And They Lived Happily Ever After

While the fighting continues our heroes start to become overwhelmed. Percy's nose was bleeding and everyone froze as one drop fell to the ground. Gaea awoke.
Nico summons a zombie driver who takes them where Octavian's legion is stationed. Nico tries to fade into the shadows in order to disable the catapults but almost collapses. Will Solace from Camp Half-Blood shows up and teams up with Nico to finish the sabotage job. Nico and Will make it to the first catapult were Nico has an idea: to alter their trajectories so they would fire at each other. They get to the second catapult but before they can continue sabotaging they get caught by Octavian himself. Octavian tries to convince Nico to come to his side but he refuses. Octavian orders the catapults to be fired at Camp Half-Blood but they had already been sabotaged by others and they blew each other up. Octavian's people had turned against him and sided with Reyna but the people from Camp Half-Blood were ready to attack the Romans. Reyna successfully stops the fight by returning the Athena Parthenos, but Gaea ha already awoken.
All the gods show up to help Jason and his friends. Together they wipeout the giants, but Zeus says that someone has to take the blame for what happened. After arguing over who should take the blame Zeus agrees to transport them to Camp Half-Blood where Gaea is rising. Zeus transported the Argo II to Camp Half-Blood. The demigods land reuniting with Reyna, except for Leo who swears he has a plan. Gaea bursts out of the ground but before she can do anything Leo swoops down on top of Festus, the mechanical dragon. Festus carries Gaea away. The plan was to take Gaea as far away from the ground as possible to suppress her powers, Jason and Piper follow Leo. Jason contains her attacks in a ball of air but Leo tells them that he doesn't need them, he assures them that he has a plan. As Jason and Piper descent Leo ignites an explosion that turns the sky gold.
Nico and Will had pursued Octavian who was determined to shot Gaea with one of the catapults. Octavian did not realize that his robe was tangled into the catapult. Octavian cuts the rope to shoot and he is sent flying into the air and explodes. Gaea had been defeated but they were all mourning Leo's sacrifice. Romans and Greeks celebrate together.
Leo had managed to survive, he had died but the cure brought him back to life. Festus survived too and he flies Leo to Ogygia, where Calypso was waiting. Leo asks Calypso to come with him and leave the island. She agrees, they board Festus and soar into the unknown.

"I am Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. I control the shadows. They do not control me." (Riordan 424)

Nico had almost given his life for this quest. He had been braver than any other character risking his life every tim ehe shadow-jumped to transport the Athena Parthenos. Nico did not jus stand up to the people but he stood up to himself and his own limitations. Nico is willing to accept the things he did in the past but he is not going to allow them to control his future. Nico is a character that takes responsibility of things even if he might not be able to handle them. He was the first demigod to know about the Roman and Greek camps, he had entered tartarus alone to locate the Doors of Death and survived. Nico has gone through so much that he will not accept a predetermined fate.

"You have proven yourself a true hero." (Riordan 451)

Jason has always had very high standards for himself concerning leadership and heroism. Jason has never before gotten confirmation that his efforts were actually important, and the first time he did was by his own father. The fact that the first acknowledgment of his efforts comes from his father, that just happens to be Zeus, the state of leadership and heroism is really important to him. For the first time Jason is satisfied with his performance given that he won praise from the king of the gods. Jason explained earlier in the book how everyone expected him to lead because he was the son of Zeus but he never felt satisfied with his performance as a leader. Jason was one of the main leaders of this quest and he successfully carried it out. Jason fulfilled his goal when he received praise from his dad whom he had never met before.

I really liked this book and I do recommend it. It might be long for some people but it is a very easy and entertaining read. I had already read all the books in this series and this one was the last one. I have liked Rick Riordan as an author since I was probably nine years old and I am never disappointed on his works.

Fate or Free Will?

