Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian – Rick Riordan

As a child I was pretty obsessed with Greek Mythology so this year I decided to rekindle that love as an adult by joining the Read-A-Myth Reading Challenge, this is now my fifth book of the challenge. My mom, brother, and boyfriend have read all of the books from this series, and all couldn’t recommend them any higher my only surprise is it took me this long to get round to them. Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian is the fifth and last instalment of Rick Riordan’s mythological YA series, and was released in 2009. I’ve really enjoyed reading this series and I entered into reading this last instalment with both trepidation that it was ending but also excitement to see how it would all end. For my reviews of the other instalments see the links below:

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse, Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth

As Percy approaches his sixteenth birthday and the day of his prophecy, he must prepare himself for the fact that this might be his last summer alive. Since Kronos the king of the Titans reclaimed a body he has stepped up his war against the Gods of Olympus, splitting their forces by sending Oceanus against Poseidon under the water and Typhon against the other gods on land, with these two battles raging Mount Olympus is left almost defenceless. Percy’s friend Nico comes up with a dangerous plan for how Percy can fight Kronos, and that is to follow in the footsteps of Achilles to the river Styx in the underworld. With Percy’s new-found power he rallies his Camp Half-Blood friends together with The Hunters, and all the nature spirits that Grover can summon to make a last stand in Manhattan to stop Kronos’ army from reaching the entrance to Mount Olympus. Percy’s allies are outnumbered almost 20 to 1, with the odds stacked against them can Percy and his friends save the day for the final time?!

Wow! What an action packed finally, I certainly can’t say I was disappointed by the closing battle, Percy wasn’t going to go quietly. I loved how all my favourite characters all got back together, as well a lot of the bad guys too which made for some very dramatic and heart-breaking outcomes. Riordan wasn’t scared to kill off some characters you had come to like. Most of the story revolved around the invasion of Manhattan which Riordan reflected back to the siege of Troy, that again linked Percy back to another great hero Achilles who obviously met a sticky end in battle. The prophecy that has clouded Percy’s whole life is told to us and as prophecies go it isn’t the easiest thing to understand, but as the story started to unfold so did the meaning of the prophecy.

As I said above I was a bit trepid about starting this book because I was a little sad that it would be ending. Of course really I loved finding out what finally happened to Percy and his friends. But I was spurred on to find out what else Riordan has written so I still can my fix. I was really excited to find out his new trilogy The Kane Chronicles is about another childhood obsession of mine Egypt! I think we all know what I’ll be trying to get my hands on next

All in all I would highly recommend this whole series to all those lovers of mythology and adventure. A perfect and easy way back into Greek Mythology if you are also taking part in the Read-A-Myth Challenge.