Identity.
Death. Trust. Love.
Acceptance. These are the five
themes of The Heroes of Olympus in order and Rick Riordan somehow
managed to write a series of children’s books that thematically serve as
mirrors for one another. With each theme
the cast of viewpoint characters expands and the depth with which Riordan
includes these themes makes the capstone to The Heroes of Olympus nearly
the best work yet. I say nearly, as
outside of the theming of the story, The Blood of Olympus does have one
major flaw that sadly makes it the weakest installment: the climax with the
giants is rushed past and Gaea rises before not really doing much as a villain. Gaea’s raising which has been built up for
five books as something to be avoided and only done with sacrifice, occurs when
Percy has a nosebleed in a fight and that blood hits the ground. This is a subversion of expectations that
perhaps could work if Gaea actually then posed a real threat to any of the
characters. Deus ex machina is something
that is expected in a story which bases itself in a mythology, but when it
doesn’t allow any real emotional resonance with the characters to defeat the
villain the climax becomes weak. Riordan
also includes a second climax with the Camp Half-Blood conflict being a race
against the clock for Reyna and Nico before the Seven actually meet up with
them. This aspect of the conclusion is
actually where Riordan shines as it feels as though The Heroes of Olympus
was really about the camp conflict and Gaea was simply a red herring.
Nico and Reyna being paired, and both getting point of
view chapters throughout The Blood of Olympus. They’re both broken characters dealing with
their own arc to acceptance. Reyna’s before
this installment has stayed in the background as this stoic leader, strong and
loyal, but willing to listen. This book
actually allows several peeks behind the curtain to show her inner turmoil. The reader already knows from The Sea of
Monsters and The Son of Neptune that Percy and Annabeth were responsible
for ruining one of her homes, but she also comes from an abusive home. Her father was a soldier in the Iraq War and
suffered from untreated PTSD, causing him to become delusional. He saw enemies where there weren’t any and it
was by luck that Reyna and her sister were able to escape. There’s also the identity of being a daughter
of Bellona, a goddess only found in the Roman pantheon and a goddess of war. Bellona is different from Ares or Athena, as
she is more the embodiment of the tactics and politics of war, including creating
peace. It makes sense that Reyna, as her
daughter, would be the one sent to try and stop a war from happening. She’s also a character who shows this
stoicism but like many stoic characters, doesn’t actually figure out what she
wants in life in this book which is kind of an important lesson as it’s one way
Riordan leaves these characters in a satisfactory place without making the
ending overly saccharine.
Nico’s acceptance is perhaps the most obvious in the
book: he comes to terms with his sexuality, spending the book with Reyna and by
the end of it at least flirting with someone.
Oh and actually providing himself come closure with Percy (who is
clueless about that fact). He admits to
him that he’s had a crush, but Percy isn’t his type. Much of his internal monologue involves him trying
to push down his sexuality, essentially going through the five stages of grief. Especially interesting is how he denies to
himself that he would have eventually admitted it to himself (which is probably
false) and by the end of the book he’s flirting with Will Solace, a relatively
minor character who at least gets some characterization in this book. Will is a son of Apollo and a medic and the
flirting is at least fun. He’s also a
bit of an idiot who poorly camouflages himself on a whim after delivering a baby.
Riordan implies a romance between them
right at the end with Will representing Nico’s acceptance. Annabeth has an interesting point of
acceptance: the fact that Percy has flaws.
In The House of Hades Percy came very close to killing an
immortal goddess, something that traumatized Annabeth on top of their shared trauma
of being in Tartarus. They both have to adjust
to not being constantly attacked by almost going further into each other with
their relationship and taking it further: the book ends with them on the track
to being as close to normal teenagers as demigods can be.
Meanwhile Jason has to accept his position as a
leader, but not in the way of leading a camp.
He takes a position of a high priest as an emissary of both camps to
continue the work begun at the end of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Jason takes a position where he is
responsible for bringing the minor gods to the same status as the major
gods. He also is injured with essentially
a cursed injury which essentially represents his own stubbornness in trying to
save everyone, where he isn’t exactly meant to be. Frank then has to undergo the opposite arc, learning
to take up leadership as he will be a praetor for Camp Jupiter as ambassador
with Hazel supporting him on the sidelines.
Overall, The Blood of Olympus is a touch disappointing. There’s still that absolutely brilliant
character work and everyone shines. The
book is absolutely brilliant right up until that final battle with Gaea and
after Gaea is defeated there is a slight redemption as the stuff at Camp
Half-Blood is excellent, but this is sadly a weaker entry. It’s still very good and worth a read and it
doesn’t ruin the series or anything, but it leaves the reader wanting more in
one of the absolutely worst ways possible. 8/10.
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