My 11-year-old son and I just finished reading The Last Olympian, the final book in the five-volume set about Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, the Greek sea god. In the past, the other books have been a mixture of adventure and humor and real emotion. Percy has won some battles and lost others.
During the course of these books, readers have seen Percy grow up and take on more responsibility. His life has improved in the mortal world because his mom is now married to a good man, who even understands that Percy is the son of a Greek god. However, his Olympian heritage offers more danger than ever.
In the past books, Percy has learned that he may be the hero that can either save Olympus or doom it. In this book he quickly learns that no matter what he chooses, he’s probably going to die. So not a good thing to learn.
Another thing that struck us about the book was the serious tone of this one. The book starts out with a few laughs then zips off to a mission with deadly consequences for Percy. He’s forcibly reminded how powerful his enemies are and how mortal he and his friends are.
There’s brief respite at the camp, but even that quickly passes as the stakes mount and the odds against rise. There so many characters this time around that many of them don’t get the on-stage time I would’ve liked. I missed Grover, but I understood why he wasn’t on-stage as much.
After Percy’s trip to Hades, on a secret mission that really surprised me, the book turns into a long, massive battle novel that reminded me a lot of the Iliad. My son and I clung onto every page as we watched Percy take on opponent after opponent, and suffer through every setback that occurred.
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