Additionally: I remember Frank as being a stand out in the kicking butt department along with Piper and Hazel.

Fave Scene: 1/?: Nico: "Tells Percy about his crush of his own volition and because he wants to" Annabeth:*high five* Percy: "Dying fish noises" 

Agh, there's so much I want to talk about in terms of theme and free will and a complete turnover of one of the original themes of The Lightning Thief, but I don't think I can put together a coherent argument without rereading the book. The basic of jist it is this: Blood of Olympus is all about choice; about choosing to step away from a mother who abandoned him, about choosing who you were and what you did, about saying yes, I can control who I am, I can master my emotions without shutting them down; I can be great and I can be strong and I choose to be that. I choose to love myself despite and because of what I've done, I choose to be myself and wake up tomorrow morning surrounded by people I love and people who love me for who I am. In some ways, this felt like a complete reversal of the Percy Jackson series: that was all about destiny, about fate, the entire driving force behind the first four books was a prophecy. Granted, the end of The Last Olympian was a little bit about choice, but not nearly to the extent that I felt BoO was about. I think iit's why I didn't cry, even when Leo was blown out of the sky or at the very end: because the overwhelming theme of the book was one of hope. 

top

...and also now I'm having some second thoughts about the book? I loved it as a whole, but I can go back and find parts of the writing that are so stale and/or are just bad. Not really shipping Caleo anymore, and I've come to the realization that my headcanon Leo is a better person than canon Leo. Still love it. 

It hurts me to say I wasn't super impressed. Yes, there were some awesome moments, but the final battle at the end was just too easy. I had one of those moments when you're coming close to the end of a book, and there's still a ton of stuff to be resolved, but you know it can't all happen in 5-10 pages. 

I was expecting there to be lots of twists and turns at the end, some involving the prophesy, but no, the prophesy meant EXACTLY what everyone thought it would. "To storm or fire" and "an oath to keep with final breath" were both pretty much exactly what I had assumed they would be.  Also, of course I didn't WANT anyone to die, but seriously, not only did all the 7 live, but pretty much everyone else did too! A little unrealistic... 

I also wish that Rick Riordan had written an epilogue, but I don't think he'll ever do that becasue he wants the option to keep writing more books. I noticed the reffernce to the new book series Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, and now I'm wondering if he's going to bring some PJ charaters into that series. 

Piper really stood out in a good way in this book. I've never been a huge fan of her's, but she redeemed herself. So did Jason, to a slightly lesser extent.  Nico too. I never really gotwhy everyone was so obsessed with him, but I liked hearing from his point of view. I also loved the Piper/Annabeth plus Reyna if she's around friendship. 

I guess I was just expecting it to be as good as The Last Olympian, and for there to be an amazing, tear-inducing battle at the end but instead when I finished the book I just kind of shut it and thought "what the heck?!"  

*flails happily* I loved it. 

I got it Thursday night and somehow in between school, helping my sister prepare for Comic Con, and homework, I managed to finish it by Friday afternoon. Because it was epic and I just couldn't stop. 

I just loved it. Every single moment of it.

I loved it more then The Last Olympian and that's saying something. When I finished it, I was crying so hard I could hardly see the book, much less read and at the same time giggling my head off. It takes a pretty spectacular book to make me do that.

Nico and Reyna's POVs were amazing. And I really think all of the characters came alive in this book. I loved how we got all the old characters from the first series back too. Seeing all the cabin counselors and everyone again was amazing. Especially Grover! 

Alright. I'm going to just talk at random about the book so hyper fangirl ranting warning. 

Piper and Jason came alive. They really did. I've always loved Jason, because I see in him what I see in myself. In my life, I've had far too many people call me perfect. But inside . . . I'm a lot less than perfect. I make myself act perfect because otherwise I'd be a mess. I'm perfect to mask the pain. And that's what I see in Jason. He's perfect because he needs to be to bear all of that stupid weight he has on his shoulders. There's so much pain and sorrow and anger in that boy, but he hides it because he needs to in order to survive.

