TITLE: The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book V)

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

PAGES: 381

Normal teenagers probably consider their sixteenth birthday a much less forboding occasion than Percy Jackson does. But then again, most teenagers don’t have to worry about a prophecy coming true as they blow out their candles— a prophecy that could herald them as a hero, or bring death in its wake. The great battle has dawned, ushered in with the wakening of the monster Typhon and the increasing advance of the enemy upon Percy and his allies. While the gods of Olympus are forced to abandon the seat of their power in order to battle Typhon, their children wage war on land and sea to defend what is dear to them. Blood will be spilled, losses will mount, friends will become enemies even as enemies turn out to be friends. For Percy, the stakes are higher than he ever imagined.

Often, the final book in a series is the deciding factor in whether I declare war on the author or cry tears of joy and satisfaction. It is always difficult for me to reach the end, despite my eagerness to find out what happens, because by the time I get to this point in a series I’m usually incurably attached to the characters and can’t bear to see them go. And after reading so many books, I always have this expectation that the LAST book will be the most epic, the most thrilling, the one that will tie everything together and leave me with closure. This doesn’t always happen. Thankfully, The Last Olympian delivered. Percy, so much more grown up since first realizing his heritage (and the first inkling of what his destiny might be) in The Lightning Thief, has come to the point in his adventures where all the preparations, all the effort and toil, the blood that was shed and the friends gained and lost, might all come to nothing. The prospect of defeat, and of death, hangs in the air like a wordless dread. And yet, our boy remains the same at heart, despite the very heavy responsibilities he has been tasked with. And he remains, always, the kind of hero whose compassion characterizes him and everything he does. Percy must fight, has trained to fight, for what he loves. He has been told from the beginning that a prophecy predicting either his glory or his demise has already been spoken. Dodging the hand of fate, forging your own path, can quite easily turn you into a different person. But for Percy, he still believes in the same things, even down to the end: family, friendship, loyalty, courage. And a few crackpot, harebrained schemes thrown in, of course. I truly enjoyed this last book, satisfied immensely by the way Riordan wrapped it up. Not perfectly, not without bloodshed or loss, and not without a sense of realism; Percy watches friends lose their lives for the sake of their cause, he must make decisions with momentous consequences, he must find mercy in his heart when all he wants to do is deliver the killing blow. Percy has to grow up, and deal with everything that growing up brings with it. I felt that he did it beautifully. I was very happy with the ending, which was poignant without being lame in any sense.

The last thing I want to say about these books is that Rick Riordan not only has a fantastic grasp of the mythology he has woven into his stories, but also does this really great job translating that mythology into something relevant to his young readers. Without involving any cliche time travel or plunging Percy and crew into arenas wearing togas, he creates parallels between the Greece of centuries past— once the heart of Western civilization— and the modern setting of New York City, which is the heart of Western civilization today. He gets kids interested in mythology and history without cheapening it or dumbing it down. And for that, I truly appreciate him. Read this series!!

RATING: 5/5

TITLE: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book IV)

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

PAGES: 361

Percy Jackson is nervous enough about his freshman orientation without having to deal with demonic cheerleaders and zombies eating Happy Meals. The summer is over, but his troubles certainly aren’t. There’s still the impending war with a Titan lord, the pressing issue of keeping his only safe haven as safe as possible, and the fact that there is actually a monstrously huge labyrinth that he will have to somehow navigate. It is the same labyrinth of legend, devised by the master inventor Daedalus to contain the ferocious minotaur. At the heart of this labyrinth is the enemy himself, gaining strength with every step Percy takes toward him. Every turn brings danger or revelation, and the stakes rise higher and higher as the inevitability of the coming war looms on the horizon. Time is running out.

While this was the installment I liked the least, I’m not saying it isn’t worth reading. For me, the pacing was not nearly as smooth as the previous books, seeming disjointed at times. The quest through the Labyrinth seems endlessly long, tension between allies is difficult to ignore, and there is the overwhelming impatience for the final battle that readers no doubt must contend with. Like the second book in the series, I call this an in-between part of the story. Percy has to get through it to finally reach the other side. I was quite impressed, as I usually am, with Riordan’s incorporation of Greek mythology into Percy’s adventures; he stays true to many things, and even finds small details I would never have expected to be included, such as the fact that a mortal girl led Theseus (the original Labyrinth quester) through the maze designed by Daedalus. A mortal girl indeed leads Percy through the Labyrinth, which added a dimension of adolescent woe to the tale as it becomes clear that Percy will have to deal with young love as well as saving the universe. I guess in a way it’s also a choice between the part of him that is mortal and the part of him that is not. I think that all the huge mess of the Labyrinth kind of cluttered up the focus on these conflicts within Percy, which was a downer for me. But, there is only one book left…

RATING: 3.5/5

TITLE: The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book III)

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

PAGES: 312

So what if Percy Jackson still needs a ride from his mom en route to a battle? Big deal. He’s got a pen that transforms into a sword, which I feel largely outweighs such things. Not even a sword and a host of powerful allies can prepare Percy for this next adventure, however, as he and his fellow demigods must race to sway the latest of their number to remain on their side, all while coping with the news that their enemy has finally revealed himself…and he is even more powerful than they ever anticipated. New allies join the battle, while some withdraw as the stakes rise. All the while, Percy continues to live with the fact that the prophecy about his own role in the conflicts to come draws ever nearer as each year brings his sixteenth birthday closer. Which way will the tide turn?

This third book, along with the fifth and final book in the series, are my favorites. In the previous installments, Percy was adjusting to his new life, learning more about his own powers. In The Titan’s Curse, Percy learns that friendship is a powerful thing, but also learns that friendship can be turned against you. Betrayals abound, as allegiances must be drawn and each side vies to marshal its forces. This third book is about trust, loyalty, the ties between people. To what lengths would you be willing to go, for a friend? To what lengths would your friends go for you? Like many heroes, Percy is both cursed and blessed with an inherently good heart; he wants to save everyone, he refuses to leave anyone behind. This is usually what gives the enemy something to use as leverage. The knowledge that Percy would never turn his back on a friend makes his friends primary targets. Also notable in this book, however, is the first time Percy deals with the death of a comrade. I won’t say who, but I will say it made me really sad. In his first encounter with sacrifice, Percy becomes a changed person; in the books to follow, he is slightly more grown up after the events of this book. I liked it mainly for its darker, slightly heavier themes, but it’s not to say that Percy (and his pegasus with its Brooklyn accent) don’t crack me up anymore, because I still laugh. I just like seeing him grow up, too.

RATING: 5/5