The Heroes of Olympus Series Review

This is a spoilery post. You have been warned...

"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire, the world must fall
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death"

The Heroes of Olympus is the follow-on series to the amazing Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. Both follow the lives of young demigods - Half god, half human children - and the adventures they have.
I read the Percy Jackson Series a couple of years ago, but I didn't want to start the Heroes of Olympus Series until all of the books had been released. In the last Percy Jackson book; The Last Olympian, we were left with a bit of a cliff hanger in the form of a new prophecy. The Heroes of Olympus revolves around the seven half-bloods in the prophecy and the quests they must undergo.

I'm a little unsure of what to say about these books! They really were incredible.
In the first book, The Lost Hero, we're introduced to our new main characters. Jason has had his memories stolen by the a Goddess and has no idea who he is or what he's doing on a school bus. Piper, his girlfriend, is the daughter of a famous actor and has the power of persuasion, and Leo is the comedic engineer who has a dark past. Accompanied by their satyr teacher, Coach Hedge, they embark on a journey to Camp Half-Blood where a quest awaits them.
The second book, The Son of Neptune, sees Percy Jackson lost in New Rome with only one word in his head; Annabeth. Along with new-found friends, Frank, whose bulky physique slightly resembles an Ox, and Hazel, who is supposed to be dead, Percy travels on another quest to find Thanatos in Alaska and free him. Otherwise, they will all die...
In The Mark Of Athena, the Seven Half-bloods have joined forces and Percy and Annabeth are finally reunited, though the same cannot be said for the two camps. However, that's the least of these demi-gods' worries now that Athena has gone slightly crazy. This calls for a quest to find the Athena Parthenos!

Before I say anything on the next couple of books, I want to give people who haven't yet read this far in the series a chance to leave before they get spoiled (like I was!).

The House of Hades was, in my opinion, the best book in the series. Percy and Annabeth are trapped in Tartarus, attempting to find and seal the Doors of Death, while the rest of the gang must fight through Gaia's forces before they can rescue their friends.

The final book,The Blood of Olympus, wraps up the series in an epic fight with the Goddess of the Earth and all of her children...

I really enjoyed reading this series. It wasn't the best thing I've ever read, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and was a great addition to the Demi-God world.
While I enjoyed the first three books, I thought they dragged on a little. To say that they're aimed for children between the ages of 8 and 12, they were quite long and I found myself a little bored in a few places. Parts of the story were fairly dull and weren't fully necessary to the story. However, I really liked the new characters we were introduced to and I loved the plot. Thanks to the Internet, I knew about the Mark of Athena's cliff hanger ending, so it wasn't as climatic for me as it should have been, however, I picked up the next book within 30 seconds of finishing!
The House of Hades definitely was my favourite book out of the whole series. I loved hearing from Percy and Annabeth (as I always do!) and it was quite exciting that they had their own adventure, even if it was a bit scary for them! However, I loved hearing about the events above the ground just as much! I thought it was great how we were reintroduced to Calypso and how Leo finally found someone, even if it was only for a short while. One of my favourite characters from this book was Bob, who was a titan, and of course Small Bob, his pet cat!
The Blood of Olympus was a bit disappointing for me, really. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as the other books and quite a lot of it was unnecessary. I was immediately put off reading this book on discovering that none of the story was written in Percy or Annabeth's POV.
While the ending was great, I didn't think it lived up to the rest of the series. It deserved more of a finale. However, I did shed a tear when Leo went missing and it made me so happy when he went back to rescue Calypso. Although I was quite annoyed at the fact that Leo didn't go to see his friends, who all thought he was dead!! Seriously, that would have taken two extra pages! Is that too much to ask for?

The best things about this series...

• Every time I read one of Rick Riordan's books, it's like having the best history lesson in my head!
• Nico Di Angelo was gay!!! I predicted this from the first book so when it was confirmed, I was over the moon!
• Bob!
• Ella the Harpy- I love that bird. She's so cool! Not only has she read pretty much every book on the Earth, but she has all of them memorised and can read prophecies!
• Leo's sense of humour!
• Percabeth. Need I say more?

There weren't that many thing I really despised about the series, but the amount of characters was a little confusing at times and left me wondering "Wait, who are you?" As I've already said, the ending was slightly disappointing and quite a few scenes were a bit pointless, but on the whole, The Heroes of Olympus was a great series and I would recommend it to pretty much anyone!

That's all for now!

Charlotte xxx