Review by Frank Plowright

There’s no half measures starting this adaptation of The Last Olympian, which throws readers in at the deep end with Percy Jackson days before his sixteenth birthday facing off against the reincarnated Kronos on a boat heading toward Manhattan. While we saw Kronos revived at the end of The Battle of the Labyrinth, things have moved on considerably since, almost generating a feeling that pages are missing. Everyone has known for a while that there’s a full prophecy concerning Percy, and his father decides it’s time he returns to Camp Half Blood to hear what’s foretold. It’s not good news for Percy, but in earlier books Rick Riordan has found a way to ensure what seems to be inevitable can be avoided, so will Percy survive?

As he has done throughout the series, Robert Venditti breaks down the original young adult novel to the essentials for a graphic novel, prioritising the scenes with the greatest visual impact. However, once again he’s let down by the unimaginative art, which tells the story, but with little insight or emotional impact, and sucks the life away more successfully than a malign god. It’s really puzzling how the commissioning editor couldn’t see the difference between the quality served up over the first three adaptations, and what’s followed.

Because most of Manhattan is put to sleep, residents don’t know Kronos has taken over the city, nor of the desperate battle to save New York. Percy has received a power upgrade, but as has been the case in earlier stories, the foreshadowing is that little bit too transparent, possibly caused by the transfer process of a graphic novel likely to be devoured more rapidly than the book, so scenes stay longer in the memory.

Threats Percy’s dealt with before return, but now bolstered, some ways Riordan steers matters toward the end are less predictable, and the way he subverts the prophecy is clever, but the basic artwork means this is nowhere as good as it ought to be.