The last book of the acclaimed The New York Times bestseller middle-grade fantasy saga Percy Jackson and the Olympians,  Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian is a perfect ending to the saga and the characters. It will keep you hooked from the beginning to the end. The Last Olympian is a book full of action, emotion, and tension without erasing the sense of humor so characteristic of the author and main characters. All the characters have their moment to shine and it doesn’t leave any holes in the story, giving an exciting, worthy, and full of feeling ending to the story and the character.  

The book started with Rachel and Percy spending a normal day on the beach when Charles Beckendorf riding a pegasus land in front of them telling Percy that it is time to execute the plan that they have been planning for weeks, destroy the “Princess Andromeda” Kronos monster’s army cruise who is sailing to Manhattan to take Olympus. From the very first chapter, the book is filled with either amazing fight scenes or tense and emotional moments. There is not a moment of rest for the characters and the reader due to the fact that this book covers the days before and during the war. 

We finally get to know the full backstory of one of the principal villains, Luke, and it does a perfect job of making us empathize and understand why he does what he does throughout the saga. We also get to understand even more of Annabeth’s childhood and relationship with Luke, making us understand better her insistence on defending him and her hope that she might still be able to save him. It also makes us appreciate her character development since the first book, showing how much her fighting and strategies abilities have evolved. How she has let herself trust people completely again and stop hiding her feelings; all of this without losing her sassy, proud, determined personality that we could appreciate since the first book. 

Grover also shows a big character development without losing his loyal, funny and pure essence. He is full of responsibilities now, being the chosen of Pan, the God of the Wild, to lead all the satyrs, nymphs, and nature spirits to save the wild, and also help in the war against Kronos’s army. He proved to be the bravest satyr. His abilities with the magic satyr music have also improved a lot since the first book, and just like the rest of the characters, he has matured a lot since the first book. 

Percy’s character development is amazing, and if you weren’t in love with him before, this book is going to make you fall for him. He doesn’t lose his sarcastic, kind, sweet, rebellious personality, but he is way more mature, skillful, and confident about what he is fighting for. He still doubts himself, but he knows that if someone has to stand up to fight a monster, it’s going to be him. He isn’t going to let anyone he loves get hurt, no matter how scared he is inside. 

Clarisse, Tyson, Thalia, Nico, Rachel, Chiron, Percy’s mum and his step-dad (Sally and Paul), Dionysus, and the gods all have their moments to shine, and all these moments are enough to show how much the characters have grown over the saga. As someone who has been enjoying the way Rick narrates the fight scenes in these books, and all the different types of crazy greek monsters that had been appearing in the saga, this book feels like a present. 

Another thing that feels like a present not just in this book, but throughout the whole saga is the slow-burn friends-to-lovers of Annabeth and Percy. Their development is full of sweet moments, bickering, jealousy, and shyness. Percy’s naivety plus Annabeth’s pride, and the fact that they are in the middle of the war make them have a hard time finding a moment to talk about what they feel for each other, but it is so obvious throughout the whole saga that when it happens it just feels amazing.

In general, this book is the finishing touch to one of the best youth fantasy sagas, worth recommending to your friends, nephews, grandchildren, cousins, and everyone you love. This saga is gold to hook middle-grade kids into reading and will let you want to read more of this character and world. Fortunately, the author has two more sagas based on this world and starring many of the main characters in this saga.