Cricket Readers Recommend
percy jackson and the olympians book 5 the last olympian
by rick roidainit is a great book with suprises around every corner!
but you have to read the first 4 to fully ienjoy it1 you'll want to read it again and again.
submitted by Madeleine L., age 10
(July 11, 2009 - 12:27 pm)
(July 11, 2009 - 12:27 pm)
The books are good, but I really hate Percy Jackson the character! He's... annoying! And stupid! I like the other characters better. I just wish Percy didn't have to be the main character!
(July 22, 2009 - 3:23 pm)
I enjoyed this book. Now I will subject you to my ranty, spoilertastic, TNÖesque analysis of it, with my opinions.
*SPOILERS*
OK, so RR opens it with Percy and Rachel on a date at the beach. OK, boring, awkward, not halfbloody at all. Then, *surprise* Becendorf snatches Percy away. I was totally ready to hug Beckendorf, because Rachel is so *annoying*. Rachel kisses Percy and Percy flies away. Then Beckendorf and Percy try to blow up the Princess Andromeda, and because RR has made his villains stupid, it works. However, Ethan (yessssss!) manages to capture Beckendorf and when the ship blows up, Beckendorf dies, poof. :( Gaping Plot Hole #1: Ethan lives, even though he's not immortal or Achillesified or even strong. Beckendorf just *dies*. Percy lives, because he has all these cool water powers and all, and he wakes up in Poseidon's kingdom with (w00t) Tyson. Poseidon fights monsters, Tyson is irrelavent, and Percy goes right back to camp. Silena falls apart, basically, and Clarrisse is all "there, there", because she has lost all character since Chris showed up. Aside from them and the Stolls, nobody seems to care that Beckendorf died. Ares and Apollo cabins fight each other. The Big Prophesy is revealed and shows that Percy is going to *die*. Percy complains, Annabeth gets mad at him, and rightly so. (Hello, Percy, right after Annabeth kissed you you started dating Rachel! Any ideas why Annabeth is so annoyed? None? *head-desk-plagiarism*).Clarrisse refuses to fight Kronos untill her cabin gets a chariot from Apollo cabin. Nico (w00t), Percy, and MrsO'Leary go talk to Luke's mom, who is *crazy*. They talk to Hestia, the point of which was to include Hestia in the series. Grover gets them into the Underworld via Central Park. Then they go for Percy to bath in the river Styx. However, Nico sneakily thakes Percy to Hades, because Nico is not a Stu, and Hades sticks Percy in a dungeion. W00T!
End of Part 1 of my Ranty Review. Next part tomarrow.
(August 28, 2009 - 2:12 pm)
Re: your review, part one: Wow. I couldn't have said it better myself. Excellent summary.
The prophecy thing did seem very suspiciously like HP. (One reason I detested Jonathan Stroud's newest book, "Heroes of the Valley," the one with the whiny and irritating protagonist? Halfway through it just turned into an HP ripoff. The villains should've won and Ragnar should've totally crushed Aud's spirit and in general been a better character, but I forgive him because he was the best of the antagonists. Most of the antagonists were pathetic but Ragnar was by far the best. Though he wsa underused and could have been much better written. And Aud was annoyingly like Rachel, in PJatO and I hate Rachel as well. But I digress, sorry, that was completely out of the blue. Sorry.)
About all the Percyx??? stuff... all those random crushes he had going on... Rachel was just about one of the worst characters RR has ever created, and what's-her-face on the island was simply an unrequited and totally bungled plot thread. It was so obvious he'd end up with Annabeth.
The Hestia thing was quite odd.
I enjoyed it too, despite what this may indicate. Number One Thing I got out of the series in general? NICO. IS. AWESOME. <3
(August 30, 2009 - 12:18 pm)
Ranty Review Part 2! SPOILER ALERT!
