Rick Riordan, dubbed "storyteller of the gods" but Publishers Weekly, is the author of five #1 New York Times bestselling series, including Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, based on Norse myths. He is best known for his Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, which bring Greek mythology to life for contemporary readers. He expanded on that series with two more: the Heroes of Olympus and the Trials of Apollo, which cleverly combine Greek and Roman gods and heroes with his beloved modern characters. Rick tackled the ancient Egyptian gods in the magic-filled Kane Chronicles trilogy. Millions of fans across the globe have enjoyed his fast-paced and funny quest adventures as well as his two #1 bestselling myth collections, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes. Rick is also the publisher of an imprint at Disney Hyperion, Rick Riordan Presents, dedicated to finding other authors of highly entertaining fiction based on world cultures and mythologies. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife and two sons. For more information, go to www.rickriordan.com, or follow him on Twitter @RickRiordan. You can find more of my reviews of Rick's works here.
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 of The Blood of Olympus, the electrifying finale of the bestselling Heroes of Olympus series.
I mentioned in my review for The House of Hades our splintered understanding of who the Seven of the prophecy might be, especially since Nico and Reyna are assigned bigger roles as the series advances to the end. As Nico and Reyna both get chapters dedicated to their points of view—whereas Annabeth and Percy do not—supports the idea that Reyna and Nico are actually the other part of the Seven. The wonderful thing, though, is that Riordan never delivers on this line of the prophecy by defining who the Seven are. So, in reality, while seven demigods were meant to answer the call, it was actually nine who helped defeat Gaea and make peace a reality. The ambiguity of this choice allows all readers, all fans, to connect with more than just seven demigods, and to give us all the chance to interpret a prophecy the way we will. What a godlike power, indeed.
Hazel's and Frank's character arcs end in a satisfying manner in The House of Hades, giving ample room for Riordan to do good character work for Jason and Piper in The Blood of Olympus. Jason is reconciling with his Roman past, and also how much he identifies with the Greeks and Camp Half-Blood. The only way he is able to heal himself is by nobly offering to heal the rift between Greeks and Romans, and making sure all gods on both sides feel recognized. Fans of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series will recognize this as a twist on Percy's noble sacrifice of giving up immortality if all the gods agreed to start recognizing their own children and sending them to camp. Just like Percy, Jason's promise is rather noble and potentially a bit impossible, which aligns with Jason's faith in doing what's right. Only once Jason makes this promise and heals himself can he fully realize his own potential as a demigod. Piper, on the other hand, has an arc that's a bit more confusing to follow, but no less satisfying once we catch on. She struggles with the fact that her role in the war is to speak one word—but what word, and when did her mother tell her this was her role? Had that happened in The Mark of Athena, readers take a second to clue back into Piper's role in the war. Once her and Annabeth go fight together, however, it becomes clear that Piper is not so much cut up by her responsibility than by her belief in her own power of emotion. Piper directly opposes Annabeth's logic and reasoning with emotion and control of emotion, which speaks powerfully to her role as a child of Aphrodite. Once she is able to find strength in that definition of her power, she is able to harness it to speak the one word her mother foretold her about. Undoubtably, Piper is one of the most powerful figures in The Blood of Olympus, and I for one am very glad Riordan took the time to craft Piper's character the way he did.
Nico and his feelings for Percy are discussed in detail during Nico's chapters. His understanding of his sexuality directly impacts the way he deals with the problems he faces on the quest. Reyna, on the other hand, is dealing with her past, and we get a lot more details about her character that we hadn't had a chance to see before. Both of these facts makes me wish we'd been introduced to Reyna and Nico in the books sooner, back when Jason and Percy didn't have all the power in the narrative to define Reyna and Nico. Rick finally giving narrative control back to Nico and Reyna allows us to see just how important their quest is to the overall finale. However, not being introduced to them sooner can make it difficult for some readers to get fully invested in their stories and backstories. It makes us wonder, too, why take the time to introduce them and get readers invested in them in the last book—now, we know that Nico and Will Solace will be getting their own companion novel, but what about Reyna? I still feel like Reyna's character did not shine as brightly as it could have had been, since she didn't her point of view chapters sooner, and while I'm not sure that's something that could have been done differently, it does make me mourn her character at the end of the series.
Our final three favorites got, in my personal opinion, a little bamboozled by the structure of The Blood of Olympus. Once we get halfway into the book, we learn that Percy and Annabeth are experiencing a lot of turbulent emotions after their trip through Tartarus. I understand why Rick didn't include their points of view in this one—he gives Nico and Reyna more narrative power, makes a statement about who is actually in the Seven of the quest, and it's no longer Percy's and Annabeth's story entirely anymore. In a sense, this brings full circle—neither of them narrated in The Lost Hero either—however, it almost feels strange watching them talk about their experience in Tartarus without understanding their inner turmoil, especially since we followed them into Tartarus ourselves. Leo and Calypso, too, were also tricked by the structure of the novel. We see Leo focusing strongly on returning back to her, and we are very invested in their relationship despite not having a lot of narrative time spent on developing their relationship in the first place. Rather than lingering on Leo at the end, it feels like Leo's last chapter is thrown in there hastily, to prove that he, too, got a happy ending. But I wanted to see where the two of them went, if he ever figured out to tell his friends that he lived and survived. We get so invested in Leo's journey back to Calypso and I feel like we get cheated out of their story, while all the other couples got to develop their relationship further on page. The only reason The Blood of Olympus got a lower rating for me was because Riordan did not linger on these pairs a bit longer.
If all the references to Apollo being missing and seeing him disappear to Olympus at the end of Blood of Olympus makes you curious about Apollo, then you might want to check out Riordan's next series in the demigod world, The Trials of Apollo. If you want more from Rick Riordan, visit him at his website, www.rickriordan.com, or follow him on Twitter @RickRiordan. You can find more of my reviews of Rick's works here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
Comments
Post a Comment