The Last Olympian: 04/15/11

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan closes out the Percy Jackson saga with a siege on Manhattan by Kronos and his army. The Camp Half Blood students form up an army in the hopes of keeping Mt. Olympus from falling.

All the way through the books this epic battle is hinted at so it's the natural conclusion for the series. As a reader of fantasy series, I find these gigantic battles tedious. That said, The Last Olympian is one of the best I've read. The best though still goes to The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Now in terms of clever thematic titles, The Last Olympian is great. It's not the obvious solution. It's something better and something that will get kids thinking about foreshadowing and dramatic plotting and other literary devices. It was something my son was talking about for weeks after finishing it.

As all the books are retellings of Greek stories and myths, The Last Olympian draws parallels with The Iliad. The choices Percy makes and the character he aligns himself with reveals an interesting depth to his character.

I'm not going to go into specifics, as I don't want to accidentally give away spoilers for the previous four books. Start at the beginning with The Lightning Thief and work your way through.

Four stars.

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