The Epic Finale: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

We're finally here! The last book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I'm so excited to get into it and to hear your thoughts as well!

If you haven't read my last post:

And if you haven't read any of my posts about this series yet, I recommend starting at the beginning:

Title: The Last Olympian
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: May 5, 2009
Pages: 381
Genre: Fantasy, YA
My Rating: 4.5
Goodreads Rating: 4.55/5

A brief summary

Sike! I really can't give a brief summary of this book because we get right into the action in chapter 1.

A way too in-depth summary and review

The book opens with Rachel and Percy on a drive that is suddenly ended when a pegasus lands the hood of the car. Charles Beckendorf, head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin, has come to take Percy on a little mission. The mission: blowing up a cruise ship. The very same cruise ship from book 2 that contains a whole lot of monsters.

On the cruise ship, Charles and Percy are loading up the engine room with tons of explosives when monsters start making their way down. Percy leaves Charles to finish setting up and runs to distract the monsters. He fights his way through until making his way to the main deck where Kronos is waiting for him. Kronos is still using Luke's body but his eyes remain gold, and he carries with him his scythe that can kill human and monster. Percy attempts to fight him but is very quickly defeated against Kronos's time powers, all he can do is try to keep the distraction going until Charles can get off the ship...

And then Charles is brought to the deck, beaten and bloodied. Percy tries to find a way out of the situation, but Charles knows the truth. He tells Percy to run and sacrifices himself to carry out the mission.

Percy wakes up underwater in his father's palace, a place he has always dreamed about visiting, but is now under siege by the titans. Tyson is there, making swords and keeping the soldiers armored, but wishes to fight on the lines. Percy talks to his father who tells him that he has to protect his domain and can't leave, but to let Chiron know it's time to hear the prophecy everyone's been hiding from Percy. Percy leaves, washing ashore at Camp Half-blood where he has to deliver the news of Charles passing to the campers including Silena Beauregard (head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin and his girlfriend).

In a meeting with the head counselors, the prophecy is revealed:

Percy is understandably upset about this, seeing as his death is implied, but tries to hold strong. It's also revealed in this meeting that they have a spy in their midst. The camp counselors agree that it's best to keep this information secret, lest creating an environment of distrust and the meeting adjourns.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff for 62 pages, but I'm not complaining! I'm glad this book starts out assuming the reader knows everything. Something I hate about sequels are when the author spends the first fourth of the book recapping the exposition like I didn't just finish reading the first book an hour ago. I understand that it is necessary, especially when you have readers waiting a year between releases, but I think when you get to the fifth book in a series you can be safe and trust the reader has read the other books.

Percy and Nico go roadtripping

While taking Mrs. O'Leary (the giant hellhound Daedalus left in the care of Percy) for a walk, Percy runs into Nico who presses him for an answer about his plan that was mentioned at the end of the previous book. Percy is still hesitant but ultimately decides to go along with it, meaning Percy and Nico have to go on a trip to May Castellan's (Luke's mother) house to understand the enemy.

At May's house, Percy and Nico learn that something is magically wrong with Luke's mom. She can't see well, the house is filled with moldy peanut butter and jellies, and burnt cookies are everywhere. During their conversation, May reveals that Luke ran away when he was nine but he promised to be back for lunch, which May constantly cooks for him thinking he might come back. And before they're about to leave, her eyes start to glow green and she warns about a horrible fate befalling her son, leading to Percy and Nico getting out of the house as quick as possible but with the understanding of why Luke would run away.

Outside of the house, Percy and Nico find a fire being tended to by a young girl—Hestia, goddess of the hearth. She warns Percy about the importance of yielding, of keeping the peace, and the dangers of what Percy is about to do, but Percy says he must continue on. Nico and Percy leave (essentially teleporting) and arrive in his mom's apartment.

Paul Blofis, Percy's new stepdad, was understandably unbelieving when Percy told him about the mythological world around them, but his doubts are quickly shaken when Mrs. O'Leary shows up, barely being contained by just the living room. For the next part of the mission, Percy must get his mother's blessing, which with some assurance from Paul, she gives, and Nico and Percy are off to the underworld.

Okay I should probably say what Percy and Nico are planning: like Achilles before him, Percy's gonna take a little dip in the River Styx. A very dangerous thing to do that could kill Percy in the process, but if he survives he would have the strength of a whole army; the strength to be able to kill Kronos. This is how Luke was able to become a vessel for Kronos, he also bathed in the river.

