I haven’t mentioned him much, but over the course of the series, Octavian has really grown into a bigger annoyance than anticipated. Up until this installment, he just lurked as something to deal with on top of Gaia’s evil plot. However, in this book, he became almost overtly scummy. It was exaggerated to the point that I found myself wanted him to have a redemption arch a la Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. An actually satisfying redemption would be a tall order for a single novel, especially considering how many other things were happening, so I’ll take never having to deal with him again as my happy ending.

Readers also continued to meet new characters as the group continued their quest. The one that sticks out the most to me is a minor sea goddess that Percy calls Kym. She seems like a fun, chaotic-neutral character I kind of want a mini story where she becomes like an annoying older sister to Percy. Kym just seemed to give off similar vibes to some of the characters we met in later Percy Jackson and the Olympians books; that is to say, it felt like set up for a future story.

 I - as an older reader and general fan of mythologies of all flavors - didn’t like how Riordan portrayed some of the Olympians. Namely, I disliked his versions of Hades and Persephone. Throughout Percy Jackson and the Olympians and even this series, Riordan has does measured efforts to flesh out the Lord of the Underworld. The final stretch I needed came in this book where Hades tells Nico, out of all his children, he was most hoping that Nico would be the one that found happiness. We see how he cares for his wife and children in a way that makes much more sense than the cold hearted god we had been told he was in previous book series. I really appreciated this addition to not only his character, but to his relationship with Nico.

The biggest highlight from my reading was the introduction of Nico into the perspectives. Of the Argo II’s crew, he’s one of the ones readers have known the longest, and the one we know the least about. While I missed not having his insight in The House of Hades (which would have been amazing considering it was his father’s domain), Riordan did a nice job reaching to past events to provide context for the complicated emotions Nico was processing.  

This book also brought another unexpected but lovely surprise in Nico’s friendship with Reyna. With her coming from her own difficult past, I think it helped Nico realize that he wasn’t alone, which I sensed was a big obstacle for Nico to overcome. Coming directly from my notes, “Nico’s making friends! He’s starting to be happy! I love my dead gay son so much!”

The Blood of Olympus felt very similar to The Last Olympian in terms of a quickening pace and the build up to a battle. This isn’t a bad thing, but following The Mark of Athena and The House of Hades made it feel like a bit of a step down. As much as I loved Riordan finally introducing Nico into the proper narrative, it wasn’t enough to fully level up this book.