Reyna recognizes the legionnaire as Bryce Lawrence. Bryce is working for Octavian and has been instructed to arrest Reyna. Reyna does not like that idea but Bryce summons undead soldiers to to fight them. A skeleton restrains Reyna and Bryce cuts her face with his weapon. Nico exploded with rage, he killed everyone and collapsed in exhaustion. When Nico wakes up, Coach Hedge gives him Gatorade and tells him there are good and bad news. The bad news were that Nico had been unconscious for three days. Reyna is also upset that he killed Bryce because it reminds her of her father. Reyna to Nico that they are friends and that she still trusted him. Nico could no longer shadow-travel so Coach Hedge called a fleet of Pegasi.
The Argo II arrives at Delos to find the physician's cure. The island is deserted except for two gods: the twins Apollo and Artemis. Apollo ays that he can't help them but Artemis takes Frank and with her and tells Leo that he might be able to convince her brother. Leo strikes a deal with Apollo by bribing him with a brand new instrument he had invented. Apollo says that he does not have the physician's cure but that he has the last ingredient: the Curse of Delos which turns out to be a daisy. Apollo tells Leo that if he takes the ingredients to his son Asclepius, he can make the cure for them. Leo regroups with Frank and Hazel at the docks, Artemis has told them that Octavian plans to wipe out Camp Half-Blood with giant catapults. Leo come up with a plan that involves lots of sacrifice. Leo takes the Argo II airborne and they fly over the temple of Asclepius. Jason Piper and Leo go down and reach Asclepius' waiting room, where they are attacked by a statue of Hygeia. Leo manages to reprogram the statue to destroy itself and the door to Asclepius' office opens to them. Dr. Asclepius gives them the physicians cure. They go back to the Argo II and agree that Piper should hold the vial with the cure, but Leo gives Piper a fake vial generated by Hazel. Leo hides the real cure in the engine of the ship.
In order to avoid being shot down by the catapults Reyna leads her herd of Pegasi to a nearby ship, where Nico can sense that the two owners are asleep. They thought they were safe until a small motorboat with some of Octavian's soldiers approaches their ship and boards. Another legionnaire, Micheal Kahale attempts to arrest Reyna but Tyson, the cyclopes, boarded the ship and knocked out Micheal Kahale. Tyson and Ella, the harpy, take Coach Hedge to Camp Half-Blood so he can see his wife and let them know that Reyna will bring the Athena Parthenos in at sunrise. Reyna got Dakota and Leila, who accompanied Michael onto the ship, to sabotage the attack on Camp Half-Blood, Nico goes with them to assist with the sabotage. Reyna is left alone in the ship and gets time to think, when suddenly an arrow pierced her Pegasus' side, then another the second one with an explosive attached to it. Orion had caught up to Reyna, he tells her that her sister and the Hunters are alive but that she won't be so lucky. The fight begins, Reyna stabs Orion in the chest and then dives on top of the explosive arrow. Somehow her cloak absorbs the blast and a voice tells her that she has proven herself a hero of Olympus. The voice transformed her cloak into a piece of Athena's mantle which will protect her. Orion recovers and shoots an arrow at Reyna, which she deflects with her now-magic cloak. Reyna twists the cloak and strangles Orion with it. Reyna heals the pegasus and wanders about what happened to Octavian's attack, when she sees an explosion which signifies the first volley. The Argo II docks in the outskirts of Piraeus, and as everyone is getting ready to hike to the Acropolis, a snake man shows up. He introduces himself as Kekrops, the original king of Athens, he says he will help them get to the Acropolis without being detected by Porphyrion. Piper is suspicious of Kekrops and uses her charmspeak to force him into telling the truth, and they find out it is a trap. The group decide to send Annabeth, Percy and Piper through the underground tunnels, with Piper singing the whole way to keep the snake people hypnotized. Piper, Percy and Annabeth reach the Acropolis safely. Frank who took the form of a swarm of bees and communicated their safe arrival to the crew in the Argo II. Hazel uses her Mist to transform all three of them into monsters and they split up to storm the Parthenon. Piper took every opportunity she had to kill monsters and disable weapons. When she arrives to Porphyrion's throne she realizes that Porphyrion had taken Percy and Annabeth hostage. The giants are so focused on Percy and Annabeth that they don't notice Piper. She takes advantage of that and chops a giant's hand. A huge fight breaks out. Annabeth is badly injured and he bleeds into the ground. When they were starting to be overwhelmed their friends show up.