In the underworld, and with a little detour to visit Hades, Percy steps into the Styx. He feels himself dying, but is able to hold onto life by envisioning Annabeth reaching out her hand to help him out of the river. Percy walks onto the shore and puts his new abilities to good use when Hades and an army of the undead come to imprison him. Percy hacks and slashes his way through them like they're wheat in a field and manages to best Hades before he escapes.

Rewriting history: a continuation

While in the underworld, it's revealed that Hades actually had multiple children involved in the nazi party during World War II. And I just gotta say... WHAT? Does nobody else see an issue in implying the genocide of millions of people were due to the leaders of the nazi party being children of Hades?? Does that not feel a bit insensitive to anyone??

So I wanted to provide a short list of the historical figures that are said to be half-bloods:

• "Leaders of the Nazi party" - Children of Hades
• "Leaders of the Allied forces" - Children of Poseidon and Zeus
• George Washington - son of Athena
• Harriet Tubman - daughter of Hermes
• William Shakespeare - son of Apollo
• Emilia Earhart - daughter of Zeus
• Harry Houdini - we don't know who his parent is but he managed to go to the underworld and escape, much like Orpheus before him. According to Spencer at "Latter Day Saint Geeks," his headcannon is that he's a son of Hecate, goddess of magic and witchcraft.

War: day 1, everyone's starting to feel verrrry sleeeeepy

Do you remember in the last book when Percy activated a volcano? Yeah, so that volcano was not only one of Hephaestus's forges, it was also the prison of the storm titan, Typhon, and when Percy set the volcano off it also awakened him. So now he's wreaking havoc across the United States on his way towards Olympus and all the gods are fighting him in an attempt to stop him before reaching New York, leaving Olympus completely exposed to an attack. And during his trip to the underworld, Percy learned that a secret attack was going to happen at any moment.

Percy calls the campers of Camp Half-blood to New York (minus the Ares cabin because they got into a squabble with the Apollo cabin) in the knick of time. Morpheus, the god of sleep, puts all of Manhattan into a deep slumber and Kronos puts a time spell around the city, making it next to impossible to get in or out. The campers plus the hunters of Artemis divide to protect the different bridges leading into the city, and prepare for war.

I'm gonna be honest, this battle is like a third of the book and I'm not really interested in writing, "they hit them, then they killed them, then they used magic against that person," so these sections of my summary are going to be short and to the point.

Percy and Annabeth go to help the Apollo cabin defend one of the bridges. They push the army back to Brooklyn, but Kronos makes an appearance. However, before he can make it to the other side, Percy and one of the Apollo kids destroy the bridge and Kronos warns Percy that they will fight tomorrow night.

Annabeth gets hurt in the fight and during a private conversation with Percy, she reveals that Luke visited her over the summer and asked her to run away with him, but she refused. He said Kronos was using him as a stepping stone, and Annabeth is concerned this means that Kronos has a Cell/Frieza-esque final form. But before they can really delve into what that might mean, Percy has to get reports from the rest of the campers. It's realized that the spy told Kronos where each cabin was stationed, as there were 30 hunters at one bridge and they barely got any action, while Kronos approached the Apollo bridge with barely any fighters. Apparently the monsters are waiting until the next night to fight, giving the campers some time to rest. Silena from the Aphrodite cabin leaves to try and convince the Ares cabin to fight with them.

Percy dreams of Nico at his father's palace in the Underworld. He tries to summon the spirit of his mother, but this spirit is forbidden to him. Instead he is given a vision. He sees his mom and his father at a hotel post World War II and Hades is trying to convince her to move to the Underworld where he can protect her, but she refuses, saying it's not a place to raise children. You see, Zeus demanded that the big three gods hand over their children, most likely to just kill them on the spot, and it's already past the deadline. Nico's mother walks away and then the hotel blows up, but Hades is able to protect Nico and Bianca. The oracle walks in, saying that this is what's supposed to happen, but Hades doesn't accept it and puts a curse on her:

This is why May Castellan is messed up, she tried to take on the spirit of the oracle, but because of the curse it ruined her brain.

War: day 2, the spy is revealed

Percy is awoken by the titan Prometheus seeking parley. He wishes to end the fighting, but Percy refuses. As a gift (or a curse?), Prometheus gives Percy Pandora's box, or more accurately Pandora's jar. While Pandora released the contents long ago, one thing remained in the jar: hope. If Percy were to give up at any time, he could release hope from the jar. But that day ain't today.

