Book Review: The Last Olympian

TITLE: The Last Olympian
Book 5 in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Childrens/Middle-Grade
GENRE: adventure, drama, fantasy
PREMISE: The battle with Kronos finally comes to a head in Manhatten with Percy and his friends in the center of it all.
MY REVIEW: I know there are a lot of haters for this series and all I can say is haters to the left. Yes, I give that it's not terribly complicated and the writing could be better and messages less blatant. But I still say it's an enjoyable series that sets out what it's meant to do: get reluctant readers to enjoy reading. Riordan never set out to topple Harry Potter (no matter what the media and Potterhead fans claim) he just set out to prove that Potter wasn't a fluke. That kids can enjoy reading something that isn't Harry Potter. For that, I applaud him.
Frankly I enjoy this series and Riordan's spins on mythology. There are many sly jokes and nods to mythology and yes, some of the jokes are obvious but they are still funny. I also love the characters, particularly Grover and Annabeth. The action is exciting, you're never confused about what's going on and like I said it's just plain enjoyable. I don't know how anyone can not grin at stuff like Demeter, Persephone, and Hades argueing like a regular family(Demeter would totally be the annoying mother-in-law type, wouldn't she?).
So yes, this series isn't crazy original or even that complicated but I'm sorry, I like it. I think it's a nice solid series that is fun and entertaining without being patronizing to it's audience and throws in some deeper stuff like not ignoring family and whatnot. I think this was a nice ending to Percy Jackson's story and I can't wait to read The Lost Hero finally as well as the second Kane Chronicles book.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first 4 books, mythology fans, fans of The Kane Chronicles
MY RATING: Four out of Five hero items