The Last Olympian (2009) Review // They Had a Spy on The Inside and it Wasn’t Hercules Mulligan???

The Last Olympian – Rick Riordan

Book 5/5 “Percy Jackson and the Olympians“

Fantasy, (Greek) Mythology, Middle Grade/Low YA

Buddy read with Destiny

Publication Date: May 5th, 2009

Trigger Warnings: loss of a loved one, grief, dead parents (past), injury, war, parental abandonment, death, high places/heights

The Lightning Thief | Review | 3 ⭐

Sea of Monsters | Review | 3 ⭐

The Titan’s Curse | Review | 3 ⭐

The Battle of The Labyrinth | Review | 4 ⭐

Character Guide ⇩

►Percy “Seaweed Brain” Jackson → 14, Dyslexic, ADHD, lives in Manhattan, loves his mum, sarcastic, black hair, green eyes
►Annabeth Chase “Wise Girl” → 14, grey eyes, blonde, Athena’s daughter, has been at Camp since she was 7
►Grover Underwood → 30 (looks 14ish), Likes enchiladas, vegetarian, curly brown hair, Satyr, Keeper
►Mr Brunner/Chiron → Latin Teacher/Activities Director at Camp Half-Blood (currently not at camp), brown eyes
►Mr D/Dionysus → Curly black hair, God of wine & Camp Director, Zeus (his father) can’t drink wine
►Luke Castellan → 23, a scar on his face, Hermes’ son, hella unimpressed with the gods
►Thalia → Turned into a pine tree at age 12 (roughly 19 now because she kept growing slowly but actually according to Apollo she’s 15 (16 in a week, per ch 4), became a Hunter of Artemis, wears punk clothes, has a dead alcoholic mother
►Rachel Elizabeth Dare → 14?, red head, can see through the mist, mortal, can draw with her hands and her feet
►Nico Di Angelo → 12, just a lil emo kid who calls himself The Ghost King™
►Clarisse La Rue → underappreciated by everyone she meets, daughter of Ares
►Charles Beckendorf → African American, Heaphestus cabin
►Selena Beauregard → Daughter of Aphrodite
►Travis & Conor Stoll → Hermes cabin, tall, skinny, brown hair (not twins)
►Sally Jackson → Percy’s mum, works at a candy shop, parents died in a plane crash when she was young, too good for Poseidon tbh

⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Greek Gods don’t exactly show up for their kids’ basket ball games”

This review is mostly just going to consist of my thoughts in bullet point form because I had way too much to talk about and otherwise we’d be here for days!

↣ Paul Blofis is the MVP tbh, we love a man who teaches his chaotic step son how to drive

↣ I love how well percy and Rachel know each other like he even knows the school her mum went to! Unfortunatley my spidey senses are telling me that once he gets with Annabeth we’ll probably never (or rarely) see him interact with Rachel again. That being said, I can’t remember if Rachel is even in the next series!

↣ I kind of want a standalone Rachel book which is wild since I never liked her as a kid. I mean come on, surely she gets up to some crazy high jinx, especially as someone who can see through the mist!

↣ Actually, to go with my imginary-never-gonna-happen Rachel book, I think it would be so cool to read a prequel to Percy’s stories but set at camp, with a focus with all of our faves before they met Percy! The more I think about this the more I want it…

↣ Percy may be a dumbass but he’s actually really smart during battle

↣ it’s so sad that the bulk of people fighting in this war are 12 year olds or max, 16/17

↣ I know Ethan nakumara is a product of parental abandonment and manipulation but also fuck him

↣ Okay but the fact that none of this would have happened if the gods had got off their asses for 5 minutes H O N E S T L Y

↣ I feel like one of the major things that sets Percy apart from so many other protagonists is that he tries to get fighters on the other side (particularly kids) to escape or leave bc even though they’re on the other side he doesn’t want them to get hurt or die.

“You’ve had enough sorrow for one day.”

↣ \We fuckn love a dumbass who tries to spend a precious gift from his dad in a school vending machine 😂

↣ A really lost pizza delivery guy turned up on long island??? I really want this story!

↣ OKAY SO HEAR ME OUT. Kind of weird but I want Rick to write an adult book and just go full throttle and rip my heart open because if this is how he can make me feel with a Middle Grade – low YA series then I want to know what he can really do and just how much he can make me cry with nothing stopping him.

“Nico strode forward. The enemy army fell back before him like he radiated death, which of course he did.
Through the face guard of his skull-shaped helmet, he smiled. “Got your message. Is it too late to join the party?”
“Son of Hades.” Kronos spit on the ground. “Do you love death so much you wish to experience it?”
“Your death,” Nico said, “would be great for me.”
“I’m immortal, you fool! I have escaped Tartarus. You have no business here, and no chance to live.”
Nico drew his sword-three feet of wicked sharp Stygian iron, black as a nightmare. “I don’t agree.” (ch 18)

❤❤❤ possibly the best interaction in the entire series

↣ Okay, so I don’t love Clarisse all of the time but you’re telling me everyone at camp makes fun of her behind her back (and she knows about it) and then wonder why she doesn’t get along with them??? There seems to be a double standard when it comes to the Ares kids.

↣ I feel like the whole empathy link thing is very underdeveloped and under-explained

↣ It’s crazy to me that Clarisse is such a present and important character in this series but they didn’t include her in the first movie?? I hope they don’t turn her into a classic rude bully but they actually give her depth in the show

Annabeth: saves Rachel and herself from dying by commanding a helicopter even though she doesn’t know how to fly one
Also Annabeth: walks away like it was nothing

↣ I wish we had met Juniper earlier in the series or that she was on the council or something bc I feel like she’s very much a background character and I wish we got the chance to learn about her and see her develop throughout the series sort of like we did with Beckendorf & Clarisse.

↣ ooh we’re getting little glimpses of Percy’s anger issues, I can’t wait for this boy to full on lose it tbh.

↣ Look, I’m not saying Percy is destructive and chaotic or anything, I’m just saying that Percy literally launched the River Styx at the God of the Underworld and that… was a choice that he made.

“with great power comes great need to take a nap.”

↣ This book was literally battle, recoup, battle, someone dies, battle – it’s such a change of pace!

↣ Honestly, I’m in such a good mood now, I think I might start The Lost Hero tomorrow? I’m ngl it’s going to be so interesting reading that now that all children will know their parents and the minor gods + Hades will have cabins! It’s just hitting me how massive CHB must be.

↣ We love it when the author gives you a deeper and more meaningful background on the villain and makes you understand them 💯💯💯 the only way I’ll accept a villain being written.

Do you have a favourite character/moment in the PJO series?
What do you love most about the PJO series?

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