The Last Olympian
Rick Riordan, 2009
Young adult FantasyReligion & spiritualityContemporary fiction
Percy Jackson's last summer: monsters mass on Manhattan, the gods are otherwise occupied, and a sixteen-year-old with a prophecy over his head keeps making jokes. A fast, joke-cracking adventure with warm friendships and a satirical take on Greek gods under pressure.
Feels like serenity and curiosity. About adventure, friendship and freedom.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy YA fantasy that mixes monster battles with classroom-style Greek myth and plenty of banter. It is the fifth and final Percy Jackson book, so starting here means missing the friendships and running jokes built over earlier volumes.
Why read it
It gives you a lively, funny send-off for Percy, with mythic stakes and a hero who keeps joking even when the city is under siege.
A page from the book
The worst day of your life never announces itself.
The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car. Rick Riordan.Riordan was a middle-school teacher in San Antonio and taught Greek myth for years before writing Percy Jackson; the series began as bedtime stories for his son Haley.
Books that feel like this
More by Rick Riordan
The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan, 2005
A twelve-year-old with ADHD and a talent for trouble discovers the Greek gods are real, and one of their lightning bolts has gone missing.
The Blood of Olympus
Rick Riordan, 2014
Greek and Roman demigods race to stop a rising earth goddess, armed with prophecies, old grudges and very bad jokes.
The Sea of Monsters
Rick Riordan, 2006
Percy Jackson returns to camp just as its magical borders fail, and the only fix lies across a sea full of monsters, old myths and awkward friendships.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Last Olympian for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy YA fantasy that mixes monster battles with classroom-style Greek myth and plenty of banter. It is the fifth and final Percy Jackson book, so starting here means missing the friendships and running jokes built over earlier volumes.
- What is The Last Olympian like?
- A fast, joke-cracking adventure with warm friendships and a satirical take on Greek gods under pressure. Feels like serenity and curiosity. About adventure, friendship and freedom.
- What should I read after The Last Olympian?
- If you liked The Last Olympian, try The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster), The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) and Frostbite (Richelle Mead).
A taste of the feed
A creation story for anyone who suspects it was a mistake.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy · Douglas Adams
The honest inventory of a girl who knows exactly how much trouble she's in.
By the way, my name’s Rose Hathaway. I’m seventeen years old, training to protect and kill vampires, in love with a completely unsuitable guy, and have a best friend whose weird magic could drive her crazy.
Frostbite · Richelle Mead
A demon's professional failing is liking the people he's meant to ruin.
He rather liked people. It was a major failing in a demon. Oh, he did his best to make their short lives miserable, because that was his job, but nothing he could think up was half as bad as the stuff they thought up themselves. They seemed to have a talent for it. It was built into the design, somehow. They were born into a world that was against them in a thousand little ways, and then devoted most of their energies to making it worse.
Good Omens · Terry Pratchett
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