By: Andrew Guan
10/10
In The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, seven half-bloods are on a major quest to save mankind from its own creator, Gaea. Along the way, they suffer many setbacks and challenges, but they push through and battle Gaea and her minions in Greece. Meanwhile, a small party rushes to bring an ancient statue back to America before war breaks out between the Greeks and Romans. Eventually, Leo Valdez builds a sacrificial plan to defeat Gaea.
The Blood of Olympus has a great amount of ingenuity involved in order to create such a tension-building plot. It impresses me that Greek mythology can somehow be so complicated, and the author took that fact to build this story. In fact, it may have taken him years! For example, no one saw this plan coming to defeat Gaea: “Apparently, Jason, Piper, and Leo’s plan worked. Gaea had been separated from her source of power, charmed to sleep, and then atomized in the combined explosion of Leo’s fire and Octavian’s manmade comet.” This quote shows just how much thought the author put into this book, and this is crucial to the story because without the amount of effort imputed, we would never have gotten this result.
Another great thing about the book is the selflessness of the characters. They always stuck together as they traveled across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean Sea. When the group traveled to see Asclepius, the medicine god, Leo said, “‘Aw, he just sensed my heartsickness.’ Leo tried for a smile. ‘You know, I’m dying to see Calypso.’” The heroes on the quest were very thoughtful of one another and took each challenge as a dire one. This is important, because it reflects on our society. The best ones that are up for the challenge are the most well-natured ones.
The final great thing about The Blood of Olympus is the plot in general. This book is the last one out of five, which means it is the climax of them all. The foundation of this quest is in perfect shape to build anxiety and tension amongst the audience, and it captivates them. The audience is motivated to keep reading. Even to the people in the story, it was insanely tense. “After weeks of waiting, agonizing, and steaming, the Greeks and Romans wanted blood.” This just shows how much anxiety builds in everyone.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this particular book to my friends. It has many dynamic characters, an intricate and tension-mounting plot, and the amount of time and effort and thought that was put into the book. If there was a contest for a book that best motivates readers to keep on reading, believe that this book (along with the rest of the series, of course) would win first prize!