Review: The Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
Series: The Heroes of Olympus #5
Genre: YA, fantasy
Published on October 7, 2014
Published by Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 516
Read From: 11.16.14 - 11.27.14












SYNOPSIS

Nico had warned them. Going through the House of Hades would stir the demigods' worst memories. Their ghosts would become restless. Nico may actually become a ghost if he has to shadow-travel with Reyna and Coach Hedge one more time. But that might be better than the alternative: allowing someone else to die, as Hades foretold. 

Jason's ghost is his mother, who abandoned him when he was little. He may not know how he is going to prove himself as a leader, but he does that he will not break promises like she did. He will complete his line of the prophecy: To storm or fire the world must fall. 

Reyna fears the ghosts of her ancestors, who radiate anger. But she can't allow them to distract her from getting the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood before war breaks out between the Romans and the Greeks. Will she have enough strength to succeed, especially with a deadly hunter on her trail? 

Leo fears that his plan won't work, that his friends might interfere. But there is no other way. All of them know that one of the Seven has to die in order to defeat Gaea, the Earth Mother. 

Piper must learn to give herself over to fear. Only then will she be able to do her part at the end: utter a single word.

Review

Cover Blurb: Yes or No? I still love the cover art, but this is my least favorite out of all of them. It's too busy.

Characters: When you get to the fifth book in a series, it's very hard to know what to say about the characters that I haven't said already. Everyone was awesome; Piper has really come a long way from The Lost Hero, as have Leo, Frank, and Jason. I was really glad that we got a chance to know Reyna better; she's probably my new favorite. Commanding, tough, and caring; I would love to have a book solely devoted to her backstory. And of course - Nico continued to pull at my heartstrings.

The Romance: For the most part, all of the relationship drama has been resolved at this point and everyone is with who they need to be. Nico's storyline was a lot less focused on when it came to "romance" than I thought it would be. Until the end. . . .But it could have been worse.

Plot: The seven of the prophecy - Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Leo - are on their way to stop Gaea, the Earth Mother, from being reawakened and destroying everyone. Meanwhile, Reyna, Coach Hedge, and Nico are shadow-traveling to Camp Half-Blood with the Athena Parthenos, in order to prevent a war from breaking out between the Greeks and Romans. But Gaea has sent her Hunter after them, and Nico may not survive another shadow traveling. This is the book where everything comes to a head, and as usual it's full of excitement and danger. But dare I say it - The Blood of Olympus felt rushed. There's plenty of heart-pounding moments, but they're just kind of swept by so they can continue onto the quest and the ultimate showdown. And considering what the showdown was like. . . .Well, it was kind of disappointing.

Believability: Not applicable.

Writing Style: Third person, past tense. Humorous, dramatic, and thematic, at usual. We follow Piper, Jason, Leo, Reyna, and Nico in this one. It was nice to get Jason's perspective again, after going so long without really getting much of one. And I of course loved Reyna and Nico's perspectives.

Content: None. Nico being gay is still there, but it really isn't focused on a lot and actually started to feel less like something the Author threw in to be politically correct and more like it was actually there for the story's sake.

Conclusion: This is where I had to sit and really think about how I felt about The Blood of Olympus. As a whole, I liked the book, but the ending was so quick and anticlimactic and tied up with a pretty little bow. It was actually probably Riordan's most disappointing conclusion. It wasn't a strong end and definitely happened way too fast. So while The Blood of Olympus was a great addition, it did in some ways not really live up to my expectations. Oh well; it was still fun.

Others in The Heroes of Olympus Series:

1)The Lost Hero

2)The Son of Neptune

3)The Mark of Athena

4)The House of Hades

5)The Blood of Olympus