User blog comment:SayuriDarling/The Blood of Olympus Official Discussion/@comment-4649443-20141008070041/@comment-25516354-20141008225530

I finished a few hours ago, and I'm honestly disappointed. There was too much going on in the plot to make room for any character. For example Leo-who is probably THE primary character doesn't seem very sad about the ordeal with Calypso. Obviously he and Festus end up on Oygia anyway, but he's hardly got time to think about her. Also, when they defeated the giants, it was pretty anticlimactic with no detail on how the fight went other than glimpses from Jason's viewpoint. We never really saw them fighting with determination like in the previous four books. Another disappointment was how little Percy and Annabeth contributed to the overall story. They were often rescued by Piper or Jason-which is fine, but where's the Percy we see in House of Hades, promising to "tear Gaea apart with [his] bare hands?" where's Annabeth trying to live out her promise to make her life worth it after Damseden and Bob sacrificed their lives? After seeing them grow, fall in love, and defeat Kronos in the first series, and going through hell and back (literally) with these two characters, I somehow expected them to have at least a point of view. I know it was good to see Jason, Leo and Piper develop, but there was nothing about a shared sadness between these two beloved characters. All that said, I really loved getting Nico's perspective. We knew he was a pretty strong guy, but now, just like his abilities, he has become powerful as a character, too. We see his sorrow, regret, and rage, and how he tries to suppress those feelings for the greater good. He's gone from a scrawny kid, to minor character, to anti-hero, to major hero in the series. There was a loose end as far as his deal with Will Solace. I don't know if it's a friendship, or more than that, and-if Nico has romantic feelings for him-will he return them. All this to say, I enjoyed the book, but I didn't think it was Riordan's best. Then again, maybe I was too obsessed with the finality of it, wanting to 'have read' the book rather than just read...