Book 314: The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5) – Rick Riordan

This is one of those books that I probably should’ve re-read the entire series before reading. So much has happened in the novels, especially if you go all the way back to the first Percy Jackson book, but even just within the five books of this series it’s been a long journey.

As much as I want to say this was the best book in the series, I honestly think The House of Hades was better. And this is for a couple of reasons. If possible The Blood of Olympus had TOO much action. I get that this is the end of a series which is a spin-off/second half of another series, but this book just didn’t stop with the epic battles. Sure they’re facing the end of the world and Riordan said it best,

“Today, one way or another, their journey would end.” (378)

But honestly, the book left me exhausted and not in a good way. It felt like there was so much that happened off the page that I couldn’t keep track of who was where and what was happening. There are spoilers to the series and this book so don’t read past here if you’re planning to read it.

However, with all that said I felt Riordan did an excellent job with the evolving characters, expanding their diversity and aging them appropriately. I’m not going to lie all I could’ve cared less about the rest of the world. I just wanted to know if Nico was going to be okay. I mean I’m basically an adult (Will I ever really be one?) and I was so excited that there was a gay demigod of course I wanted to know what happened to him!

Riordan did a great job slowly drawing Nico out of his shell and building him into a fully fleshed out character, or as much as one can be when you’re the son of Hades. Even though he fell down on a few stereotypes at the end of the novel (redecorating and a backhanded could be perceived as bitchy comment) Riordan did him justice. I’m not going to lie when his presumed love interest appeared I got butterflies in my stomach and started grinning like an idiot! And then when he called Nico “Death boy” I nearly died trying not to laugh out loud. I hope there’s a demigod diaries featuring the group when they’re older because I do really want to know what happens with all of them!

The other thing I took from this novel was Riordan’s great sense of humor. From the ridiculous nicknames and the tongue-in-cheek nature of the gods, his humor provided excellent levity in such a harrowing time. Add in that he had Nike, the goddess of victory, go off on a rant I very much believe in,

“There is always a winner! One winner. Everyone else is a loser! otherwise victory is meaningless. I suppose you want me to give certificates to all the contestants? Little plastic trophies to every single athlete or soldier for participation? Should we all line up and shake hands and tell each other, Good game? No! Victory must be real. It must be earned. That means it must be rare and difficult, against steep odds, and defeat must be the other possibility.” (110)

I honestly didn’t know whether I should just laugh or start reading passages out loud to people.

The final thing I really enjoyed about the novel and the entire series was his inclusion of so many minor Green and Roman deities. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about them and he provided excellent personalities for so many of them that I might not remember how to spell their names but I can definitely remember their powers and a have a vague idea of how to spell/say their names!

Recommendation: Definitely check it out. If you can read them all close together, you’ll remember more and be utterly exhausted, but it’d be worth it. I was hoping he might go into the Chinese or Cherokee mythologies in his next series, unfortunately he’s not. However, he IS doing another series titled “Magnum Chase and the Gods of Asgard,” which is set in Boston! He lives here with his family and I cannot wait to see what he writes and fingers crossed he’s just in the process of doing research on the Chinese and Cherokee cultures!

Opening Line: “Jason hated being old.”

Closing Line: “The bronze dragon spread his wings, and they soared into the unknown.” (Whited out.)