Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian by: Rick Riordan

 

The Last Olympian can perhaps best be summarized as Rick Riordan learning from his mistakes when writing The Sea of Monsters, by making the story an homage to the other famous Homer epic: The Illiad.  This is the story where the Great Prophecy is fulfilled, the world is about to end, Percy is turning sixteen, and Kronos is advancing on New York.  Like The Sea of Monsters, many of the plot elements and structure is taken from the epic poem, meaning that many of the twists and turns will be familiar to those familiar with the poems.  Riordan improves on his previous novel by splitting the character arcs between different characters which keeps the reader on their toes as to who will be doing what.  Unlike The Sea of Monsters, The Last Olympian doesn’t perfectly follow The Illiad, instead taking the iconic moments such as the death of Patroclus, the negotiations between Greece and Troy, and the curse of Achilles are taken directly from the poem.  Riordan has made the final novel an incredibly enjoyable read by knowing when to stop taking inspiration and letting his own characters flourish through the pages as the tensions rise and the war mounts to a head with Manhattan in the place of Troy.  There is also the restraint to avoid using the Trojan Horse as how Kronos’ army enters the city, instead placing a sleeping curse on the mortals, causing general chaos, and placing the city under a siege and slowly approaching the Empire State Building to destroy Olympus.  There is also a clear tactic of dividing the demigods from the gods by releasing the Titan Typhon from his prison under Mount Saint Helens, distracting the gods.  The entire story is about how a war, and almost by extension anything, will fail unless there is unity and teamwork under strong leadership.

 

Riordan presents The Last Olympian essentially as a story with two halves: the buildup to the war is given as much attention as the war itself.  It is in that buildup where Riordan spends time getting into the psychology of Luke and establishing just how flawed the gods are.  Nico takes Percy on a journey to understand what made Luke the way he was and what Percy must do to defeat Kronos and his army.  The story of Luke’s mother and childhood is absolutely heartbreaking and fits into the theme of self-fulfilling prophecies of the book as the gods created this situation and are now paying for their actions.  May Castellan is a fascinating character, as while she means well, her choices led to Luke essentially be neglected and angry at Hermes, his father for legitimate reasons.  It makes Luke become a very human villain, and his eventual fate at the end of the book hits all the harder.  Hades is also used early on in the novel to highlight the hypocrisy of Olympus and their silly rules.  He wants to use Nico by capturing Percy and hiding him away so the Prophecy can be about a son of Hades, so he can get the respect that he deserves with the rest of his family.  Family plays an incredibly important role through the book as Percy is acting to protect his family, Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis (her fiancé) fight by the end to save the world, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare fights to find her own place in her family.

 

Rachel becomes an interesting character here as while in The Battle of the Labyrinth Riordan set up a love triangle, it seemed by the end of that book that it would be ended there.  Then he opens this book with Percy and Rachel on a date.  The love triangle becomes a subplot throughout the novel, but it feels like these feelings Percy may have for Rachel are simply an excuse for him to care about her which comes across as clunky.  Annabeth is also really catty with Rachel up until the very end where her arc ends with Percy and Annabeth in their proper place as a couple.  Riordan already has a perfectly good plot hook and arc with Rachel’s struggles of being an activist and living a life against the wishes of her rich parents.  Add her prophetic dreams into the mix and that is plenty to keep her in the story without needing a love triangle to keep Percy interested.  This is the only area where the book really falls flat as Riordan finally spends more time in this book to establish a supporting cast, just enough for the audience to care when some of them inevitably die in war.  Yes, this is a young adult novel where death occurs and has consequences, many of which have a lasting impact on the characters.  Riordan does an excellent job of showing the fallout that death can cause and the different ways that grief manifests in people.  There are deaths that because of the reactions from the other characters, especially those involving Percy and Clarisse, become incredibly heartfelt and emotional.  Death has meaning and cannot be undone in this world.  The actual title refers to Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home, and her connection to the story and what she represents in the larger context of the narrative.  She bleeds into the theme of hope springing eternal in the darkest of places as these children have to save the world.

 

Honestly, The Last Olympian is wholesale a satisfying conclusion to Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  It is a book full of twists and turns that I would highly recommend, especially if you have come thus far in reading the series.  It’s at this point where Riordan implements themes about family and hope and war all in a package.  This book has death, betrayal, redemption, and the conclusion to what has been a great arc through the series.  The gods are depicted fully as the flawed immortal beings they are, and the book ends with them making a promise, setting up future stories.  There really is one big flaw here, and that is writing in a love triangle where there really doesn’t need to be a love triangle.  The book becomes an incredibly breezy read, and while not the best in the series, it leaves the reader satisfied.  9/10.