Mark of Athena

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the third installment in the Heroes of Olympus series, and altho I really enjoyed it I don't understand how people can rate it without having read it. It seems like that makes the overall rating misleading.

The Mark of Athena picks up immediately where The Son of Neptune left off. I wish that I had gone back and refreshed myself with what happened in the last book because so much carried over that I had forgotten about. Riordan does a good job of reminding you what happened that was important but some points I had forgotten about. It has been a year after all.

The story is told from alternating view points of Annabeth, Piper, Leo and Percy. I love how the story unfolds from these points of view. Annabeth and Leo are probably my favorite characters probably because they generally use brains over braun to solve their problems. But in this book we see alot of that from all of the main characters. Even Percy and Jason are using tactical skills instead of just fighting. All of the characters have really grown over the course of this series and we see that particularly in this book. Relationships are becoming more complicated but the issues are portrayed in such a way that younger readers will understand what is going on.

The quest in this book is multifold. The main quest is about the doors of death but Annabeth is charged with following the Mark of Athena. There are also mini quests along the way that provide clues to the bigger issues. And while we travel some in the US the main show takes place in Rome and traveling there comes with its own issues. We also meet many lesser gods along the way that aren't as widely known as Zues and Poseiden etc. such as Echo and Narcissus. (The references throughtout the book to Bacchus kept reminding me of a previous series that I've read, but this is a YA book and completely PG) I really enjoyed the introduction to these myths. And as always these mini quests are full of adventure and humor and plenty of action.

All of the books of the Percy Jackson series are such fun reads and this one is no exception. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one. Riordan definitely knows how to do a cliff hanger. But I wouldn't recommend starting with this one. Start in the begining and read the whole series or you will be a bit lost.



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