Guest Book Review -- Percy Jackson and the Olypmpians Books 4 & 5

My rating: Battle of the Labyrinth 5 of 5 stars; The Last Olympian 4 of 5 stars


Guest review by Daisy Dad

I’m back with my review of the final two books of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series – The Battle of the Labyrinth (Book 4) and The Last Olympian (Book 5). After the first three books I finally felt that the author moved out from under another’s series dominance and found a truly original voice for his series.

I loved The Battle of the Labyrinth – easily the best of the series. All of Mr. Riordan’s books have been based on a quest – and he took his half blood demigods from coast to coast in his previous books – but adding the mythology of the labyrinth into the mix was a welcomed change to previous quests. The story moves quickly and anticipation builds throughout the book – a real page turner. The continued development of each of the characters continued and my favorite developments were that of Annabeth and her architectural connection to the creator of the labyrinth, Grover’s overarching quest to find the God of the Wild, Pan, and probably my favorite of all the characters – Nico - the son of Hades. The book was not all about Percy and his growth and maturation as he approached the age of 16 and the fulfillment of the great prophecy which I appreciated.

I did not want to wait for the paperback release of The Last Olympian so I waited a little bit for the library’s copy and went to work on the final book with great expectations for the conclusion of this series. After the breakneck speed of The Battle of the Labyrinth I was a bit disappointed – not with the ultimate finale – which was rather fulfilling – but I found it a bit slow in developing. I am not going to say that I was bored with the first half of the book – but I was close…

Ultimately, I enjoyed the entire series and would recommend it. I often think of what I want my children to be reading as they grow older and how these choices will develop their own interests. I would love to see my children take an interest in mythology through these books because Rick Riordan TEACHES mythology in a way that piques curiosity that could possibly make young readers pick up The Iliad, The Odyssey or other ancient literary classics where these stories were first told.

And yes, my calendar is marked for October 12 when The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero is released – with hopes that Percy and friends (and seemingly NEW friends) will be back for another set of adventures.