A World of Reviews

This review is proving itself to be very hard to write. I’ve been a fan of the Percy Jackson books for several years, and I really loved this book and the way it fit into the series. My only problem is that I loved it too much and now I can’t seem to find the words to describe such an awesome book. Also, I can imagine this review turning into a rant about all the wonderful characters that Rick Riordan has created, so I’ll try and keep it short.

Firstly, I do rather like this cover. Although I’m absolutely in love with the US cover, this one matches the rest of the UK covers really nicely. The title looks so pretty too!

So much happens in this book, it’s crazy. Seriously, the action never slows down until the end of the book. There’s always some sort of fight or conflict or problem to solve – sometimes it’s a fun, little problem but at other times it’s heartbreaking and tear-worthy. There are so many great twists in the book, and I loved the way the events of this book tie in with previous books. The only bad thing about this is that I have to wait another year for The Blood of Olympus to be released.

Another thing I really love about this book is the different viewpoints. Being able to see how the different characters think works really well, and they all have such an individual voice. Also, it’s really nice being able to see how they react to each other and the world around them.

I love all the characters in this book, and all of them develop so much. I really want to give each character their own post and be able to talk about them in depth, but clearly there is no room for that in this review so I’ll have to make do with a couple of paragraphs. Firstly, I’m still totally in love with Percy and Annabeth. They’re both such strong and capable characters, but they also know that sometimes they need help from other people to solve problems. Their scenes in Tartarus were horrible and it showed just how much they really do love each other as they journyed on. One of my other favourite characters is, of course, Leo. I loved his story in this book and how he coped with everything that was going on. He’s such an essential part of the team, and he really helps everyone to keep going after they lost Percy and Annabeth.

I really loved Frank and Hazel in this book too. I did like them previously, but they had awesome character arcs and developed so much! Hazel was just brilliant and I really can’t express my love for this girl. She got on with what she needed to do, and she always tries to do what she think is right, even if it seems impossible. Similarly, Frank was amazing in this book. I loved reading his chapters just to see what would happen. Plus, I love his animal transformation skills.

Another couple I adore are Piper and Jason. I’ve never been that keen on these two, but this book really changed my mind. For one thing, it was obvious how much they were in love with each other, but they didn’t let it get in the way of running the ship and finding the Doors of Death. Jason was a really good leader, and he seems like such a good friend or brother, especially when he shared scenes with Nico. Piper was just as cool, and her strength in some parts of the book really showed her character.

There were so many other things I liked. One thing I’ve always loved about the series is the comedy and light-heartedness, and there was plenty of it here. Every single chapter had an amazing opening. It was so nice reading the beginnings and being able to laugh.

Obviously, the mythology plays a huge part in the book. Which is good, because I love Greek mythology. I love the way Rick Riordan brings Greek mythology into the story and it’s also really nice when he brings back familiar characters.

The descriptions, whether it was Tartarus or Italy or Croatia, were amazing as always. They’re always so vivid, and really creative.

There are so many other things I loved, but have no room to talk about here. All in all, this was an amazing book and I will definitely reread it at some point. I would totally recommend it to fans of the series and Greek mythology.

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