Review: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5)
by Rick Riordan
Published by Puffin
Young Adult, mythology, adventure, fantasy

Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

It's always hard for me to name favourites from Riordan's books. However, The Blood of Olympus comes close, because it was brilliant adventure and I finally got what I have hoped since The Titan's Curse - chapters from Nico's point of view. That was definitely the crown of this series, to get proper glimpses what Nico thinks and feels and what it is like to walk in his shoes. Absolutely amazing, and I loved every Nico's chapter (now I just need more!). It was also very interesting to see how Hades interacted with Nico and what kind of father-son relationship they had.

Reyna was another favourite of mine during the book. Her chapters were something I waited for and they certainly didn't disappoint. I especially loved the budding friendship between Nico and Reyna - I feel like both of them need friends. Besides them, I loved all the old favourites, Percy, Jason, Leo etc.

In short, the last book of the Heroes of Olympus series didn't disappoint. It was full of page turning adventure, dangerous moments, and brilliant and complicated characters and relationships with godly parents and friends. I devoured the book and loved it. I certainly cannot recommend this series enough - and I'll definitely continue and read The Trials of Apollo series.

5 of 5 stars

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