Customer Reviews

The Heroes of Olympus Book Five: The Blood of Olympus

I've really enjoyed this series, and I enjoyed reading this final book. And yet, I still was a little disappointed by the Blood of Olympus.

In some ways it's classic Riordan. Heroes, gods, limited time quest, the world in danger. Check. Heroes of Olympus follows both the 7 demigods quest to stop the giants and Reyna's quest to return the Athena statue to Camp Half-Blood. There's plenty of adventure, humor, and a few dashes of romance along the way. It's a fun read in many ways.

So, why was I disappointed? I missed Percy, for one thing. Point of view characters in this book are Jason, Piper, Reyna, Nico, and Leo. I understand to some degree why Riordan made the narrative choices that he did, but in this final book it would have been nice to hear from Percy and Annabeth one more time.

I also felt that the book shied away from showing the real cost of war. In the Last Olympian there were some losses and deaths that we felt greatly because we had come to care about the characters. We don't see that as much in Blood of Olympus. Yeah, some characters die--mostly people we don't like. And the loss of one of the seven at the end is so heavily telegraphed that we know several chapters ahead who is going to die, why they are going to die, and what the likely escape clause will be. Sacrifice loses its power when you know there's a way out. Those moments in the Last Olympian where we linger and feel the pain, the moments when characters have to make real, hard choices--that's missing.

Another thing I felt Riordan let drop in this book was the issue of Percy's fatal flaw. It's been mentioned consistently throughout the series, but it never came down to that pivotal moment in this book where Percy had to choose the greater good over a friend. I think that's something we may have lost out on by not having a chapter in Percy's viewpoint.

So it's a fun book. We get an entertaining adventure and the expected (very couple-y) happy ending. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it mention of Riordan's next series. (Look at the title of his next book if you did miss it). If you've read this far with Percy, absolutely finish it up. It's a good book. But it's not the book it could have been.

This was a good book but did not rise to the level of Riordan's other work. As others have pointed out, the climactic battle scene was not nearly as well developed as the final battle in "Last Olympian" with which it inevitably must be compared. Also, after the endlessly repeated references to Percy's "fatal flaw," where was it? For that matter, why were Percy and Annabeth relegated to virtually minor character status in this book? They're the two characters who sucked us all into this series in the first place; they deserved a greater role in the ending of it. While Nico and Reyna are interesting characters and had their own parts to play, I think Riordan found them much more interesting than they warrant; they dominated much of the book in ways that were not always essential to the plot. Percy and Annabeth had very small parts and pretty much a brush-off in the conclusion. Not a nice way to treat your heroes!

I feel bad criticizing since I am a devoted fan of the series, but this was not the big finish I had hoped it would be. I got the distinct impression that in some ways, Riordan had already emotionally moved on to the Norse series -- not unexpectedly, since the first book in that series in due out in one year. His fans know that Norse mythology was always his first love, and like all his other fans I am looking forward to that series also. And yes, he neatly dropped the setup for the lead character in BoO -- looks like it will be a cousin of Annabeth. So maybe we can hope for the occasional future reference to Percy and Annabeth there.

Even given my disappointment with this final volume, it's still far better than 99.9% of the books out there. **Spoiler alert: I am grateful that Riordan didn't succumb to the cheap trick of killing off any of his heroes. Too many authors use that as a bogus way of generating sentiment. Thank goodness he respects his characters and his audience!** What Riordan has done in shoring up Greek and Roman mythology as some of the seminal pillars of Western thought and literature -- which they are -- is reason enough to be grateful for the series. The fact that the books are so entertaining, well-written, and have such engaging characters earns them a place in the highest rankings of modern literature, YA or otherwise.

Thanks for the memories, Uncle Rick, and Godspeed to Asgard!

I'm going to start by saying that I have been a HUGE fan of this series since I first read the Lightning Thief 4 years ago. I have freaked out when the books were about to be released, and agonized when I had to wait. The PJ&O; and HoO series are two of my favorites ever. Each book in the Heroes of Olympus has built on the previous one in the series, raising the bar higher as each book came out, better then the one before.

Which is why I'm disappointed with this rather confusing, anticlimactic ending.

***SPOILERS BELOW. You have been warned.

Let me start with what I liked. Overall, I did enjoy this book. Riordan has a unique writing style that I really enjoy reading, and all of his characters rock. They've all been fleshed out incredibly well, and though they have their flaws, they're all loveable.

I LOVED hearing more about Reyna's past. It was super interesting to see her powers, and to see (well, briefly see) the complicated relationship between her and her sister. Reading about the ghosts of her past (literally and figuratively) was one of the most enjoyable parts of the book, and it was very satisfying to finally understand her more fully.

