Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them, and they’re stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake. The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it might be able to stop a war between the two camps. The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea’s army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.
Series: The Heroes of Olympus (Book 5)
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Disney Hyperion (October 7, 2014)
Page Count: 545 pages
I’ve made it to the last book of the series! It’s been a long journey but I’m so glad I read this sequel series!
The Plot
Rick Riordan really knows how to write epic conclusions. He’s great at bringing all the pieces together into an ending that makes you cheer. He also had me laughing throughout the book. When the characters were outwitting Nike, I had to suppress my laughter at work.
The Characters
You can read my reviews of the other books in the series to see how much I love all of the main seven (Percy’s protectiveness over Annabeth is so sweet), but in this book, there’s a new POV addition with Reyna. She has a really unique backstory what with being Puerto Rican and having a veteran father. I also just like her revenant and regal personality and her love for horses is so sweet. Also, Tyson and Ella getting together is the cutest thing!
One of the few things I didn’t like in the book was Nico coming out as gay. I just didn’t feel like it fit his character. And I’m also not sure I liked Orion as a bad guy. I always pictured him as Artemis’s one love and not some crazy dude.
The Setting
The characters going to Greece, Italy, and Puerto Rico was really cool and it was nostalgic to be back at Camp Halfblood for the finale. Having the entombed people in Pompeii come to life was both terrifying and awesome.
The Epic Things
There are always so many epic things in these books. I particularly love how it revealed to me is that the Roman version of the goddess of victory is called Victoria. I HAVE THE SAME NAME AS A GODDESS, Y’ALL!
clears throat
The characters eating Italian gelato made me happy because gelato is amazing, but they should have gotten some sorbet or Italian ice for poor Frank.
The Theme
I really liked when Piper unlocked her power in a very unique way. When she discovered the similarities between fear and love and she came to this conclusion:
“Flames roared up from the statue’s severed neck. They swirled around Piper, filling the room with a firestorm of emotions: hatred, bloodlust, and fear, but also love—because no one could face a battle without caring for something: comrades, family, home.”
The Content
This is a Percy Jackson book so there’s not a lot of content at all. There’s some content that involves blood and an ear is cut off, but no swearing or sexual content.
The Writing Lessons
Let Your Characters Have Moments to Cry – At one point in the book Annabeth just becomes so overwhelmed with everything she just breaks down into tears on Piper’s shoulders. This was such a human and touching moment.
How this applies to our writing: All the things characters go through is rough and it’s human for them to just cry about it. It’s relatable I feel like. In Spirited Away, Chihiro breaks down in tears while eating onigiri because the poor thing is so overwhelmed by everything and you really feel for her.
The Conclusion
Overall I loved this conclusion to the series!
I think it’s an amazing conclusion to the series. I agree though, Nico’s gayness was so disappointing. He was one of my favorite characters.
It felt like it came so out of the blue. :/