The Blood of Olympus -- An Almost Perfect Ending to the Heroes of Olympus Series

The Heroes of Olympus series has ended. And I was left with a broken heart. How do I move on?

Warning: This review is a mess of feels.

I had to get it out there. You can't say I didn't warn you.

After 10 books (yes, I'm including the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books) here we are. Gaea is waking up and seven demigods -- Greek and Roman -- unite to stop her from destroying the world. As someone who's waited for this for a whole year, I had to literally drop everything (mainly This is What Happy Looks Like, which was the book I was reading at the time The Blood of Olympus came out) just so I can start reading the series finale. I was confident that this will be the best book of the series, that Rick Riordan will rise to the occasion and NOT disappoint me. Did it satisfy me? Stick around to find out.

As in the previous books, there were alternating POVs. I have to praise Rick Riordan because not only has he made his readers love the awesome, brilliant, charming Percy Jackson (for more fangirling, please check this out) -- he's also manage to make us love six other demigods: Annabeth the wise girl, of course; Leo (who is second to Percy when it comes to awesomeness); charmspeaker Piper, the princess of the undead, Hazel; shape-shifter Frank (how he can turn into a swarm of bees is one of the world's biggest mysteries); and the wind and storm guy, Jason. I have to admit that I didn't like Jason before. I guess anyone who's read the series would understand. He's the son of Zeus/Jupiter who's like the most egotistical god. So Jason was this cool, alpha male and at one point, he was like Percy's biggest rival. Naturally, I am on Team Percy. But that's the thing with Rick Riordan. He's so good at character development that he makes us understand all these characters, makes us like and love them and root for them. And with seven demigods plus two more (Reyna and Nico) on the other side of the Atlantic, character development is no easy feat.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Bravo, bravo![/caption]

There were five POVs... and none of them Percy's. Or Annabeth's. Which was my BIGGEST ISSUE HERE. I can understand that other characters should get the limelight, and that this isn't PJO anymore so it's not just about Percy, and that it's so hard to divide the chapters equally into nine POVs so some had to take the back seat. But why Percy and Annabeth? WHY? I was seriously pissed off. I was hoping that there would be even just one chapter each for my OTP. But no, folks. I was left to resort to Percy's funny dialogues and kissing scenes as seen from other people's POVs. Arggghhh!!!

When Percy pulled away, Annabeth looked like a fish gasping for air.
'The Rivalry ends here,' Percy said. 'I love you, Wise Girl.”

Good thing there was Leo to fill the joke gap. The Leo chapters were the funniest... which was kinda ironic when you get to the ending. Oh, Leo...

And then there's Nico with his dark, deadly chapters. It is so great and depressing at the same time to get into Nico's mind. This kid has been through a lot, probably more than any of the other demigods. At least when Percy dropped into Tartarus, he had Annabeth. But Nico, he was mostly alone, but intentionally so. I'm so glad that we get to see Hades' son in a whole new light. So much character development went into Nico and that moment in the end with Reyna was just... wow. It's just amazing how Rick Riordan wrapped up and opened at the same time (does that make sense?) Nico's story.

Then she did something so unexpected Nico would later think he dreamed it. She walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows, as usual. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight. ‘We had one home,’ she said. ‘Now we have two.’

And Reyna, oh I love her. She's so bad ass! Like Nico, she has her own ghosts (literally) and she's been through so much... but she's a praetor and she couldn't stand down. And I love that Nico gains a friend and a sister in her.

As much as I hated that Percy and Annabeth (and Frank and Hazel) didn't get their own chapters, I cannot complain about the pacing and writing and overall quality of this book. Some bloggers complained that the ending was open-ended and that may be true... but it also felt wrapped up enough for me. I don't need a new spin-off series (a spin-off to a spin-off, that's kinda confusing) and come on, these demigods have been through enough. Maybe a companion book will do or an additional chapter... where ALL nine demigods are united. I need that in my life.



It also helped that I read Percy Jackson's Greek Gods just a few weeks ago because most of the anecdotes and history behind the Greek gods, giants, and monsters are still fresh on my mind. A lot of the characters Percy mentioned in the said companion book were present in this finale. I felt like a history nerd while reading, really.

But the true measure of a book's greatness, in my opinion, is in how it affects the reader or not. If a book doesn't evoke emotion, then that's pretty pointless, right? I can tell you with certainty that The Blood of Olympus made me cry like crazy. Tears were falling down on my cheeks as I read the last few chapters.

'Legion, cuneum formate!’ Reyna yelled. ‘Advance!’ Another cheer on Jason’s right as Percy and Annabeth reunited with the forces of Camp Half-Blood.

‘Greeks!’ Percy yelled. ‘Let’s, um, fight stuff!’ They yelled like banshees and charged.

Jason grinned. He loved the Greeks. They had no organization whatsoever, but they made up for it with enthusiasm.

That wasn't even supposed to be sad, that was funny. And yet I was dabbing my eyes with my blanket while I read that part. It was so bittersweet. I had to read through tears. And all that time I was thinking of three things:

1. Oh god, it's ending.
2. Go, go, go, demigods! Kill Mother Earth!
3. Oh my god, it's ending!!! *ugly crying*

It felt so surreal. I've only started reading PJO and Heroes of Olympus in a little over two years but it felt so much longer than that. By now Percy and Annabeth, and all the others including Coach Hedge, were not just fictional characters. They're my friends, my family. Cliche, yeah, but readers would understand this. They're not real people, but I felt real pain when I finished the book. :(

Needless to say, I love The Blood of Olympus. If you haven't started reading the series, then lucky you. You're saving yourself from ALL THESE FEELS. I'm kidding of course. No I'm not. Seriously, you will go through all these BUT it will be worth it.

The Blood of Olympus deserves 5 stars, it does. But since I'm still a little bit pissed off that there's no Percy and Annabeth POV, I'm giving it 4.5 stars (0.5 is a big deal, you guys). If you've read the book, please leave a comment or tweet me and join me in my cryfest.

[caption id="attachment_826" align="aligncenter" width="198"] Give me Percy/Annabeth chapters and I'll give you 5 stars.[/caption]

P.S. There's a Blood of Olympus Fan Gathering happening this October 25 at Fully Booked in BGC. I want to go because I know I can fangirl all I want there... but I looked at the Demigods Philippines page and I saw very young faces. Kids! And I thought, I'm going to look like everyone's older sister there! Am I so old to be enjoying this Middle Grade books? And I don't know anyone who's coming so... should I still go?

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