Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian (book 5)
by Rick Riordan
Unabridged audiobook, read  by Jesse Bernstein

The fifth and final book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series is the best of the books. Now, perhaps this is because Riordan's writing has gotten better, or because I've grown fond of certain characters, or because I know what to expect, or because the reader did a better job. I'll go with a mix of the first three - Bernstein's performance is exactly on par with the earlier books, no better, no worse.
It's the final summer before Percy turns 16 and the prophecy will be fulfilled and Olympus will fall or stand because of it. Jackson is right in the middle of it and is in fact the one upon which everything depends. Riordan takes a couple of pages from Rowling's playbook in accomplishing this - character's are killed, minor yet key villains redeem themselves and our hero stands toe to toe with the baddy and has the realization that the only way to win is to give up his tight control of the situation and depend on those he cares about most.
All the major characters make it through this one and come out the other side a better person / demigod / satyr / cyclops. Jackson gets the girl - Annabeth, not Rachael - as it should be, or at least as is expected. Jackson gets the admiration of all and the respect of many who disdained him earlier.
I feel like I could really rip this book apart, but I'm not going to. I enjoyed it. Not everything is a work of enduring literature, and that's not a bad thing. This book, like the rest in the series is well-based in Greek mythology and is a great jumping off point for a young person just getting into studying the classics or for a middle-aged man who is already familiar and wants to play in a field that he already is familiar with.
The book ends with the new oracle (hay - we knew Rachael Elizabeth Dare was going to be important) pronouncing the next big prophecy, but other than that everything is wrapped up. There is nothing left dangling. I do know that there is another set of books that take place in the same universe, and Jackson has cameos, but you don't need to read them if you don't want to. I think after I give genre reading a break, I'll find that I'm ready to take on some YA again, and I'll probably give them a look. I am willing to give Riordan's Egyptian-based series a shot, too. I just hope that there is a different reader for these other books. Maybe there just needs to be a new director - it's not that Bernstein's voice is annoying, it's doing "voices" for characters that I find annoying. Either go all in and develop a bunch of distinctly different voices, or don't do voices. But, I'm beginning to get off topic...
One thing that I can say about these books is that they are written very cinematically. I don't know if they are making sequels to that first movie, but if they do, I'll probably watch them.