User blog comment:SayuriDarling/The House of Hades Official Discussion/@comment-24033697-20131010065227

Holy Hades! S*** just went down!! I finished this book like 12-13 hours ago, and like.. Wow. (((SPOILERS))) In the beginning, when he introduced these seven as the greatest of the age, I only looked at Percy like that, but now I'm looking at them all like that. The PJO series was for the Elementry kids (not that we can't read those too) but THIS series is for the big kids.

Mainly the character developments. Jason started out in the beginning like this MAJOR Gary-sue and was like too perfect. But then PERCY was brought into the picture, some competition, and like his attitude did a complete 180. He became more unique and his flaws actually showed. His willingness to break tradition and leave CJ for CHB totally shattered his Roman Emotionless Leader reputation and I really warmed up to him in this book. And when they (Him, Leo and Piper) discussed how he might be the one to destroy Gaea and all that schist, it really made me open my eyes to him- because honestly, I had always felt like he could never compare to Percy, but now I think he just might in his own way. Speaking of Percy, from the SoN onward, Percy seemed to have the occasionsl Luke-ish thought that would make me immediately panic, and think OH NO HE'S GOING OVER TO THE DARK SIDE. And in the HoH he had that kind of evil/dark/posessed moment with Misery that really seemed to freak Annabeth out. But for majority of the story, he was the same old Selfless-and-loyal-to-the-very-end Percy that we all came to love. Not to mention his kickass powers that seem to become more god-like each time. Hinting at something maybe? ^_^ Annabeth- I mentioned her, so I'll bring her up again. She's the one of the seven that never really had any physical talents. Sure she's lethal with a knife-or anything else she can get her hands on- but its her wits that make her powerful. Through the series and halfway through MoA there was that small voice that nagged in my mind "What the heck is she doing here?, but now through HoH we had a first hand account of how she's pretty much the brains of the entire operation. She already kinda proved her worth in MoA by retrieving the long lost Athena Parthenos and whatnot, so the HoH just showed how she was the thing that pretty much kept Percy alive, which are very grateful for. Ohh, Piper. I already thought she was kind of cool with charmspeak and all, but in the HoH, she took the meaning of DAUGHTER OF THE LOVE GODDESS to a whole new level. I think we all are always underestimating Aphrodite, when really she's the eldest of them all. I think because we all just look past Piper, that her stand out moments in the HoH shocked us so much. We didn't see them coming. Speaking of not seeing coming; I can't believe I almost forgot about Calypso! And how perfect Leo might be with her. He threw us all for a loop in the HoH, and honestly, i hope they get together in the end. (I mean come ON, he swore on the River Styx he'd come back for her) He definitely is more serious in the HoH- maybe because he feels Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus is his fault. But it definitely tuned up his character more, showing a side we've never seen. 'Nother thing I didn't see coming; Hazel doing sone gris gris of her own. She already had a good enough back story, and then throwing in the ability to manipulate the Mist? Wow.(And the crazy thing is, is that everything is able to connect together.) I mean dear LORD, what is going on? Hazel already did a bunch of maturing in the SoN and the MoA, and now all the responsibilty of having to fight alongside Hecate against this evil witch guarding the Doors of Death, and having to learn a completely new ability besides controling precious metals -which she us getting in extremely good at. Just wow. And considering that, physically, she's the youngest of them... Last but not least, the last of the seven that has a mythology timeline all of his own Frank Zhang son of Mars and part time Elephant. He becomes so powerful in HoH and loses his "baby fat" and becomes like a true leader and all that shiz. And when he becomes Praetor, I was all like "yesssshhh baby im so proud of youuu" and it was almost ironic that he climbed the rankings almost as fast as Percy did....

Just wow, the House of Hades was by far the deepest and spread out book of the series- Rick managed to get down all of the seven while having regular Percy/Annabeth chapters for updates.

And along with epicness of bringing in old characters (Calypso, Grover, Bob, Clarisse/Connor Stoll(Though only mentions) i missed you guysss so much!) The closing of the Doors of Death was different than what I imagined it to be, as I can imagine as it was for all of you as well- and I'm kinda depressed that Bob was the one who stayed behind, and holy cow they met Tartarus!! Jeezzz I think Percy and Annabeth need to retire after this is all over. And oh my gods thank you Rick Riordan for not giving us another cliffhanger!!! Now the wait for the fifth and final book next year will be more bearable and tolerable.