Percy immediately falls back asleep and sees a vision of Kronos who's taken up residence in Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium from the first book. A lot of expository information is provided, but the important part is that we can see Luke fighting Kronos—he's still in there, fighting to take back control. And to make matters worse, Annabeth was right and Kronos will have a final form.

Back to the fighting, Percy kills the titan Hyperion, fights a giant flying pig, and kills a hyperborean giant. All starts to seem hopeless when the campers are pushed back to the entrance to the Empire State Building, but Chiron and the party ponies come to the rescue, pushing back the monsters and allowing the campers a bit or respite from the fighting.

Rachel flies in on a helicopter, or dives in as the pilot falls asleep once he enters the boundaries of the borough, and delivers Percy a message: "you are not the hero." She has no idea what it means, Percy is confused and a little upset that she came all this way just to say he's not special, but Chiron escorts her to safety.

Suddenly, a drakon shows up but Rachel warns that it "has a particular fate, it will be killed by a child of Ares." And seeing as Clarisse is still at camp, the campers are a little concerned about fighting it. Percy realizes that this means the spy informed him that the Ares cabin were not with them and he chose an enemy they can't defeat.

Percy fights the Drakon but is barely holding on when the Ares cabin appears on chariots, led by Clarisse and her electric spear. Percy yells to Clarisse that she must kill it, and she stabs it but the drakon retaliates by spitting acid in her face, causing her helmet and armor to warp around her body. Percy keeps distracting the drakon, but also tries to make sense of what's happening behind him:

Silena had put on Clarisse's armor and rallied the Ares cabin, tricking them into fighting. Clarisse, unarmored, charges the drakon and kills him instantly. As Clarisse cradles the dying daughter of Aphrodite, Silena reveals that she was the spy all along. She never meant to hurt anyone, Luke had promised that he wouldn't hurt Charles. Silena dies and Clarisse declares she died a hero, not a traitor.

I'm still a Clarisse apologist, Percy's gotta stop hating on her.

The end of the line

Grover, Annabeth, and Percy head up to Olympus while the fighting outside is looking bleak. There Percy meets Hestia once again. After a conversation with Rachel where she basically says "thank you for bringing me to Olympus, I realize that our friendship is nothing special anymore," Percy is confronted with Pandora's box. He debates opening it, releasing hope, but instead gives it to Hestia to protect. He lets the last olympian keep hope safe in the hearth.

Percy sits on his father throne, a big no no that almost gets him immediately killed, but is able to make contact with his father. He convinces him that giving up his palace is worth the loss, a palace can be rebuilt and the ocean can be repopulated, but he needs to fight with the other gods against Typhon for the war to have a chance of being won.

The gang heads back down to the ground to see the building completely surrounded by Kronos's army. Then suddenly, Hades appears, convinced by Nico to fight for Olympus instead of hiding away in his domain. While that takes care of a lot of the monsters, Kronos still makes it through to Olympus.

Back up in Olympus, the gang finds the place absolutely destroyed. In the throne room, Percy stands against Kronos alone. When Kronos uses his time powers, Percy is frozen as Kronos shows him what is happening with Typhon. He's almost at New York and the gods are beaten and battered. However, Percy's cries to his father worked and Poseidon shows up to finish Typhon off, helped by Tyson leading an army of cyclops. Kronos is far from done though, he attacks Percy and disarms him. Just when it seems like it's over, Annabeth steps in. She talks to Luke and manages to pull his consciousness to the surface. Luke says that Kronos is about to assume his final form and his body will be destroyed in the process. Annabeth tells Percy to give Luke her knife, which he hesitantly obliges. And before the transformation can take place, Luke stabs himself with the knife, killing Kronos in the process.

And now to talk about something icky. While Luke is dying he asks Annabeth if she loved him, and it's implied that he's not talking about any kind of love other than romantic because Annabeth replies with, "you were like a brother to me." I'd like to remind you that Annabeth was seven years old when they met!! Luke was like 14 or something!! Annabeth tells him that he was a hero in the end and he'll get to go to Elysium (the underworlds version of heaven), but as far as I see it pedophiles should go straight to turbo tartarus. Good riddance!