"The doctor's expression said I am so, so sorry." (Riordan 353)

When the crew of the Argo II went to visit Asclepius he told everyone that they were going to live a long and nice life except for Leo. Asclepius knows that Leo's fate is set and that he cannot do anything about it. Knowing when a person is going to die or knowing about your own death is a very interesting concept. Different people would react in different ways but they almost always focus in "what do I want to do before I die". Leo has been told numerous times that he will always be different from the other members of the group, that he will always be different, he has a plan involving lots of sacrifice maybe the sacrifice is him. Leo doesn't seem very afraid about his death he is taking a calm approach to that issue. Even though Asclepius might thing that Leo's fate is set, leo might be able to make his own future and survive whatever is coming at him.

"Don't hurt him or bind him. I have a feeling Michael's heart is in the right place. He just had the bad luck of being sponsored by the wrong person." (Riordan 374)

Reyna chooses not to blame Michael for what he did. She blames his leader, Octavian. Micheal never seemed to agree with Octavian he just did not have the will to stand up to him. Reyna believes in the possibility of peace because she has seen that most roman soldiers do not agree with Octavian's leadership but have no one else to follow. A leader has to be approved by the majority not conformed with. Octavian seems to be somewhat of a Megalomaniac and wants to abuse any amount of power he receives. A true leader should promote free will inside his ranks not discourage it.

We are approaching the end of the book and I have enjoyed it so far. I think the book deals with daily conflicts a regular young adult might face and therefore creates a connection. Even though the event sin the book are much more heroic. I like the comic reliefs in the book as well.

