Drumroll, please.
I give you.......... The Last Olympian!
Oh, snap! What a title! You know you love it.
Now, here is where I would usually CAUTION YOU to stop reading if you haven't read all the other books in the series, because this is about to get spoilerific to the max. But I'm not going to, because you should really KNOW BETTER by now.
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| The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan |
The fifth book begins with a bang, quite literally: In the first chapter, Percy and Beckendorf blow up a ship. Then, of course, it's straight to camp, where the demigods are preparing for a war that will decide the fate of both the Olympian world and the mortal one. All the gods (minus Poseidon, who is fighting his own war under the ocean) are locked in battle with the giant Typhon, and Kronos, now in Luke's body, is leading his army of monsters and half-bloods to an unprotected Mount Olympus. Percy's sixteenth birthday is in a week, and we all know what that means. The Great Prophecy is finally revealed to our favorite hero and all the rest of the campers, and boy, is it grim. Prophecies are never as they seem, but there's really no way to make what will happen on Percy's birthday sound anything but positively dreadful. Despite the fact that he's practically been handed a death sentence, Percy must lead the demigods of Camp Half-Blood to New York City, to protect the sources of the gods' powers on Olympus. They have little chance of success, and, to make matters worse, there is a spy among them. As the final battle approaches, Percy must make some important choices, unravel the past, and decide what really matters. With twists, turns, loves, deaths, and unexpected heroes galore, this best-selling series comes to an end no less spectacular than what we have come to expect from the talented Rick Riordan and his much-loved Percy Jackson.
Yeah. What I said right there at the end. Basically, it's perfect.
I can't express how much I love this finale. Everything, and I mean everything, comes together. The prophecy is revealed. Luke's past is revealed. Nico's life is pieced together. People live. People die. People trade sides and prove themselves and make their final stands. There is love, and happiness, and there are tearful goodbyes. You do not see it coming. It hits you like a speeding freight train and then proceeds to run you over (and it is a very long speeding freight train). You cannot get enough. You laugh, and you cry; you jump up and down in your overstuffed chair and squeal loudly at the mushy bits, and you curl up in a blanket with your cat and a mug of hot tea and wallow in your misery at the retributory bits. You read it over and over and over and over and over again. You love it like there's no tomorrow. I'm serious, here. I'm for cereal.
You want me to say it, don't you? Fine, I'll say it. The end is reminiscent of the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (There's another one of my favorite series; maybe I'll review it someday. For now: Read it!) It is, if you think about it, fairly similar, though like the series itself, everything in this book is to a slightly smaller scale. But that doesn't mean it's any less powerful. It is hugely powerful. And The Last Olympian is its own book, with its own story, its own characters, its own revelations, and its own resolution.
I'm not going to try to convince you to read this book. If you are at this point, if you have read all the previous books, I can't imagine being able to stop you from reading it, even if for some incomprehensible reason I wanted to. I am just telling you. It is worth it. This end is worth everything. The end of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is worth everything in the world.
I mean it.
Heck, if they get this far in the movies, I'd kill them for not making this into one.
Thank you to everyone, all of my friends and family members, for bearing with me through my time following this series, particularly there at the end. I know I can get a little over-enthusiastic at times, but you are nothing but supportive. I love you all!
And endless thanks go to Rick Riordan for writing the best series of all times, in my opinion. You have added such a wonderful thing to my life.
Finally, and most importantly, thank you to Percy Jackson. You, my dear friend, have been with me for years. I have followed you on your adventures, laughing and crying, and I have loved every minute of it. (I still do.) You have enriched my life. You are the best, and, in my eyes, you always will be. Keep in touch.
It has been an amazing era.
Recommendation: You. Yes, you. You know who you are.
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