READING LOG ENTRY #5: THE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS (LAST BOOK OF THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES.)

                This is the concluding part. The end of all. Is it the fall of the Olympus? Or will Gaea be joining Kronus in Tartarus? These will be answered. For again, this is the end of all. (Also the end of my Reading log. LOL)

                From the end of the Son of Neptune, Percy was able to reunite with his friends from the Greek world. And they formed the seven demigods that the Great Prophecy is talking about. Percy Jackson (Son of Poseidon), Annabeth Chase (Daughter of Athena), Leo Valdez (Son of Hephaestus), and Piper McLean (Daughter of Aphrodite), all from the Greek Camp, is part of the seven, while the three others came from Rome namely, Jason Grace (Son of Jupiter), Hazel Levesque (Daughter of Pluto), and Frank Zhang (Son of Mars).

                They all have different skills complementing with each other. And they all have weaknesses that are well covered by the other member of the group. They are a solid team. More like an impossible to beat kind of team. But the sad part, one has to sacrifice.

                This book, the same with the Last Olympian (my 3^rd Reading Log entry), centers on the value of sacrifice to push your teammates towards victory. It sounds odd, that this book may somehow end in contrary with all other common books that end in happy ever after, because the seven will not be complete by that time. And they knew about that the whole time. They knew someone is going to suffer the consequence, but they kept pushing and they never backed off.

                 Again, the value is sacrifice. One has to stop for the others to proceed. Yes, harsh as it is, but that is how Mr. Riordan designed his books to make his readers believe in all values even the value of sacrifice.

 And the sad thing is, Leo Valdez, the controller of their ship, the funniest member of the seven, is the one that needs to be sacrificed. He plans the whole thing right from that start. Because he knew exactly what the prophecy meant. And he knew pretty well, that the prophecy is referring to him. And yeah, he was the sacrificial lamb of the group. And the group won the battle.

                He sacrificed himself with no, as in ZERO, hesitation at all. The whole group is looking for other plans, but Leo is determined that sacrificing himself is the only possible way to stop Gaea. And he definitely managed to stop her.

It may sound sad, but Leo desired such thing. For he has planned everything very well. He knew where he is going to be sent after he was sacrificed. And that place is the place that Leo wanted to go. The place of his love. Afterall, it was nevera complete sacrifice. Like, someone dying. It was just a sort of someone never to be seen again, but never dead. Because guys like Leo Valdez never die.

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Report Headline: Six Demigods named Heroes after Fight against Gaea      

         

Reporter: Good Day! To our solid supporters who are as well supporters of these great heroes that saved the whole world when Gaea attempted to overrule us, today is a lucky day for all of us for we have with us today, Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena, Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite, Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter, Frank Zhang, Son of Mars, and Hazel Levesque, Daughter of Pluto. Let’s welcome them with a round of applause.

*Claps, Claps, and Claps. And more Claps*

Reporter: So, first of all, Ms. Piper Mclean, we are aware of your charm speak abilities, so, for journalistic purposes, we, from this show, is sincerely asking that maybe you will promise not to use that ability here? I mean, I like your abilities, I even wish of having that same ability, but don’t use it here, okay?

Piper: (Laughs) Oh sure, I won’t do it. I Promise.

Reporter: Thank you so much!

Jason: Will you also ask me not to use lightning here?

Reporter: Actually, we are asking all of you, basically, uh~ not to hurt us.

Annabeth: Noted Mr. Reporter. Everything’s under control. For now.

Reporter: So, thank you. So, first of all, how does it feel being part of the now famous six heroes who saved the world?

Percy: I hate it.

Reporter: Uh-huh? You hate being a part of it?

Percy: No. I hate being referred to as part of the six. When in fact, we are actually seven. Or should I say, we are all in this together. Not just me, not just Jason, or not just the seven of us, including Leo, but all of us. Whether demigod, satyrs or fauns, centaurs, gods, and even mortals. We couldn’t have done this all without you. Yes, we are the ones who led these guys, but without the others, we are just ants in the face of Gaea and her giants.

Reporter: So, you mentioned Leo Valdez. After what happened in the war, did you have any signs of him?

Frank: To tell you honestly, I scanned almost the entire country in eagle form but I haven’t found any clue. I have searched the deepest parts of the ocean in dolphin form, but still, no signs of him. I even sniffed every place in dog form and still got none. But I will never say Leo is dead. I knew him well. WE KNEW HIM WELL. We may not have any connections with him, but I’m pretty sure he’s just out there showing his fiery stuffs to a bunch of girls.

Reporter: Sounds like a relief for all of us.

Hazel: Yeah. A guy like him is so elusive that even Mr. Death himself would have a hard time catching up. I knew his plans. I knew he have done it because of a purposes. And whatever purpose it may be, it may sound so sad for us, I knew Leo would be so happy for what he has done. So, even if it is hard, let us just all be happy for him. I knew he’ll be in good situation.

Reporter: It sounds so delightful knowing that you have already treated yourself as a family.

Piper: WE ARE INDEED FAMILY.

Reporter: Uh, don’t stare at me like that Ms. McLean, remember your promise earlier?

Piper: (Laughs)

Reporter: *sigh* So, moving on, we have here questions sent to us by or fans from across the globe via the social networking site, Twitter. I’ll read them for you, and maybe, one of you will answer the questions. So ready?

Percy and Jason: We’re definitely ready.

Reporter: This is from @HelloEzekiel, “How does it feel walking in the lands of Tartarus?

Percy: I better let Annabeth for that. You know, adjectives, A LOT OF THEM, Annabeth is good at that.

