Review: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

(Yes, I’m reviewing this bad boy three days after it came out. Binge-reading for the win.) It took me a while to stop crying at the end of Blood of Olympus, Rick Riordan’s conclusion to the Heroes of Olympus series, which is the sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Percy was a big part of my childhood, and quite honestly, I just wasn’t ready to let him go. I had prepared myself for an epic conclusion to end all conclusions, with just enough victory to be deemed a happy ending but a solid amount of death, too. But as I got over the “holy crap it’s finished” and began to think about the book itself, I realized that it was a bit of a letdown. I rate Blood of Olympus a 4/10.

Things I Liked:

• Minor character development! Nico and Reyna each get POVs and back stories. I went into this book with Reyna as my second least favorite character, but I just couldn’t keep hating her. She’s so strong. The way Nico develops is also absolutely flawless. He finds community and that community makes him more of himself… It was beautiful.
• Riordan’s pacing, as always, is brilliant. The action never stops coming but never feels rushed either, even if you read the entire book in two days.

Things I Didn’t Like (a.k.a. rants):

• By far my biggest grievance in the book, and excuse me if I’m being a brat for saying this, but where are my Percy and Annabeth? Riordan has tweeted very sarcastically on this issue, arguing that the series had nine POVs and a large percent of the first four books were Percy. But this last book wasn’t just a letdown because it doesn’t have narration from their points of view; it’s a complete injustice to their characters. Percy and Annabeth are both natural leaders, and we didn’t see them step up at all during this book. I understand that this series is about seven heroes, but Percy and Annabeth deserve to be a part of those seven, and BoO felt like they weren’t even there. It especially bothered me when Jason is all, “I’ll finish the work you started, Percy,” and PERCY IS OKAY WITH IT?! You know what Percy Jackson would really do? He would finish the crap he started, that’s what. It also bugged me when he and Annabeth are just totally nonchalant at the end and planning for their future together. They’re adventurous, and even though I want them to go to college and be happy together I can’t see them living a normal life. One possible argument for the lack of Percy/Annabeth awesomeness is that they just came back from Tartarus, but in my opinion, this should make them even more willing to fight and fight hard. Their blood is literally the blood of Olympus! That’s the title! The lack of Percy and Annabeth was honestly unacceptable. They deserved so much more.
• No Frank and Hazel either! What even?!
• I’ve never been Jason’s biggest fan, and he was one of the POVs of the final book, the epic conclusion to end all conclusions? Why? Why????????
• The battle with the giants was almost too epic. One of the best parts of The Last Olympian is that back-ups come in at several points during the Battle of Manhattan, so it’s like a roller coaster ride of hopelessness and rejoicing. The battle with the giants in BoO is literally just the skies opening, the gods coming down for like two chapters, and everything’s done.
• No Sally? No Paul? No Chiron? Minimal Grover and Tyson? WHERE WERE THE FAMILY MOMENTS? WHERE?
• It. Ends. On. A. Cliffhanger.
  Why.
  Why.
  (A minor cliffhanger, but still. Why.)

Maybe I’m just wanting it to be PJO and it’s not. Maybe I’m being a stupid, nostalgic teenager who should stop reading books for middle schoolers. But honestly, I’m disappointed. (And unfortunately, writing this review didn’t really help me get over it.)

If you’ve read Blood of Olympus, what were your thoughts? Do you feel the need to reread PJO just for old times’ sake? Let me know! Thanks!