October 2012 by Disney-Hyperion Books
586 pages
Three stars
"Annabeth is terrified. Just when she's about to be reunited with Percy—after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera—it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can’t blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. With its steaming bronze dragon masthead, Leo's fantastical creation doesn't appear friendly. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.
And that's only one of her worries. In her pocket Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving demand: Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find—and close—the Doors of Death. What more does Athena want from her?
Annabeth's biggest fear, though, is that Percy might have changed. What if he's now attached to Roman ways? Does he still need his old friends? As the daughter of the goddess of war and wisdom, Annabeth knows she was born to be a leader, but never again does she want to be without Seaweed Brain by her side.
Narrated by four different demigods, The Mark of Athena is an unforgettable journey across land and sea to Rome, where important discoveries, surprising sacrifices, and unspeakable horrors await. Climb aboard the Argo II, if you dare...." -Goodreads
If you have not read the previous books in the series, beware of spoilers!
Let me just start off by saying, I love Rick Riordan. He's absolutely one of my favorite authors and I will always read any book he comes out with. They are always so fun and full of adventure. He is a fantastic writer for readers of any age. Don't let the fact that they are middle grade stop you from reading his books.
I really don't want to say too much about the plot of this story, since it's in the middle of a series, and a companion to The Percy Jackson series. I'll let the Goodreads blurb explain it for me. It's not anything about the plot of this story that made me give it three stars.
I wasn't invested into the story until about halfway through, when they arrived to the mouth of the Mediterranean and met Hercules. As I said before, I don't think there was anything wrong with the plot of the story. It just seemed a little harder to stay focused on than others I've read. The points where it was supposed to be full of action and very intense just didn't register as such.
One of Rick Riordan's strongest assets in his writing is his characters. While there may have been a rift between the Romans and Greeks, they were able to work together as a team to accomplish a common goal. There was a lot of character growth and relationships being built. Some of the characters couldn't be further from the other, while some we're more alike than they realize.
I think one of the things I had a hard time with in this book was keeping characters straight. I'm used to reading either just one character or it switching between three characters like in both The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune. Having seven characters and seven points of view to keep straight is more difficult than I thought it would be. I think that's interesting as an adult reader, I had a hard time keeping them straight. I can't imagine how difficult that would be for an average middle school reader. It made the story very hard to follow at times and hard to keep them straight since so many characters seem to mirror others.
I think one of the things I had a hard time with in this book was keeping characters straight. I'm used to reading either just one character or it switching between three characters like in both The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune. Having seven characters and seven points of view to keep straight is more difficult than I thought it would be. I think that's interesting as an adult reader, I had a hard time keeping them straight. I can't imagine how difficult that would be for an average middle school reader. It made the story very hard to follow at times and hard to keep them straight since so many characters seem to mirror others.
One of the best things of this story was the ending. At that point, I was much more interested in it and I think Arachne was fun to read about. Annabeth really is a phenomenal character and I love reading about her journey. I am in no way surprised that she was able to outsmart Arachne.
I seem to have a problem with middle books by Rick Riordan because I didn't like the fourth book in the Percy Jackson series as much either. I think the ending will make for an amazing fourth book and I am so excited. Don't let my opinion of this book keep you from continuing the series if you have started it already. It really is a great series.
No comments:
Post a Comment