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A review by stuckinafictionaluniverse
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
2.0
Part 3 of ''Sarah is the black sheep when it comes to sequels'' Does this count as a sequel? It's the fifth book in a series soo.. Previously featured: [b:The Evolution of Mara Dyer|13643567|The Evolution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #2)|Michelle Hodkin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336663149s/13643567.jpg|18107180].
2.5 stars
Sigh.. And another book gets a spot on my ''the final installment curse'' shelf, which I actually created while reading this. The last olympian joins works such as [b:Last Sacrifice|6527740|Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1319850978s/6527740.jpg|13385418], [b:Allegiant|18710190|Allegiant (Divergent, #3)|Veronica Roth|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1395582745s/18710190.jpg|15524549] and, let's not forget [b:The Forever Song|17883441|The Forever Song (Blood of Eden, #3)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397957046s/17883441.jpg|25046312].
The final installment curse is a phenomenon that I just made up where the conclusion to an otherwise good series is disappointing and a lot weaker than its predecessors.
To be fair, The last olympian stands quite high above said books. It avoids clichés such as:
* The characters' personalities suddenly take a dramatic turn for the worse and become frustrating, irrational and stupid.
* Nothing happens for the majority of the book, and then everything is jam-packed into a mess in the end.
* All the questions the readers have are either unanswered or sloppily explained.
However, it fell into the possibly most common trap in finales: It is awfully boring. Therefore it pales in comparison to the previous books.
The Percy Jackson series is what I'd like to describe as so much fun. It's light, hilarious, has likable characters and great Greek mythology to top it all off.
This book still has those attributes, in a smaller amount. The action scenes play a big role, and the plot is the opposite of uneventful. I badly wanted to get wrapped up in the story and feel excited, but simply couldn't. There were battle scenes in every chapter, and they quickly lost the power, wow-factor and importance to me.
The interesting and very promising first half was overshadowed by the significantly weaker last 50%.
I was uninterested in the plot and found it predictable. Everything was solved so easily and there weren't many twists and turns.
The ending felt just a bit rushed, but I am satisfied with it. Things were wrapped up nicely. I appreciated it, it was nice. That's the thing about this whole novel: it was just nice.
All of the books I've read recently have been just like that. I expected more from The last olympian.
I anticipated this it to be a great read at the very least. Come on, this is a very entertaining series that I turn to when in need of laughter and fast pacing. So is a fantastic fairytale-perfect conclusion too much to ask for?
This is starting to feel like a wholly negative review, and that is not intended. This was a good book which would be fine on its own, but is very underwhelming compared to Riordan's earlier work.
I've already gone through the things I really like about the Percy Jackson series in my reviews of the previous books, so therefore I'm cutting back on them in this one.
To give credit where it's due: We have a diverse cast of characters and solid friendshipsalthough I needed more of Nico di Angelo, the mythology played an even larger role in the book, and it was off to a great start.
Rick Riordan did a good job at both ending this chapter, and beginning another. I am looking forward to the spinoff, and hope that it'll be even better than the first series.
Final verdict:
The final installment in an otherwise great series turned out to be a bit of a flop for me. Underwhelming, a little dull and not enough.
2.5 stars
Sigh.. And another book gets a spot on my ''the final installment curse'' shelf, which I actually created while reading this. The last olympian joins works such as [b:Last Sacrifice|6527740|Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1319850978s/6527740.jpg|13385418], [b:Allegiant|18710190|Allegiant (Divergent, #3)|Veronica Roth|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1395582745s/18710190.jpg|15524549] and, let's not forget [b:The Forever Song|17883441|The Forever Song (Blood of Eden, #3)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397957046s/17883441.jpg|25046312].
The final installment curse is a phenomenon that I just made up where the conclusion to an otherwise good series is disappointing and a lot weaker than its predecessors.
To be fair, The last olympian stands quite high above said books. It avoids clichés such as:
* The characters' personalities suddenly take a dramatic turn for the worse and become frustrating, irrational and stupid.
* Nothing happens for the majority of the book, and then everything is jam-packed into a mess in the end.
* All the questions the readers have are either unanswered or sloppily explained.
However, it fell into the possibly most common trap in finales: It is awfully boring. Therefore it pales in comparison to the previous books.
The Percy Jackson series is what I'd like to describe as so much fun. It's light, hilarious, has likable characters and great Greek mythology to top it all off.
This book still has those attributes, in a smaller amount. The action scenes play a big role, and the plot is the opposite of uneventful. I badly wanted to get wrapped up in the story and feel excited, but simply couldn't. There were battle scenes in every chapter, and they quickly lost the power, wow-factor and importance to me.
The interesting and very promising first half was overshadowed by the significantly weaker last 50%.
I was uninterested in the plot and found it predictable. Everything was solved so easily and there weren't many twists and turns.
The ending felt just a bit rushed, but I am satisfied with it. Things were wrapped up nicely. I appreciated it, it was nice. That's the thing about this whole novel: it was just nice.
All of the books I've read recently have been just like that. I expected more from The last olympian.
I anticipated this it to be a great read at the very least. Come on, this is a very entertaining series that I turn to when in need of laughter and fast pacing. So is a fantastic fairytale-perfect conclusion too much to ask for?
This is starting to feel like a wholly negative review, and that is not intended. This was a good book which would be fine on its own, but is very underwhelming compared to Riordan's earlier work.
I've already gone through the things I really like about the Percy Jackson series in my reviews of the previous books, so therefore I'm cutting back on them in this one.
To give credit where it's due: We have a diverse cast of characters and solid friendships
Rick Riordan did a good job at both ending this chapter, and beginning another. I am looking forward to the spinoff, and hope that it'll be even better than the first series.
Final verdict:
The final installment in an otherwise great series turned out to be a bit of a flop for me. Underwhelming, a little dull and not enough.