This book was, well… disappointing. Not because it was a bad book (which it definitely wasn’t) but because I was expecting something much more. The beginning started off okay; the middle was good enough the ending though lacked closure. It wasn’t satisfying enough for me. There were a lot of questions left unanswered, which might have been because Riordan was trying to leave them up to the reader’s imagination but I wish he had answered them.
~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~
I will start off with the parts I loved (starting of-course with Nico). Nico has been one of my favorite characters since The Titan’s Curse. And after HoH, I really wanted him to have his happy ending. In BoO, Nico is the one character who developed the most. He finally started accepting himself and the fact that he also deserves happiness. I liked how close he and Reyna got during their quest and I loved how supportive Reyna was of him.
And let me just say that Solangelo is PERFECT. I absolutely love the idea of Nico and Will (which might have something to do with the fact that I am a daughter of Apollo).
I like Reyna way more than I originally had after this book now that we know more of her background. She is a very strong person and she had gone through a lot (which was the case for most of these demi-gods). The fight between her and Orion was memorable. I screamed when he almost killed Blackjack, that was NOT okay.
I also loved some of the fighting scenes especially the one with Nike. The fact that they kept the goddess of victory hostage was hilarious. And I thought it was very nice of Percy telling Leo he would help him find Callypso again.
And let me just say the fight between the giants and the demi-gods/Olympians was great. I thought it would’ve been even better if we had gotten to see the individual fights and not just from Jason’s POV but that would’ve been very hard to do. I would’ve loved to hear Percy’s and Poseidon’s conversation though. Zeus seemed okay enough (except that he banished Apollo. Did I mention how much I love Apollo?)
Okay, now to the complaints. I have multiple.
First (as many others have pointed out before me) WHERE THE HADES WERE PERCY AND ANNABETH IN THIS BOOK? And Hazel and Frank? Were they just not worthy of being present in the LAST book in the series? It would’ve been better if he just tossed them all to Tartarus instead of this horrible injustice of *shudder* making them background characters.
Again as many people pointed out, where the Hades was Percy’s fatal flaw? It took him no more than three seconds to let Jason and Leo take care of Gaea. There were so many hints about Percy not being able to let go and not being able to see the “bigger picture” when it came to saving his friends. And it only took one line from Annabeth to convince him otherwise? Really?
And I felt that Riordan was trying way too hard to make the readers like Jason and Piper more. Jason saving Percy underwater was good (especially imagining him in this whirlwind tornado type of wind) but it seemed a bit unrealistic to me. Percy seemed almost like a damsel in distress, at-least let him attempt to push the poison out. Yes, Percy mentions that he thought he kind of deserved being poisoned because he used poison to choke the misery goddess to death, but this is PERCY we’re talking about. Even if he didn’t try to save himself for him, he would do anything he could to try and save his friends (which again, go back to his fatal flaw).
And as with Piper, she definitely went through some character development. Her charmspeak has gotten very strong, I mean she made the earth goddess fall asleep. I think that deserves a nice little clap. I also liked that her and Annabeth became such good friends. But again I thought Riordan was trying a little too hard to let readers know they were the best of buddies.
Frank and Hazel were also overshadowed in this book. The only memorable part with Hazel I can remember is their fight with Nike when she started raising those obstacles. I don’t even remember Frank doing anything. Poor Frank.
Leo. Oh my Leo. I am VERY glad he didn’t though. And that Caleo happened. I would’ve enjoyed watching Leo and Callypso go back to camp.
I thought Riordan not killing off one of the characters was an okay decision, a bit of a cop out. After so much hype about someone dying, I was actually disappointed that no one did. No one important anyway. Stupid Octavion.
I also wanted to see a Thalia/Jason reunion. I wanted a Percy/Callypso reunion. I REALLY wanted a Percy/Sally reunion. I wanted a Rachel/Percy reunion. I wanted to hear Blackjack speak for one last time. I wanted one last Percabeth moment in one of their Point of Views.
No, this was not a bad book. But it just left me wanting something more. *Big sigh*
BUT a HUGE thank you to Rick Riordan for writing this wonderful series. It was good while it lasted.
