The Last Olympian (2009) (edit title/settings)

9 of 11 members found this review helpful

• Rated 4 stars

“Rick Riordan closes out the "Percy Jackson & The Olympians" series with a bang. This was, in terms of action, suspense, character development, and emotional attachment the best of the five books in the series. While "The Lightning Thief" will hold a place in my heart as the first novel in the series, "The Last Olympian" did more than any of its predecessors to hoist the series out of the realm of independent reader and into the more adult literature. Unfortunately, character detail, plot, backgrounds, and even description still leave much to be desired. Riordan, unlike some of his competition -the most obvious being J.K. Rowling- does not do much to allow his characters to grow from year-to-year. Though the challenges that Percy and his friends face become greater and more dangerous with each new installment, they remain relatively the same from book to book. Percy as a twelve year old, in book one, is not much different than Percy the sixteen year old, in book five. Riordan tries to develop the characters, he scrapes the surface of emotions these kids and teens would be feeling, had they really been placed in such precarious, dangerous, confusing circumstances, but realism doesn't quite make a strong impression on the fantasy of this series. Still, this last book was exciting, moving, and - most importantly for me- still had a creative, fun way of teaching its readers about greek mythology. There are also many underlying morals - the danger we face by turning our backs on history and believing ourselves to be all-knowing - that our actions do not have consequences. That lesson, above all, is probably the true triumph of "The Last Olympian."”

Adam B wrote this review Friday, May 8, 2009.