The Last Olympian
Lots of teenagers can鈥檛 wait for their 16th birthday. But Percy Jackson has more on his mind than getting his driver鈥檚 license: When he turns 16, he鈥檚 supposed to make a decision that could end Western civilization.
Since there鈥檚 only a week till the big day, it would take more than streamers and party hats to put him in a festive mood.
If you are or know a middle-schooler, you won鈥檛 need any introduction to the 鈥淧ercy Jackson & the Olympians鈥� series, but for the rest of us, here鈥檚 a quick catch-up: In the fifth and final installment, The Last Olympian, the Greek gods aren鈥檛 gone; they鈥檝e just packed up and moved to America. (Mount Olympus is now perched on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building.)
And, as anyone who鈥檚 ever picked up 鈥淏ulfinch鈥檚 Mythology鈥� knows, they keep having kids. Percy is the son of a single mom and the sea god, Poseidon. Since monsters keep attacking them, the demigods train at Camp Half-Blood, run by Dionysus (who鈥檚 switched to Diet Coke) and Chiron the centaur. Over the past four books, nearly dying has become as much a part of summer for Percy and friends as fireworks on the Fourth are for us mere mortals.
鈥淪o you do this every summer? Fight monsters? Save the world? Don鈥檛 you ever get to do just, you know, normal stuff?鈥� asked Percy鈥檚 lone nonmagic friend, Rachel. If by 鈥渘ormal,鈥� you mean 鈥渉ave a half brother who鈥檚 a cyclops,鈥� then sure.
Percy鈥檚 main companions in trouble are Annabeth, a daughter of Athena with a baseball cap of invisibility, and Grover, a vegetarian environmentalist who is also part goat.
Riordan does an amusing job of translating Greek myths to the present day. Medusa now owns a garden statuary store, the Sphinx is into standardized testing, and Hermes runs a FedEx-type shipping company. 鈥淭he Last Olympian鈥� has less myth-busting than the other books, but there are compensations, such as a star turn by the (in my opinion) underrated
Hestia, the only Greek god never to do anything creepy to a mortal.
As 鈥淭he Last Olympian鈥� opens, the gods are battling Typhon, the father of monsters, while the Titan Kronos has taken over Luke, a former camper, and is on his way to New York to overthrow Olympus 鈥� where Percy and the other campers race to stop him. 鈥淭he Last Olympian鈥� differs from the previous books in that there鈥檚 no quest (only shades of 鈥淭he Iliad鈥�). The battle for Manhattan takes up much of the book, giving Percy ample opportunity to exercise his 鈥渓ethal ballpoint pen,鈥� Riptide.
The beginning was a little shakier than those of the other books 鈥� Percy inexplicably sounds like Bruce Willis for a couple chapters 鈥� but the plot soon settles in. And fans will agree with Grover, who comments on the elevator ride up to Olympus, 鈥淲ell ... sure good to be together again. Arguing. Almost dying. Abject terror. Oh, look. It鈥檚 our floor.鈥�
As with the Harry Potter books, the adventures have gotten darker as the characters have grown up, and 鈥淭he Last Olympian鈥� is the last ride for several characters. But Riordan is too savvy to go out on, as Percy puts it, 鈥渙ne of those typical 鈥榓nd-so-they-died/the-end鈥� stories that always made us demigods feel warm and fuzzy.鈥� The ending leaves room for a new series, but maybe next summer Percy can down a few s鈥檓ores and learn to make a lanyard.
Yvonne Zipp regularly reviews fiction for the Monitor.