Annabeth: I knew you were going to say that. So, I guess walking in there is as bad as falling from a 50ft cliff. It may sound too exaggerated, but walking in Tartarus is really really bad. No adjective has been invented so far to fit in the description of Tartarus. Bad. Real bad.

Reporter: *gulp* So, from @AmazingLeo, uh-huh? Just who is this guy? Here’s his question. “Hi Frank! How’s your firewood? Mind if I burst into flames?”

Hazel: Wait, is that Leo?

Frank: Wait for me Leo, I’m gonna tear you into pieces! *Turns into an eagle and flies out of the studio*

Jason: Uhm, excuse me for a while, I’m gonna catch up with him. *Flies out too.*

Annabeth: I don’t think that is Leo. But whoever that guy is, I love his charisma.

Percy: What do you mean, you love his charisma? Don’t you love mine?

Reporter: Uhm, excuse me Percy, my bottled water is shaking. Are you trying to make it burst? Can you calm down a little bit? We’re still on air.

Piper: *whispers to Hazel* Control the mist, I’ll talk with them.

Hazel: *whisper-mode* Gotcha.

                Hazel then controlled the mist. From a mortal’s point of view, everything seems normal. Well that is if normal means Annabeth singing “Thinking out Loud” and Percy dancing in the harmony that Annabeth makes. But on the real-time, demigod’s point of view, Annabeth was really trying to explain her opinion while Percy was calling out for every droplet of water inside the studio and splashing them on the screen where the picture of the man named @AmazingLeo.

Piper: (Charmspeak mode: On) So, Mr. Reporter, and to all our viewers, thank you for listening, and, Good Day! See yah!

And in no time, the cameramen turned their cameras off. And the show ended.

Piper then whispered to Hazel: C’mon! Let’s get out of here!

                They ran out of the studio and they all lived happily ever after.

Frank, Leo, Hazel, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason

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              So, as I said earlier, this is the end. The end of the series and the end of my Reading log. So, for those guys that have read my posts here (if ever there really are guys that are reading this, well except of course for my Professor, because indeed, she’ll be reading this stuffs, *Hi Maam! :D*), this will be the last. And if you wanted my ideas here, stay in touch. Im an active internet user. Look for me on twitter! :D

READING LOG ENTRY #4: THE SON OF NEPTUNE

               

                     If you were fascinated by how Mr. Riordan narrated stories based on Greek POV’s, then this time, in the second book of the Heroes of Olympus series, it’s time to shift into a different world. Let’s try to explore more stories as we travel into a different dimension as we get to know the Roman Demigods.

               This will give us more friends, more challenges, and more lessons. As we will see the events in the series from another point of view, we will try to discover MORE.

                The first book (my previous entry), The Lost Hero¸ started introducing one character from the Roman Camp, named Jason. And it was later unveiled that Percy Jackson was swapped in place of Jason to somehow unite the two camps. And this is where Percy’s adventure, in the Roman World, begins.

                The second book contains similar events with the first book. With Percy, at first, trying to escape furious attacks by two weird creatures, and with him, the same with Jason, dealing with some sort of amnesia. But one word remains in the mind of Percy. Annabeth. He was pretty sure that he has to find a way back to where Annabeth is, because deep inside him, he knew very well that Annabeth is not just a simple name. It became Percy’s motivation to continue to dwell with things even if the whole Roman World is new to him.

                But as I was reading this book, and with some realization from the first book, why does both characters, Percy and Jason, has to suffer memory loss? Can they not work well with their memories and someone has to get their memories away from them? I mean, have you imagined yourself knowing nothing, remembering nothing, and still, you have to go through a lot of things, even fighting with weird creatures? (Okay, even if you remove that ‘fighting’ part, it is still the same.) Memories can help them withstand pressures, but why does someone has to remove it from them? Is it for them to be motivated to do their task properly? Uh-oh? It may sound cruel, (VERY CRUEL) but that is the real score. They needed something to keep them from standing up against all odds. And luckily, both of them succeeded.

                Percy decided to follow his instincts. At the early part of the book, he had a chance to escape the 2 creatures tailing him when he saw the sea. A thought came to him, saying that if he chose to dive to the sea, those creatures will stop from hunting him. But in exchange, he would never see Annabeth again. So, he didn’t chose that, instead, he chose to enter a more intriguing decision, as he enters the Roman camp for roman demigods claimed by the Roman gods. *sigh* “A more Roman life.” That means a more violent, war-freak, danger-seeking, life for Percy. But he managed to pull it over and yes, he, together with Jason at the Greek camp, managed to pull out the chosen demigods to answer the Great Prophecy that states that there are 7 demigods, a mixture of both camp, will lead the rest of the Demigods to war against Gaea.

                Honestly, I can’t wait to share what the totality of this series is all about guys. And on my last edition of my reading log, all will end. Is it the fall of the Olympians? Or will Percy be able to mount a huge wave of heroes to fend off Gaeas giants marching towards both Greek and Roman worlds?

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THE BATTLE CRY

(A poem based on the Heroes of Olympus series)

It all started when leaders were swapped,

When someone has to take charge and close the open gap,

Between two camps that yell at each other,

And form the seven heroes that will defy the borders.

From the start, we knew it was happening

That at that moment, Gaeas giants are ravening

But we didn’t hide and we didn’t simply crumble and fall,

For we all know that at the end we will surely stand tall.

But along the risky pathway to victory,

We knew it was going to be bloody and weary.

But we should not tremble, we should all fight

                                         For this is for both camps, the source of our might.                                           

Death in war may instantly come,

But for us Heroes, he is always welcome,

For if we die in that battlefield, we die in victory,

For a blood shed in war, is a blood shed for dignity.

 

In the photo (L-R): Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, Jason Grace, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque.

Photo grabbed from: camphalfblood.wikia.com