Piper . . . she's been pressed in a hard shell her whole life. A shell that says 'pretty, perfect and shallow'. I feel like she finally broke that shell in this book. I love her.

And Hazel and Frank . . . I love them. And could go on for an hour about them. Enough said.

Leo. My darling darling Leo. I cried. I cried so hard. But I'm so happy with his ending. He's awesome.

Annabeth . . . I feel like we saw a different side of her in this book. She's grown so much from that girl who told Percy he drooled in his sleep that first day. I feel like she's become so much more open and trusting. She's not that cold, cynical girl anymore. She's Annabeth. And I love that.

Percy my gosh Percy. My darling dork. He was Percy. Just Percy. I don't think I could say much else without errupting into squealing.

Reyna was just fantastic. She's an amazing character. I loved seeng her story and her past.

Best for last. Nico. I have to say, Nico is one of my favorite characters ever. Hands down. He's been through so much and he's closed up so much but in this book . . . he got his chance to shine. A chance he deserves. I love how he came to terms with so many things in this book. He's grown so much since that lost little boy he was like six years ago.

And Nico and Will . . . When Will called Nico 'death boy', I was literally squealing from cuteness. I remember Will from the first series. They are about as different as they can get but the way they get along is just wonderful. 

I also loved the friendships developed in this book.

I guess I loved it so much because I can really relate to so many of the characters. These kids have suffered so much and I see myself in them.

And I agree with you, SC, on the theme. And I found that amazing. Hope is what I need and this book was the very essence of hope. The strength it took to make some of the decisons the characters make . . . I've never had that strength in some decisons I should be making but maybe now I can do it. 

I gues this book did somethign for me beyond making me fangirl. The book effected me deeper then I can say. And I'm grateful for that feeling.

Blood of Olympus gave me hope in a way I can hardly explain. Maybe I'm just strange. But I loved it so much. 

I finished it today! Specifically I came back from vacation yesterday at eight, my brother had prior claim because I read House of Hades first and thus read it until eleven PM, but then he fell asleep, I stole it from him and read it until 4;00 in the morning. 

Oops.

AND OH GOSH I LOVED IT. All except the bits of Leo's point of view, which was kind of okay in the previous books (heck, he was my favorite back in the Lost Hero days) but in House of Hades his was my least favorite by all means. Also I'm going to pretend the last chapter didn't even happen, because it ruined the mood completely and also because seriously??

Now maybe I don't know about the power of love. But I, even without having been in any death-defying escapes with my friends, would NOT DO THIS. I WOULD NOT. If they thought I was DEAD, my priority will NOT be running off to find a person on an island that I interacted with for literally three days.

(M priority would probably be running back to my best friend in tears and arranging a sleepover so that I don't have to deal with responsibilities, but never mind that.) 

Whatever, though. Worst out of the way, EEEEE.

Nico and Reyna's points of view were THE BEST. THE BEST EVER. And we FOUND OUT REYNA'S BACKSTORY! And it was confirmed again that Hades is actually the nicest guy of the lot, not that that says much!

Also I have converted to Theyna trash (along with Reynabeth, Pipabeth, Pipeyna, and just, you know, Pipeynabeth trash) just based on the little interaction that Reyna and Thalia had, because COME ON.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, PIPABETH SUBTEXT, PIPABETH SUBTEXT EVERYWHERE, AND FRIENDSHIPS AND GREAT THINGS AND REYNA KILLING ORION LIKE CAN REYNA MARRY ME RIGHT NOW? OR PIPER?  

Also from the first .5 seconds of Nico and Will's interactions I basicallly melted into a puddle of happy goo,  because while femslash is probably even more likely for me to be invested in, Solangelo is canon and happy and light-hearted, and I DO NOT GET people comparing it to Caleo but that's a rant for another day. 

Of course they are. 

I ship Percy Jackson characters with so many people it's ridculous. They'll all have to split themselves up into several people in order to furfill all my daydreams. 

Wait, do all of the demi-gods live? Because this guy told me that one of the seven did die! Was he just pulling my leg or am I faced with a psuedo-spoiler that will completely ruin BOO when I actually read it?