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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2014
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 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!