Love, Fear and Sacrifice

Nico tells his friends about the encounter with his father. Suddenly, they hear the howl of wolves and before they know what's happening, they are surrounded by a pack. One of the wolves stands in front of them and transforms into a man. The man claims to be Lycaon, the first werewolf. Nico summons a wall of bones to protect him and his friends from the wolves. While Nico was trying to find a way to shadow travel, they hear a large bow being drawn and a voice yelling "STOP THEM!", but Nico manages to teleport him and his friends out of there just in time.
The crew of the Argo II manage to secure the poison of Pylos relatively easily, and their next destination is Sparta to find the "chained god". Frank believes that it is a statue of Ares, his dad, and Piper has a vision of her touching the statue while flames swirled around her. The journey to Sparta should take about a day. Jason is still sick because of the Imperial Gold sword wound. Piper has a dream vision of her flying to the Acropolis where he sees Porphyrion, the giant king. Piper hears the giantess Periboia say that when "the blood of the last heroes is spilled here" Gaea shall be raised. Annabeth wakes Piper and she tells her about her vision. When they reach Sparta, Annabeth and Piper decide to go together to retrieve the statue. On the ancient Spartan ruins, they found three pits that randomly spewed fire. Piper took the risk and jumped in through the one the right, while Annabeth followed her fastening a rope to the edge. After cutting the head of a metallic dragon, who was responsible for the fire, there they found the statue and hear a heartbeat inside. While they were coming up with a plan to get the statue out, the giant Mimas came out from the shadows. Annabeth and Piper fought him. Piper, as a daughter of Aphrodite, understood the purpose and emotion of the temple, while Annabeth could not understand why Piper wasn't doing things rationally. Piper understood that she had to free the spirits of battle. She set her cornucopia as a sacrifice to Deimos and Phobos, and slashed the head of the statue. The spirits of battle swirled around her and answer to he command. Piper now has the power to kill Mimas and she does. The cave was collapsing, Piper offered the ear of the giant to Phobos and asked him for a way out. Piper decided to go through the doorway trusting her heart, and they plunged into the dark.
Nico shadow jumps the other group to San Juan, Reyna's home. Rayna is not sure if Nico can endure another shadow-jump, he is starting to turn into a shadow and fading away from reality. Before Reyna can come up with a plan someone shoots her in the neck with a silver dart and carries her away. The person who kidnapped her was Talia Grace, Jason's sister. Talia is a hunter working with the Amazons to stop Gaea. The Hunters are hoping to stop Orion using Reyna as bait. The Hunters lead Reyna to their leader, Reyna's sister: Hylla. Hello explains that Orion is a great threat to the hunters and she agrees to help Reyna deliver the Athena Parthenos after Orion is defeated. Orion launches a surprise attack which the Hunters were not prepared for. Reyna and Hylla flee while the other Amazons and Hunters protect them. Orion catches up to them and the three of them battle, Nico and Coach Hedge join the battle and destroy Orion's bow. Hylla and the remaining hunters agree to slow Orion while Nico, Reyna and Coach Hedge make their escape with the Athena Parthenos.
Back on the Argo II a heavy storm is striking the ship. Percy and Jason agree to go under water in order to figure out whats causing it. Percy can breath underwater as a son of Poseidon while Jason creates a bubble around himself. In the deep ocean they find a twenty foot-tall woman who claims to be Percy's sister and says that she wanted to meet him before he died. The woman is a minor goddess named Kymopoliea. She is upset that no one worships her and she went to Gaea's side. Her mission is to detain Percy and Jason, while Polybotes kills them. Jason and Percy destroy Polybotes' swimming basilisks, but when Polybotes poisons Percy. Jason is at a disadvantage. Jason realizes that he must try to make an agreement with Kymopoliea, he promises a shrine and an action figure, She accepts and decapitates Polybotes with one hit. Kymopoliea heals Percy and warns him that his blood will awake Gaea. Percy and Jason return to the ship and Jason realizes that his wound had been healed.
The latest shadow jump brings the crew of the Athena Parthenos to South Carolina. Nico is loosing his connection to the real world dangerously fast. Nico and Reyna talk about their past and Reyna confesses a secret that she doesn't tell many people: that she killed her own father. Someone was listening as she was telling her secret to Nico: a Roman legionnaire who makes his presence known by saying that Reyna will be executed.

At the feet of Ares, she set her cornucopia. (Riordan 216)

While Piper had earned the cornucopia and she had had it for a long time she sacrificed it without complaining. Through the fight with Mima,s Piper was the one to show strength and she kept herself calm. Annabeth is usually the one who gets her friends out of difficult problems using her wits but this time as piper made pretty clear, her wits would not help her but Piper's emotions will. Piper knows that the quest is really important and that sacrifices will have to be made. Piper was able to control her emotions during that fight she came to the conclusion that Fear and Panic were not that different from love, Phobos and Deimos were sons of Ares and Aphrodite therefore war and love. People need love in order to have something to fight for. She trusted herself and understood that sacrifices were necessary.

My guards will buy you time!" Hylla shouted. "Your quest must succeed! (Riordan 242)

Sacrifice is a really strong theme in this book. Every character understands that their end goal is more important than any of their individual lives and are able to give them up. Each one of our heroes knows that the might not all make it in the end. The death of a well developed character is always an emotional moment in a book and in this occasion Reyna was not happy with the idea that her sister might give up her life for her, but she understood that their quest was the most important thing at the moment.

I found this part of the book specifically interest because of Piper's reflection on fear and love. Strong emotions are related to one another when you don't have nothing to love you have nothing to fear. Annabeth learned a lot from Piper at that moment, she understood that not everything can be solved with logic and science, but that some problems and conflicts are solely based on emotion. She should learn to use emotion and reasoning even though they might contradict each other at some point.

