The Mark of Athena

Short Review: The first two books of this series felt like introductions (or prequels) but this book the action takes off. All 7 heroes are together and headed toward Rome to save Nico and stop Gaia. This book is really mostly about Annabeth and it is about time that she takes lead in a book.

For a longer review go to my blog at http://bookwi.se/mark-of-athena/

I really liked the overall plot and I honestly loved the Percy and Annabeth moments. The cliffhanger was amazing and I loved the inclusion of the Athena Parthenos and its disappearance.

Still weirded out that two 16 year old boys find a 13 year old girl hot. Like, I know 3 years isn't a big difference, but that's later when they're... 18-21 or whatever. When she's 13 I'm just ??? how can you find a 13 year old attractive? Doesn't even get fixed with her being 10x more mature than them both. That's literally why I didn't give it 5 stars. I felt uncomfortable with those scenes.

This was my favorite book in the series so far!! 5 out of 5 stars!

What an adventure! The seven have finally come together in order to stop Gaea from rising–which means, my favorite characters from the series are back! (i.e. Leo and Annabeth–these two are probably my favorite POV characters. Leo, because he's fun and he keeps things light when compared to the much more serious tones we get from the other characters. Annabeth, because she's always been a character that I could relate to).

Some noteworthy things to mention about The Mark of Athena:

The ending! I'll admit, I cried so hard during that last scene in the cavern. Even though the whole time I was thinking about how stupid the seven of them were standing around and talking in a cavern whose freaking floor was about to crumble beneath you and leads to freaking Tartarus! Seriously, if I were Annabeth, first thing I'd do is tell my friends to get us the hell out of there because this shit ain't stable, and my ankle is broken, and, I don't know about you guys, but I want to be as far away from this cursed place as possible. But that had to happen. It had to in order for the seven to have a chance of closing the Doors of Death.

Another surprising thing about this book: Piper. My opinion of her has completely changed since the whole nymphaeum scene. She was resourceful. She understood the situation and trusted herself. I respect that. I honestly didn't think much of her in The Lost Hero. She was pining for Jason too much and she always presented herself as the victim, that I just couldn't find much to relate to in her character–other than being vegetarian. But her true colors were really able to shine in this book (even though at the beginning it was always “Jason this” and “Jason that”...I swear, she didn't do much in the first hundred pages other than watch Jason recover from injuries and worry about the images she would glimpse in Katoptris). Hopefully, Riordan will continue to write her POV chapters this same way. She needs to learn to just be herself and I think she's really starting to be who she wants to be, rather than always thinking about what other people want her to be and look like. The cornucopia is a “weapon” that she is much more comfortable using versus Katoptris, and she knows this. She even states in one of these last chapters that “the next time she got a chance, Piper swore she would melt down Katoptris and sell it for scrap metal.” That's what I like to hear! Get it, girl.

To sum up this review: definitely pick this series up if you are a Percy Jackson fan! Book three was well worth reading the first two books (which were also very good). You won't regret it! =) Also check out some cool demigod art:


Heroes of Olympus by *viria13 on deviantART

Rick Riordan does a very good job of taking Greek and Roman mythology and bringing them into the modern world. After all, he has been doing it for 8 books now. And it is starting to feel wrote and mundane.

I have enjoyed the Heroes of Olympus books so far, and found The Mark of Athena to continue to be enjoyable. But Riordan falls prey to the far too common trope of the cliffhanger. One of the aspects I most enjoyed in his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series was that each book resolved. The overarching conflict was always present, and each book moved that forward some. Once each book was over, though, you had a sense of completion, resolution.

With The Mark of Athena, the characters go through some of the same trials they have gone through in the previous books, have a main conflict to resolve, which they do. And then main characters are put into mortal peril and the book just sort of ends. Big cliffhanger. I enjoyed the story, but I suppose it is all starting to feel a little same.

I just can't.
I know it will probably get better later. I know I would have liked it better had I read it quickly when I started reading these books. I think I did read it, and liked it, like 10 years ago, or so. Right now I don't even care to go find out when it was published. I think I read it within 2 years from being published. I devoured the Camp Half-Blood books pretty much then.

Now, I can barely read a sentence without getting upset. I hate how Annabeth is suddenly a lovestruck puppy and jealous bitch, looking at a 13 years old kid as a romantic rival. I hate the misogyny, and Goddess hate. I hate how bullying unlikeable characters is supposed to be funny.

“You're letting these intruders into the camp?” A tall guy with stringy blond hair elbowed his way forward. “Reyna, the security risks—”

“We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian.” Reyna flashed him a stern look. “We'll eat here, in the forum.”

“Oh, much better,” Octavian grumbled. He seemed to be the only one who didn't defer to Reyna as his superior, despite the fact that he was scrawny and pale and for some reason had three teddy bears hanging from his belt. “You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship.”

“These are our guests.” Reyna clipped off every word. “We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely.”

“Good idea,” Percy put in. “Go burn your bears, Octavian.”

Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile.