The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #5) by Rick Riordan

Age Range: Middle Grade/ YA
Pages: 620
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: 5 May 2009
Genre: Middle Grad/YA/ Fantasy/Mythology

Rating: 5 Stars

All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos's army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan's power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it's up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time. 

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy's sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.

My Thoughts:

I was almost hesitant to read this book.  I have loved reading and listening to this series so much I was sad that it was coming to an end, and yet I needed to know how the story concluded.  It helps that I have the knowledge that Percy and the crew appear/ are mentioned in the other demigod series. 

Of all the books in the series, this one is the most action-packed.  The reader finally gets to see all the build-up and all the prophecies come to fruition. This book was definitely somber, I would say of all the books this one was definitely the darkest.  The one thing I love about this series is even though much of the books shows life-and-death situations, the author still manages to disperse bits of comic relief throughout the book.  Without these bits of comic relief, I don't know that this series would be suitable for a younger audience. 

I loved this book for the same reasons I have loved every book in this series: The characters and the mythology, and the humor.  This series has some of the best-written characters that I have ever read.  Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare are such multifaceted characters.  They have flaws and emotions, they are funny, and most of all they are strong fierce and caring. I was so glad to see that Rachel Elizabeth Dare was not a throwaway character.  She plays a big roll in the last book, and I loved it! As for the mythology, Rick Riordan, as usual, blew me away. He is truly one of a kind in the way that he uses mythology in his stories. 

I really enjoyed the ending of this book.  It was the perfect ending for a series. The resolution offers resolution for many of the characters and makes big changes for the future of the gods and demigods, that I as a reader am very excited about.    It tied up everything in a nice little bow, but still gave the author the opportunity to write more stories set in the same universe, which we all know he has. I am beyond excited to start the next series.  I can only hope that it gives me a fix of the characters I have come to know and love.   

Thoughts on the Audiobook: 

The narrator for this series is not my favorite.  I often found myself annoyed with the inconsistency in his narration.  This may be due to the fact that I listened to the books back to back, but I noticed that the narrator would change pronunciations from book to book.  One that comes to mind is Telchines.  Between book four and five, the author completely changes the pronunciation, and as a listener, this is very confusing.  It took me a good couple of chapters to realize he was talking about the same creatures from book four.  My other issue with the narrator is that many of the characters had over the top accents, that didn't really make sense for the characters. If there had been more consistency I would have really enjoyed listening to this series.