Nico, of course, busts Percy out of there, because RR can't bear to make him pick a side and stick with it. Percy bathes in the River Styx. He almost dies, but he has a vision of Annabeth calling him out of the river, and the vision motivates him to live. At this point, I was ready to *kill* him. Percy comes out, fights Hades, Furies, et al, and wins, and he goes back to Manhatten. It is revealed that Zeus killed Nico's mom because of a prophesy, and Hades curses the Oracle. Percyand his demigod pals go to Olympus to plan. Everyone splits up, and goes to defend bridges. Thalia (w00t) and the Hunters show up too. Percy and Annabeth irritate Hermes. Annabeth alivens some statue warriors. They back up Michael and his Apoll-cabin pal, and Percy pwns the Minotaur. Kronos, Ethan, and friends show up, and some unnamed badguy tries to stab Percy, but Annabeth takes the knife for him. Idiot. Sentimental moment ensues. Thalia and Percy talk for a long time about nothing. Percy fights a flying pig.
Part 3 later.
(August 29, 2009 - 9:51 am)
Brilliant.
(August 31, 2009 - 2:38 pm)
Thanks, MaryLizW. Regarding Heroes of the Valley, I was also dissapointed. I had loved the Bartamaus trilogy, and was hoping for more fantasy-esque like that. It started out as a *boring* hi-fi version of HP, only with the addition of a Rachel-esque annoying character.It was nothing like Bartamaus, which I resented. Then came the second half. It was, plotwise, a rerun of Bartamaus with slightly fewer deaths. I was extremely disapointed. Actually, I thought Aud was more of a ripoff of Eilonwy from the Prydain Chronicles. And with a StewertLittle ending too. Thumbs down.
(September 2, 2009 - 3:20 pm)
Amen!
(September 3, 2009 - 9:37 am)
What's that dude's name that puts everyone to sleep?
(October 24, 2009 - 3:29 pm)
He was Morpheus, the Titan of dreams. The whole mythology thing was my favorite part of the books. I really enjoy reading Greek myths, and I loved the way the stories were put into a modern day setting in the series.
(December 2, 2009 - 4:10 pm)
Hm... I thought Percy was too stupid to be a Gary Stu. And I liked Rachel. Otherwise, though, I agree completely.
I haven't read the new Stroud book and don't plan to. I hated The Amulet of Samarkand. Actually, I couldn't even fininsh it.
(September 3, 2009 - 9:20 pm)
Really? I thought the Bartimaeus trilogy was terrific.
On the subject of PJatO, I got the craziest sense of deja vu when I read Luke's death scene... like, "Oh my gosh, look! Star Wars and Darth Vadar!"
Mm, not original on RR's part there.
(September 4, 2009 - 10:15 am)
This has been dead for how long? All right, here's Part 3! It may not be entirely in sequential order, because this is a long battlescene, and I don't remember when everything happens.
*******************************************************
Percy beats the pig, of course.We all knew that. But once again, Kronos is winning. This is so RR can add yet more of our friends coming and fighting. Cue Party Ponies. This next part is self-explanetory (partyponies attack, partyponies win, partyponies act crazy), so all that needs to be added is that inhuman amounts of root beer were consumed. But once again, Kronos is winning. This is so RR can add yet more of our friends coming and fighting. And yes, I used copy-paste there. I wonder if RR did too. Anyhow, Kronos brings out his big drakon, the one with the only-a-child-of-Ares-can-kill-it-and-oh yeah-we-left-all our-Aries-kids-back-at-camp prophesy. Cue Aries Cabin. Perfect timing, no? Except the monster kills Clarisse. Except it's not really Clarisse, but Silena. And Silena was a spy, and is now dead. Long story short, RealClarisse kills the Drakon.
******************************************
I just figured out how to underline text I write! Part Four coming in the next few days!
(December 21, 2009 - 9:39 am)
1. I liked this book, but I liked it the least of any in the series.
2. Actually, I thought Rachel was okay. I liked her.
3. What was that Hestia/"The last Olympian" thing all about? That was weird/pointless.
4. I don't like long battle scenes. They bore/confuse/irritate me. That was one reason I didn't like this book as much.
5. Reuben, I like your summary. Should I expect part 4 anytime soon?
(February 6, 2010 - 8:15 pm)
No, I'm a little behind, and I want to do something like that for OoTS (Omen of the Stars, not Order of the Stick (easy mistake)) first. Sorry.
(February 15, 2010 - 10:25 am)
Oh, 's okay, I was just curious.
(February 16, 2010 - 11:31 am)