Parents' Guide to

The Blood of Olympus: The Heroes of Olympus, Book 5

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Satisfying finale full of gods, giants, and fond farewells.

Book Rick Riordan Fantasy 2014
The Blood of Olympus: The Heroes of Olympus, Book 5 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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age 12+

Based on 4 parent reviews

HeatherBurd
HeatherBurd Parent of 6, 8 and 10-year-old
August 11, 2022
age 10+

Boys crushing on boys

My daughter loved his first series but in this 5th book Nico confesses to Percy that he had a crush on him in the past. That's something parents need to know to be able to talk about with thier kids.
3 people found this helpful.
merilia
merilia Adult
November 17, 2014
age 14+

The Blood Of Olympus

It's called the blood of olympus for a reason. There is quite a lot of violence in this book. The death tally is high for the demigods and they of course it is a war so monsters of different kinds die. Some of the people that die talk about why they are drawn to the island they are on one being drawn there by hatred. There is some more talk about nice being gay at the end. I think this should be for teens if you think you teen is mature enough but not otherwise.

This title has:

Too much violence
2 people found this helpful.
See all 4 parent reviews

What's the Story?

As usual for the demigods aboard the Argo II, there's so much to do and so little time before the end of the world. Gaia, the vengeance-hungry earth goddess, is set to wake August 1. The Greek and Roman aspects of the gods are still at war and unable to stop her. And the whole Roman demigod army is camped outside Greek Camp Half-Blood, ready to attack on doomsday. To restore peace between the Romans and Greeks, Reyna, Coach Hedge, and Nico jump ship with the confiscated Athena Parthenos statue in a desperate attempt to reach camp on time. Easier said than done. Nico's fancy son-of-Hades shadow jumping keeps blowing them way off course, and the lethal hunter Orion is hot on their trail. Back on the Argo II, Leo, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and of course Percy and Annabeth set sail for Gaia's grand wake-up party, with dangerous quests along the way. They're able to skirt southern Greece to avoid the worst of the creatures after them, but they can't avoid them all.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (50 ):

Longtime Rick Riordan fans will be satisfied. In the Heroes of Olympus series, the characters have discovered a whole new camp of demigods and their Roman-god parents, helped poor Percy and Jason through their amnesia, survived oodles of battles with giants and other vengeful creatures, traveled all over Italy and Greece in a flying dragon-powered ship, and have literally gone to hell -- Hades -- and back.

Big Percy fans may complain that their favorite demigod doesn't get much to do. But he already had a whole series. Jason, Piper, Nico, Reyna, and Leo take turns being the narrator in THE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS. Reyna and Piper are the most fearless and fun to watch take on their enemies. Though Leo, as usual, adds most to the humor, he also takes on the heaviest burden. Readers will root for him and Nico, who comes a long way to understand and accept himself. It's hard to say goodbye to such great characters.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about grand finales. Is the ending what you expected? Did you like how things turned out for your favorite characters?

  • What did you learn in this installment? Which new gods did you meet? Using a map, can you find all the places the Argo II and Reyna went?

  • This may be the end of this series, but will you read more from Rick Riordan? What do you like about his books?

Book Details

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