The Last Olympian )Percy Jackson and the Olypians #5) by Rick Riordan

Product Details
Product Details

Pub. Date: May 2009
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Format: Hardcover, 400pp
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series , #5
ISBN-13: 9781423101475
ISBN: 1423101472

Synopsis

All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy’s sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.


My thoughts:

This installment was a little harder to listen to than the prior four in that more people are hurt and killed in this one. I know that made it a more difficult read/listen for my children. It was interesting to see how things played out and to get a further back-story on some of the characters and gods and how things in the past are playing out in the present. Finding out how Nico and Bianca ended up at the Lotus Blossom Casino for all those years, what happened to their mother, why Luke’s mother is the way she is and what led Luke down the path to becoming the vessel for Kronos. Also how infighting and unfairness among the gods led to some of them siding with Kronos over the Olympians. It is a good lesson on how things from the past continue to play out in the present and how we all must take care with our words, actions and decisions not because we are going to cause a battle that could end like as we know it, but because today’s events could come into play at some later date. A flip comment today meant as a joke can be taken the wrong way and become a big issue for someone farther down the road. Sometimes the comment you take away from a conversation and just can’t shake was forgotten by the speaker moments later and wasn’t meant in an unkind way at all.

Seeing the demigods in a more grown-up way was different and I think I am going to miss their adventures. I was a the bookstore last weekend and saw the Riordan has a new series about heroes now so that should be interesting. I wonder if the characters from these will make appearances of if it will be new heroes.