Percy gets offered godhood

The gods come back to Olympus and hold a meeting to discuss the events, even Hades is given a hero's welcome and an honorary throne at the hearth. We're just gonna go down the cast of characters here:

• Thalia: I know I didn't mention her, but she was leading the hunters during the battle. She is given an honorary thanks and personal help in finding new hunters. Hades has agreed to fast track all of the deceased hunters applications to Elysium.
• Tyson: He is appointed an army general for the armies of Olympus, leading the cyclops. He is also given a new stick to fight with.
• Grover: Grover is appointed to the Council of Cloven Elders (due to the leader guy dying in battle). He will be treated as lord of the Wild.
• Annabeth: She is offered the chance to rebuild Olympus in her image. Fulfilling her dream of building something that will last millenia.
• And finally, Percy: the gods have decided to give him a gift. They offer him godhood, to have immortality and a place in Olympus. But Percy turns it down. Instead, he asks for every minor god to have a cabin in Camp-Halfblood, including a cabin for Hades. He also asks for all half-blood children to be claimed by their parent by the age of 13 and for them all to find the safety of camp. And for the big-three-god-no-children pact to be dissolved. And for all innocent people to be pardoned such as Calypso and the peaceful titans. So really, he asked for a bunch of wishes but they are all agreed upon and granted.

The final prophecy

Let's break down this final prophecy:

"A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds."

Self-explanatory, this is Percy.

"And see the world in endless sleep,"

Technically not the whole world, but Morpheus puts Manhattan to sleep during the battle.

"The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap."

So the hero was actually Luke and the cursed blade was Annabeth's. It's considered cursed because Luke gave Annabeth the blade and said he'd always be there for her. But he betrayed her and turned to Kronos, cursing the blade in the process.

"A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze."

I'm not exactly sure what the "right" option is for this. It can be the choice that Luke made to stab himself, but in my opinion the single choice was Percy giving Hestia Pandora's box and allowing hope to survive.

The story wraps up pretty neatly from here. Due to Hades and Nico now being accepted, Rachel is able to become the new Oracle of Delphi. New cabins are being built for the minor gods. Rachel speaks a new epic prophecy (which I'm sure drives the next series). New campers are pouring in and so many of them have been claimed. And Annabeth and Percy finally kiss again and call it official.

And that's it, it feels weird to say it after writing so much about it, but that's the end of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

But I'm not done talking!

Loose ends that I want answers to

Percy made sure the gods pardoned Calypso, what's she doing now?

At the end of the book Poseidon implies that he has other children, where the fuck are they? And again, Poseidon told Percy he was his favorite child so it's another huge fuck you to them if he does have other kids.

Why didn't Kronos just wait a little longer? The prophecy said nothing about it having to occur on Percy's sixteenth birthday, though it coincidentally does. Why didn't he just wait until his final form was realized?

Speaking of which, Percy spent a few days in the first book in the Lotus casino. We see Nico and Bianca stopped aging while they were in there, would Percy's birthday still be the day he claimed it was in this book, or would it technically be a few days earlier to make up for the time difference? And would that mean Nico is technically like 80 years old? If so, he would've been the first child to reach 16 and that would make Percy's role in the prophecy void.

Okay and now a couple things that aren't loose threads but I still want to complain about.

They had Thalia, Nico, and Percy all in the same spot... why did we not get to see some epic children of the big three team up? It would've been cool if they could've taken on the prophecy all together and not let Percy be alone in his battle. Literally, Thalia was running with them to confront Kronos and she is taken out by some falling rubble. Someone write fan-fiction about this so I can read it.

I don't get the whole ophiotaurus plot line. That's the cow/mermaid thing I mentioned in the third book. He was still living in the throne room during Kronos's takeover and he just didn't notice him. His role was so minor in the third book, why did that make it through the editing stage other than to create an illusion of tension?

My character tier chart

I teased it in my last post, but I decided to make it real. Here's my Percy Jackson character tier chart:

Conclusion

Wow! Almost 20,000 words written but that's the whole series! It's been great revisiting this series after like 15 years. I love media that is made for children but doesn't talk down to them; that is filled with adult themes that can make books like these timeless.

For my project, this has been a fantastic start for me. I went to the library the other day and picked up my next few books. I think next will be You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao if you want to read along with me!

In terms of the Rick Riordan universe, I do want to continue following Percy Jackson's journey even if the other Riordan series aren't on the list. However, I don't want this blog to become random—I want to focus on the main goal of the project. So yes, the next book I will review will be a book on the list, but every once in a while I'll continue to follow the half-blood gang as they continue their journey.

Now that we're out of the thick of this series, if you have any recommendations on what to read next, let me know!

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