Heroes of the Olympus (5) - The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
The last part of the Heroes of the Olympus: The Blood of the Olympus (Le sang de l'Olympe, Das Blut des Olymps), originally published 2014. I read the 528 pages in English.
The final battle is about to begin, Gaia about to rise… The heroes have to find a way to kill the giants again, and then to kill Gaia… and all the while, Camp Half Blood and New Rome are at war, and Reyna, Nico and Coach Hedge shadowtravel to New York with the Athena Parthenos to heal the schism between Greece and Rome – but the ghosts around them just won't stay buried.
I bet that Reyna will find a god without the “demi” in The Trials of Apollo. And guess who that'd be. But they'd fit. She's an altruistic, fierce leader, but Apollo could teach her to live for herself every now and then instead of just giving strength to others. And she'd make him more responsible and set his head straight every now and then.
Now. The Apollo-plot line was nicely done, even though a little foreshadowing in the prequels wouldn't have hurt.
This can be said about the entire book.
Spoiler:
The whole time, it was said that you can't defeat Gaia, you can only let her stay asleep. But guess what happens. And it's such an anti-climax! The all-mighty Gaia is sniped off barely ten minutes after she awoke, without even getting the chance to do anything cool. And she was the main enemy from page one of the series!
Plus, the sacrifice in the end? Wow. Reeeally impressive – or not. That's just lame, guys. I mean I'm glad Leo's up and about, but first of all, Percy would have approved of this plan, so Gaia's and Hera's omnious comments in the last four books simply don't apply. And second, it's just… well, it's really lame! It's anti climactic, this ending sucks on a narrative level!
And there are other things were the problem's solution was just so… unexpected, because there was no way the reader could have gotten access to that information. Gaia's past, what she really wants. Idiot mode. The singing. And there are so many more anti climaxes! Hey, I managed to defeat Deimos and Phobos by simply letting myself feel what I feel (which is wise, but until this book, not exactly Piper's style) and then I use the ability granted by them to… make a potion for which you need a daisy. Ooookay. This could have been more tense.
Well. Apart from that I wonder why the prophecy didn't include Reyna, Hedge or Nico. Actually, nine demi gods, a titan, a giant and a satyre follow the call, don't they? They should have had a specific role in all of this, too!
Besides, why must the world must fall to either Leo or Jason (or Percy). Why not Hazel? She has the power over all the riches under the Earth and the ability of changing the Mist, even making things come to life – like the labyrinth. She's way more powerful than her friends. So, why isn't she a key figure?
Spoiler:
Instead, her job in this is to… well, what exactly, in the final battle? And Frank's? Why didn't every one of the Seven had a specific role in defying Gaia? I don't know, Frank's appearance in Camp Half Blood as the ending of his family's voyage and Annabeth's appeasing of the Greek which both help to amplify the united Greek and Roman forces. They could have convinced the two demi god camps to work together (because it doesn't make sense that they agreed to do this so easily after being in a siege against each other for weeks!). Hazel's and Piper's magic divert Gaia while Percy and Jason create the storm and get her in the air – and Leo (and Octavian) finish(es) her off. This would have the nice side effect of each job being performed by both a Roman and a Greek. So much for balance, guys. I think this would have been a better ending than the one the author chose.
But what I did like were Bufford the table and how he blurts out Coach Hedge's favourite comments – 20 sit-ups!!!! - Kym (and how she was convinced), Percy's and Annabeth's post traumatic problems and Nico's development. I like how he finally comes out of the shadows – and how he and Will play out. Even though, again, Will comes out of nothing.
In brief:
The SoGH for humour, and a star for the style and half a star for each ideas and characters. Minus a star for the ending and minus one for content.
Prequel: