Wow! What a smashing finish! Percy, Annabeth and Grover have to face the end, that final battle between the Titans and the Olympians, and gods, demigods and mortals have to pick sides. There are traitors and spies, new heroes and reliable allies, plus the required host of new bad creatures. Will New York and the rest of the civilized world survive the battle?

I think this book might be my favorite of them all. So many wonderfully loose ends tied up, so many secrets revealed. Percy is such a rounded character — Harry Potter-like in his compassion and courage. And the lesser main characters make for a richer, more intricate story. All those gods! I still love their interactions with the demigods and humans; their caricatured qualities are so fun to read.

The Last Olympian is certainly a more battle- and strategy-oriented novel (some parts get skimmed, but it isn’t annoying), and it had to be that way. There is enough other interesting stuff going on that I read this one in a day because I couldn’t put it down.

Rated: None. But the phrase “oh my gods” is used.