A Journey to Achieve Peace

After the events of the last book The House of Hades, the ten heroes are divided into two groups. The first group was made up of the original demigods of the Argo II: Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank and Hazel. They are supposed to reach the Acropolis, that's where Gaea, the Earth Mother is supposed to awaken, and their goal is to stop it. The other group is made up of Nico, Reyna and Coach Hedge. Who together are attempting to get the Athena Parthenos statue back to Camp Half-Blood as a token of peace between Greeks and Romans, and hopefully stop Octavian from attacking Camp Half-Blood.
Jason, Annabeth and Piper infiltrate a gathering of spirits who are plotting something malicious. Jason manages to get information from the ghosts about a safe passage to the Acropolis. One of the ghosts recognized Jason and a fight breaks out. The heroes were winning the fight, when Jason was stabbed in the back. The sword was made of Imperial Gold which is poisonous to demigods. While injured Jason suggests they summon Juno. Juno appears but she cannot heal Jason, she suggests they find the goddess Nike on their journey around the Peloponnese.
The other group: Reyna, Nico and Coach Hedge appear over Italy by sadow-traveling and they crash land in Pompeii. They rest there and while sleeping,  Reyna has a vision of a hunter pursuing them and a Roman army outpost, set by Octavian to attack Camp Half-Blood. The next day they are unexpectedly attacked by rock monsters and they shadow-travel, escaping just in time.
The crew of the Argo II with Percy and Jason is planning their nest step, which is to find Nike. They send Percy, Leo, Frank and Hazel to find Nike in Olympia. They find a broken statue in a museum and after inspecting it, Nike appears. They try to convince Nike to come with them and that Gaea is the real enemy but she refuses. Nike proposes a fight to the death to win her honor. She summons four metal soldiers and gives them five minutes to prepare. The heroes make a plan and Leo provides everyone with gadgets. Percy and the other demigods win and they get information on were to go next from Nike. They need the poison of Pylos, the chained god's heartbeat in Sparta, and the curse of Delos.
Nico is having a vision of Camp Half-Blood and how it is doing everything to defend itself from the upcoming attack. They are nervous that the Athena Parthenos will not come in time. The last shadow jump leads them to Portugal. A flaming ghost beckons Nico and leads him to a temple made of human skulls. Nico's father, Hades, is waiting there. Hades informs Nico that the hunter following them is Orion and that they cannot defeat him, only outrun him.

His family included all the demigods who fought at his side, Roman and Greek, new friends and old. He wasn't going to let anyone break his family apart. (Riordan 45)

While these words were being thought by Jason, he was in a moment of self reflection after seeing the ghost of his mother. For the first time in a long time Jason finally felt "whole". In this sort of novel it is very common for young adults or teenagers to call their friends family. Jason, like every other of the heroes in this story, had parental issues and therefore not a stable family. Jason and, every other demigod in this story, considered his friends closer to them than their actual parents. Jason states that he know felt "whole" meaning that he was know comfortable with all of his friends, they had been through so much together that they were inseparable and they cared a lot about each other. Young adult novels often use this time of relationship between friends because the main characters in these novels usually has a difficult relationship with his/her family. Making the characters less reliant on their parents makes them more independent, making the characters strong and showing teenagers that they will soon have to solve problems on their own.

I can't die, [Jason] told himself. My friends are depending on me. (Riordan 50)

Being the son of Jupiter, Jason has always believed that his friends have depended on him as a leader, much like Percy. Jason thinks of his friends first instead of in himself because he cannot bear the thought of letting them down. Jason has been abandoned before and since he thinks that his friends are dependent of him, he will not leave or abandon them. Jason does not want his finds to feel the same way as he did. Jason, as one of the leaders, has to always show that he is still strong. A leader has to always worry about the morale of the people under him. If something would have happened to Jason the whole quest would have been in jeopardy and he cannot afford that.




I like the way leadership, true leadership, plays a role in this story. Both Jason and Percy don't believe in giving orders to their friends but to help them through their troubles and facing hardships by their side. They both believe in helping their friends carry the weight of their quest instead of just telling them how to deal with it.