Jayson’s Reviews > The Last Olympian > Status Update

There are a few things to note at this point. Chapters are longer. Also, after the first third the rest of the book's been one long battle. That's interesting, it sort of reminds me of Frank Miller's 300 in a way. What it also reminds me of is the final book of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, which similarly involved a reunion/team-up of characters throughout the series. This does it much better though.

Two updates ago I wrote how liminality was a theme of the last book. It being the chaotic, uncertain in-between one passes through in rituals to emerge changed and anew. It's a major theme of this book as well, but differently. Here it's less to do with emotion and more to do with literal spaces of uncertainty: bridges, rivers, prisons, dreams, etc. You leave them pained, but having gained power, profit or knowledge.

This final book should be interesting. The last book featured liminality as a key theme. I know a bit about it since it was my undergraduate area of concentration. Liminality is that chaotic, uncertain in-between one passes through in rituals to emerge out the other end changed and anew: it's the labyrinth, it's a first kiss, it's the immediate aftermath of tragedy, it's Icarus falling from the sky, it's adolescence.