Getting a peek into Nico's mind was highly anticipated, and, in my opinion, did not disappoint. This kid has had it rough, and has never allowed himself to talk to anyone about his problems. Seeing him begin to heal through this book was *so* important for my peace of mind. It was so nice seeing him finally begin to lean on others for a change, and see him open up.

The relationships between Percy and Jason, and Piper and Annabeth were AWESOME. I LOVED the way both sets of characters worked together and formed even closer bonds.

There's more, I'm sure, but I'm itching (unfortunately) to talk about the massive issues I had with this book.

1) Percy and Annabeth.
Listen, I know they have had plenty of time in the spotlight previously, and they've had POVS in the middle three books of this series. But I was so looking forward to reading more about how Tartarus affected them mentally. Yes, we see Annabeth cry and talk to Piper about it, and yes, we see Percy talk to Jason about it. But I'm sorry (not really), that's not good enough. Even though we hear about their plans for the future, I really didn't feel we got much closure for these two, which is super disappointing after the long journey we've had with them. Reducing their characters to almost nothing in the final book of the series was one of the most annoying parts of this book.

2) The Physicians Cure.
NO. Riordan has been hyping up the fact that he was going to kill off one of the main characters since the beginning of the HoO series. This felt like a HUGE cop out to me. Leo's sacrifice didn't feel like it meant anything since he just came right back to life. In The Last Olympian, multiple characters died (Silena, Beckendorf, Luke), but they had fitting, honorable deaths, and their deaths were an important part of the war. Adding that sense of loss made TLO feel more real. Whereas everyone seemed to have happy endings in this book.

3) The entire ending. It was just confusing, and really all over the place. The battles were good, but not as awesome as I was expecting. The Gods coming down to fight with the seven was pretty epic, I'll admit, but it seemed so easy, and it was over so quickly. The battle at Camp Half-Blood was just kind of boring. Like okay, they're fighting a bunch of monsters. And then Gaea shows up, and she's about to wreak havoc, but no Leo grabs her and brings her up in the air. Just... meh.

4) The Oracle/prophecy's being over.
This just made me really sad, and I felt like he did this just so he wouldn't have to write another "Great Prophecy". I mean, c'mon! This could've been written way better than it was.

5) Percy's and Jason's "decisions" for the great prophecy.
When was "the sacrifice that Percy would be unable to make"? During the fight at Camp? What about Jason's? Anticlimactic. Just a real let down.

And that's a short-ish list of what's coming to mind right now. I'll probably revise it later, clean it up and update it, but this is all I've got for now. I think waiting a few days will make me more clear-headed about the issues I had with it, but I wanted to pour out my thoughts while they were still fresh in my mind.

Overall, 3/5 stars. A decent book, but a confusing and disappointing end to a great series.

Good book...until the end. To me it felt as if someone else wrote the last 50 pages of this book, i don't understand how Riordan could have failed so horribly. It seemed like he was trying to please all the fans instead of telling a good story. SPOILERS everyone got a happy ending. Evil was defeated in a couple pages, no actually stayed dead, all the couples ended up happily together etc. Don't get me wrong, I love happy endings, but if there isn't sacrifice to get happy endings then it isn't a very interesting story to me. Everything worked out too well for everyone, too much like a fairy tale. I compare this poor ending to the fantastic ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where the happy ending was made better because of the loss that was gone through. Besides that, I felt as if the ending was very anticlimactic. He didn't wrap up a lot of loose ends and I'm not talking about Percy/Annabeth or any of the other couples. I liked that you could use your imagination to a certain extent. Also, there were certain things that were alluded to, but never meant anything at the end, for example Percy's fatal flaw.

Overall I was very disappointed in the book because I feel like he mailed in the end. He could do so much better!

While I generally love Rick Riordan I have got to say that this book left a lot to be desired. There are 4 books previous to this one about how the demigods have to defeat Gaea and than they defeat her in the span of a couple of paragraphs. Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank got lots of cool new powers and issues in the last books that this book did not touch on at all as Rick Riordan pretty much ignored these characters throughout the book. The crucial scene where Nico admits to Jason of his feelings of Percy are quickly disregarded with no explanation and when Nico admits his feelings to Percy it is rushed and over simplified (also remembering that he has had this crush for years and he and Jason thought that he would never get over it.) There were of course some cute and quite frankly hilarious little moments and lines but overall I despise this book. Not because it is that bad of a book, but because it ignores everything that has happened in the past books as well as completely ignored the characters that in my opinion needed the most conclusions and explanations. The book was rushed and awful and completely let down all the other books in the series. It was like Rick Riordan suddenly gave up after House of Hades and felt that he needed to screw his fans over. Generally I love you Rick but I cannot ignore the fact that you ignored 4 out of the 7 heroes after making those four gain new powers and understandings of the world in the last book. This was a complete let down. Total crap, I am disregarding this book as the real thing as that would be too painful a pill to swallow. Instead it is a fanfiction that was a good effort but not the real thing. I would not have waited a month never mind a year for this book as there is better fanfictions that I have read that actually address the topics that was brought about in the last few books.

