When all was said and done I was very favorably impressed with Riordan's grand finale. The anticipated 300+ page battle is actually tempered with a few very interesting side trips along the way. THe characters reach actualization, the problems are plausibly resolved, and unlike Harry Potter you aren't left wonder in WTF...? I thought he died....?Percy's trip to the Underworld and his following in the footsteps of Achilles was both fascinating and revealing about him as a person and his priorities in life. Nico di Angelo as a character steals a good portion of the story, and though he was a late bloomer in Riordan's saga, he certainly comes into his own, The fact that Riordan doesn't shy away from the dark side is one of the things I like best about his work. In so many books, especially for young adults there is a very clear dichotomy. Good and bad, black and white, right and wrong and never the twain shall meet. In the world of percy Jackson and the Olympians there is a much more balanced (and realistic) view of life. Often you need to acknowledge, accept, and even use some of that bad, dark, black, negativity because its a part of life. Ignoring it will neither work nor help you achieve the end you desire.
All of Riordan's characters have a role to play, and sacrifice is never undertaken lightly. There is no grand tally at the end where he just lists the fallen, each hero's death is documented and the role they have to play explained. Overall I have always found Riordan to be a champion for those kids who are different, and in the last stand everyone, the creepy son of darkness, the airhead beauty queen, the muscle-head, even the Party Ponies have their moment in the sun.
Perhaps my favorite thing about the book and maybe even the series was the idea behind the title. In my post on The Titan's Curse I bitched about the title being hard to pick out in the story. In The Last Olympian the moral of the story is linked body and soul to the idea of the last Olympian, the forgotten goddess. Hestia, the goddess of the home and hearth was my goddess in high school Latin (called Vesta, think vestal virgins) so I have an old soft spot for her. Beyond that however I have to applaud Riordan's brave stance that he articulates through her, that sometimes the best thing we can do, the most powerful, and often the hardest thing to do, is nothing. It is very tempting to charge cannons and slay the enemy, but its not always what is right or necessary. This little gem does a lot for Percy, indeed it may be the making of him.
The battles themselves are lengthy and numerous, too many for me to talk about. Of course the fact that Riordan has started to publish a new series (The Heros of Olympus) including some of the same characters tells us that all of our favorites survive. They mostly get what they want, Percy gets Annabeth, Annabeth gets to redesign Olympus (and Percy), Rachel gets to be the Oracle (not sure if that was such a great deal), Chiron gets to rebuild Cap Half-Blood bigger and better with more ugly cabins to fill, and Grover gets to be the new Lord of the Wild running the Council of Cloven Elders. Is it just me or did the funny little goat man seem to get the best deal?
Riordan's writing is sort of like teaching, the first class of the day is always a little shaky, but as you go through the day it only improves. You get your rhythm, you cut out the unnecessary stuff and hone in on what is vital interesting. Having started with The Red Pyramid I think his narrative is certainly more sophisticated, his characters better developed and his humor more elevated. Not that Percy Jackson wasn't good, the extras just make for a meatier, more satisfying read. We'll see how The Lost Hero fares sometime in the future, because you know we haven't heard the last of this crew.
