s still there. And I liked seeing Clarisse taking care of Hedge’s wife – a softer side to her. END SPOILER]

We get a LOT of wrap up at the end, which I appreciate at the end of a series. I will choose to believe that all the characters keep their happy endings and no more super bad monsters come. =)

Overall I enjoyed getting a new series in the Percy Jackson world, and I enjoyed getting to know these new heroes. I was a little disappointed with the final book though – I feel like he could have done so much more with it. And I didn’t feel as attached and see as much growth in the characters because there were always so many POVs in each book. Maybe Riordan needs to slow down with how many books he’s writing so that he can really focus on one book and make it great, rather than putting our 2-3 books a year that are just good.