Very disappointed with this book. The first four books in the series was spectacular and this was a huge let down! Especially as the other books had raised everyone's expectation level greatly.

SPOILERS:
1. As many reviewers pointed out, Percy and Annabeth were relegated to minor roles. And whatever little role they had, they screwed up. Roirdan should have at least concentrated on all 7 heroes equally. Even Frank and Hazel had pretty much no important roles.
2. Percy's flaw: Totally missing like countless mentioned. I was really looking forward to it.
3. The ending: The war was made out to be the greatest battle of all times and it ended so quickly, with no twists or turns! No shocking surprises. In fact, no surprises at all.
4. The other books written by Roirdan made me cry or left me emotionally wrought. This book brought forth no such emotions. The quest was terribly dangerous and purportedly impossible, and to have everyone survive it and then lead happy, whole lives is too much to expect.
Overall the series (first four books) was really wonderful. But the fifth book ruined the story. It could have been so much better.

Let me first just say this series is great. This book is amazing too but with several flaws.

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Good
1. The pov includes Nico and Reyna, which makes this book refreshing and unique
2. The interactions between characters is still realistic
3. Even when following the same linear plot, Riordin changes enough things to make it interesting
4. Octavian's death was very fitting

The Bad
1. Percy and Annabeth had no resolution. They talk once about college and living in New Rome and thats it. They made it all this way, and they are sideshowed
2. Percy's fatal flaw that was mentioned several times never played a part
3. Annabeth was pretty out of character the whole book
4. Gaia, the all powerful Earth Goddess was defeated in three pages by a catapault and Festus
5. The climatic battle was very anticlimatic, and the fight between the gods and giants was way too easy. The giants were meant to oppose the gods, but they didnt do anything
6. We never know what happened to Bob, or Thalia, or Hylla
7. Leo's "sacrifice" doesnt count if he comes back to life immediately. And what does being blown up have to do with finding Ogygia?
8. Percy and Calypso never see each other again and mke amends.
9. Why were Frank and Hazel even in the book? They did NOTHING

All in all, it was a good book, but you might just want to skip the ending, since it ends on a cliffhanger and almost nothing is resolved. Seriously Riordin?

I found this book to be kind of disappoining. I did not feel like the ending was very good. It was unsatisfying and it felt rushed, like Rick Riordan was pressed for time. That being said I felt like it was still a very good book.

I wish I could've given it 5 stars - but I seriously can't. After giving 5 stars to all the other books in the series, this was a serious letdown. Mainly because Percy Jackson was so absent & when he did appear, he was never shown doing anything heroic. He wasn't even allowed to kill Polybotes under the ocean - that was seriously disappointing. I mean isn't Percy supposed to be the most powerful demigod (accordingly to Nico in Mark of Athena), so why is he suddenly downgraded to a minor sideshow character at the end of the series. It pissed me off - Riordan could have at least given Percy one POV chapter at the end, but nothing. Jason is suddenly the all almighty one - which is okay with me, but Riordan could have used another demigod's POV to show Percy doing something really heroic. Nothing again. I much preferred the House of Hades because EVERYONE had a POV there and it was awesome to see them all doing brilliant things that showcased all their powers. That is how this book should've been...

Also, Leo's ending was too vague. It didn't feel complete.

I have waited all year for this book to come out. And what do I get? A OK beggining a bad ending and just not the writting we are used to.
Warning spoilers ahead.
My problems with the book are:

1. What happened to Frank and Hazel? They were compleley ignored. There were no chapters on them and it felt like they had turned into minor characters rather than main characters. Poor poor Frank an Hazel.

2. Where were Percy and Annebeth? The best characters were really just kicked to the the side and forgotten. It was like Riordan moved the minor characters up a level to main characters and some of the main characters where pulled down to be minor characters.

3. The ending was so bad that I almost threw my copy at the nearest wall. Gea was killed so quickly, she died in like three pages. What's up with that? Then Leo dies and then a couple chapters later he was brought back to life. What's the point of killing him in the first place if he is just going to be brought back a couple chapters later?

4. The last chapter was horrible. Leo after he is brought back he just forgets about his friends and flies back to where he saw his sweethart. I really felt that the book could have been written better but I guess that what RR wrote is okay to.

I really wanted to give this book five stars but it just does not deserve it. So final rating 4\5. I feel like I should have given it three stars but I really like the book so I decided to be nice and give four instead.