The End of an Era, 13 Years Later: A Percy Jackson Review
November 1, 2022
“The Last Olympian” is the final book in Rick Riordan’s pentalogy series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians. It was published on May 5, 2009, by Disney Hyperion and sold 1.2 million copies in its original printing.
Thirteen years after the series’ end, we’ve learned that the series will finally be getting the faithful adaptation that fans have always wanted in the form of a tv series, scheduled to come out on Disney+ in 2024. The series is being directed by Riordan himself as he hopes to bring his characters to life in the best way possible.
Riordan also plans to release a new book co-written with Mark Oshiro, titled “The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Story” which follows the story of the title character, Nico, and his boyfriend, Will Solace, as they descend into the depths of Tartarus after the events of The Trials of Apollo, another one of Riordan’s series, in the coming year.
The story of “The Last Olympian” follows Percy after a long summer full of dangerous missions in preparation for the coming confrontation with Kronos. But, as Percy describes it, “There was little laughter at camp these days. Even the Hermes cabin didn’t play so many pranks.”
After an entire year of waiting, Percy finally decides to go through with the plan proposed to him by Nico, a son of Hades and ally to the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, in “Battle of the Labyrinth,” and leads his friends and fellow heroes against Kronos’ army to make their final stand in Manhattan.
Kronos, who is now possessing the body of Percy’s former friend and mentor Luke Castellan, proves to be a major challenge both physically and mentally, as Percy is having a hard time fighting someone he once trusted. “As if reading my thoughts, Luke smiled. No, he was Kronos” As if reading my thoughts, Luke smiled. No, he was Kronos — Percy
The problem with Luke also puts some strain on the relationship between Percy and his long-time friend and love interest, Annabeth Chase, who grew up with Luke, viewing him as an older brother and still being conflicted about how she feels about who he’s become.
Getting to see Luke’s story and how he got to be the tragic fallen hero that he is today is one of the greatest expositions in YA fantasy to date. Learning more about his past only makes the conclusion of his story more befitting.
Having Percy’s infamous and frequently mentioned fatal flaw of excessive personal loyalty be the one thing that could potentially bring his demise (in more ways than one) was an amazing way to display what kind of person the beloved son of Poseiden truly is.
With Percy’s 16th birthday quickly closing in and the Great Prophecy about to be set in motion, the meaning behind the verses becomes increasingly unclear and makes us wonder whether we fans would like to live the life of a modern-day demigod hero like so many of us wished.
To have danger around every corner and a future that is so uncertain would be to live your life in constant fear. Most demigods don’t make it past 20 years old and it becomes very clear why as watch the war with Kronos unfold.
The way that his and Annabeth’s relationship finally develops into what everyone had been anticipating is “one of the best modernly written love stories out there” according to a fan on Reddit.
Widely regarded as the best book in not only the Percy Jackson series, but the entire Riordanverse, TLO was a great end to a great story, and also served to set up the beginning of a new one in Heroes of Olympus. That said, things were never the same after “Olympian” and it truly was the end of an amazing era of character and wonder.
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