Title: The Blood of Olympus

Author: Rick Riordan

Pub. Date: October 7, 2014

Pages: 516

Pub: Disney-Hyperion Books

Genre: YA Fantasy Mythology

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Nico had warned them. Going through the House of Hades would stir the demigods’ worst memories. Their ghosts would become restless. Nico may actually become a ghost if he has to shadow-travel with Reyna and Coach Hedge one more time. But that might be better than the alternative: allowing someone else to die, as Hades foretold.

Jason’s ghost is his mother, who abandoned him when he was little. He may not know how he is going to prove himself as a leader, but he does know that he will not break promises like she did. He will complete his line of the prophecy: To storm or fire the world must fall.

Reyna fears the ghosts of her ancestors, who radiate anger. But she can’t allow them to distract her from getting the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood before war breaks out between the Romans and Greeks. Will she have enough strength to succeed, especially with a deadly hunter on her trail?

Leo fears that his plan won’t work, that his friends might interfere. But there is no other way. All of them know that one of the Seven has to die in order to defeat Gaea, the Earth Mother.

Piper must learn to give herself over to fear. Only then will she be able to do her part at the end: utter a single word.

Heroes, gods, and monsters all have a role to play in the climactic fulfillment of the prophecy in The Blood of Olympus, the electrifying finale of the best-selling Heroes of Olympus series.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible. Overall this was a satisfying end to this series – I get the hype. I’m happy with where the characters end up and how everything happened. It felt a little rushed towards the end which left me feeling like it was just a tad anticlimactic – mainly the part with Gaea. The battle with the Gods was epic and I loved it. Everything in this book was vivid as hell and so easy to imagine. Not my favorite in this series, but once again, Rick knows how to tell a story and do it amazingly well. If you want to check out my reviews for Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lost Hero, The Sun of Neptune, The Mark of Athena and/or The House of Hades, I’ve linked them all for your convenience.

Well the crew of the Argo II definitely had their work cut out for them in this book. It’s down to the wire – the make or break for humanity and it’s up to 9 kids and a Satyr who have been to hell and back – quite literally – to save everyone.

What could go wrong?

I remember when I started this series, I really wasn’t all that into it. I didn’t care for Piper, Jason or Leo. Now, I miss them.

I miss all the characters and it’s been less than a week since I finished the series.

For everything that I loved and thoroughly enjoyed in this book, I will say that I was left just the tiniest bit disappointed. The ending was epic, and so much was happening, but the defeat of Gaea – well…

It all felt kind of easy.

Like, the shit Percy and Annabeth went through in Tartarus was more terrible and difficult in comparison. I’m not mad about Octavian, but overall, I just kind of deflated when that all happened.

Comparing this finale to The Last Olympian – I didn’t feel the same magic. It felt like there were no real-world consequences. In The Last Olympian the power the Titan’s wrecked had real (human) world implications. While humans might not have understood what was going on, weird shit was happening! In The Blood of Olympus it felt like everything was happening in a bubble and the human world was non the wiser. You would think if Mother Earth is waking up, then there would be evidence of that in the real world. But it more or less felt like once the demigods embarked on their journey, they were thrust into a purely fantastical world where only the monster of old were present. And I get that the Mist is a powerful magic and messes with the minds of mortals, but we’re talking about a primordial God waking up…

In this final push to save the world, they each have to face more hidden and no so hidden truths about themselves. They run into some more gods and do some more mini quests and it’s all leading up to the final battle that might be their last stands.

Where everyone ends up at the end of this book is satisfying as hell. There are a bunch of cute moments and they definitely deserve the happiness they get. I loved their character arcs – comparing them to where they started and where they finished…omfg it’s so pleasing; I couldn’t be happier for them all.

I wish I’d loved this as much as The House of Hades or even The Last Olympian, but I didn’t. It’s still a great ending to a great series and I do recommend it. I’m really sad that I’ve finished it. I don’t know if I’m going to pick up the Trials of Apollo – at least not anytime soon. I’m interested, but honestly if Percy and Annabeth don’t feature in it much or at all, I don’t know if I really care. He’s still my favorite character, and he and Annabeth are too precious to put into words. So, if someone can tell me just how much or how little the two of them (and the others tbh) are going to be in that series – that’ll determine if or when I’ll get to it.

I’m definitely kicking myself for waiting so long to finally read these books and go on this journey with these characters, but I think it’s safe to say that I’m definitely a Rick Riordan fan. Percy will now (and forever because omfg I love him) hold a place in my heart and I will definitely be recommending these books to some of my younger family members who love to read.