Today’s book is, sadly, the end of a series, but not necessarily the end of the story. Naturally, I am talking about The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan, the final book in The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. With it being the final book we also get to see the culmination of the war with Kronos that has been steadily growing over the course of the previous four books. The book opens on Percy and Beckendorf, leader of the Hephaestus can, sneaking onto the Princess Andromeda in order to blow it up in an attempt to destroy some of Kronos’s forces. However, it quickly goes horribly wrong with the reveal that Luke has a spy in camp, Beckendorf dying in the explosion, and Percy passing out underwater. He wakes up in Poseidon’s underwater palace only to see the war that is going on between Poseidon and the older ocean gods. Upon his return to camp he is finally told the contents of the great prophecy only to learn it predicts his death. This allows Nico to persuade Percy to follow through with his rather harebrained scheme. While pursuing this he learns of Kronos’s march on Manhattan and Olympus while the gods are busy fighting Typhon as he travels cross-country towards Olympus. Percy gets Annabeth to rally the campers and protect Olympus but the Ares cabin refuses due to an ongoing dispute with the Apollo cabin. It sounds like they have their work cut out for them.
As you’ve probably gathered, a lot of things take place in the final book of the series. Mind you, just as much took place in each of the earlier books as well. One of the biggest things that happened is the reveal of the exact wording of the great prophecy, and I have to admit that is a lot of pressure to put on Percy. I will say that I am glad that it is him and not Nico or Thalia that are the subject of the prophecy. Percy’s overall personality allows him to handle it better than they would have and this makes him the best person for the job, so to speak. I was also greatly intrigued and fascinated by the way the prophecy actually played out. Now, I can’t give specifics without massive spoilers for those who haven’t read the series yet. What I can say is that prior to this book I probably would have struggled to guess the ending or the way it tied back to events at the very beginning of the first book. However, there is a lot of back story revealed in this book that provided a lot of course. Some of it is about Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia while some of it is about Nico, Bianca, and Hades. Weirdly enough, some of it is about the Oracle and how she became a living mummy. This back story, if paid attention, does provide a lot of valuable hints about how things will play out. What I found interesting is how all of this ties back into both the name of the book and an underlying theme that repeatedly crops up. Many of you have probably heard the phrase that home is where the heart is and in this book Percy says something similar, “Hope is best kept at the hearth.” He was talking to Hestia, goddess of the Hearth and the last Olympian, when he said this. I think what was ultimately meant is that hope should be kept at the hearth because that is where home is and the people or things at home are why you hope and in Percy’s case, why you fight. Percy, and to a lesser extent others, make some rather compelling arguments about this topic throughout the book. I am giving this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Overall, I was excited about the series being over as I got to see the final fight but I was also sad to see the series being over. This is a great series and one that I would definitely recommend to other readers as it happens to be on my favorites list. I would recommend it for teens or young adults though it Jay also appeal to adults who are fans of the fantasy genre. Anybody younger should probably be careful as there is some violence present in the books. The campers are fighting a war after all. Keeping this in mind, if you happen to try these books consider sharing your thoughts in the comments. Make sure to keep an eye out for upcoming reviews for the sequel series, The Heroes of Olympus.