Review: Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus 3)

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

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...

As you may already know I am a huge fan of the Heroes of Olympus series. That meant that I had big expectations when it came to this book and, thankfully, it lived up to them.

So, what did I like about this book?

• It was easy to read, yet it was complex. I can never explain properly just what I mean by this, yet it is something that I say about all of Rick Riordan's books. It is easy to read in that it flows well, there is never any long descriptions that slow the pace, the words are all fairly easy to read and the sentence structure is great. Yet the plot is complex. There are many themes that run not just right through the book but through the whole series. There are a lot of things going on at once, but it doesn't seem cluttered and you can still keep up with what is going on.
• Another thing I loved was the third perspective aspect of the story. It was nice and refreshing to read the thoughts of the different characters, and really it was the only way that this story was going to work. It was also great to finally get into Annabeth's mind and I have to say it wasn't how I imagined her mind would work. 
• As always the characters are great. With having seven main characters in the book you would think that they could start being similar, yet each were different. I loved the diversity in each of the character's backgrounds, fears and personalities. The new characters added depth to the story and each played an important role in the story, whether it was for character development for the main characters, posing problems or even solving problems. 
• The speed of this book was great. It was fast-paced and action filled, yet there were also times of conversation and deep thinking which was also needed and I think Riordan got that balance just right. 
• I enjoyed the world building. Even though I had been to this world seven times before (including the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series), Riordan was able to build and expand on it. All the new settings where described so well yet the descriptions didn't slow down the book in any way. It was great to imagine each setting that all the events took part on and I must say that I love the Argo II. It would have to be one of my more favourite settings in the series! :)

Now to what I didn't like, and to tell you the truth this isn't a dislike, more just a slight annoyance. It annoyed me that a slight love triangle was introduced, and the fact that it wasn't even the one I was expecting annoyed me a little too. I felt like it didn't really need to be there, there was already enough tension between the characters without adding it. I don't think it will end up being anything to big either so I don't think it will add anything to the series.

I also need to comment on the ending, which I liked (sort of). All I have to say is Riordan sure knows how to write a cliffhanger! Now I eagerly await the release of the next book, The House of Hades, which I think is to be released next October.

Anyway, even with the slight annoyance of a love triangle I rate this book 5/5 stars because it was just that good! :)

Mel.

Up next: December releases I am looking forward to!

Throwback Thursday - Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus

On Thursday's I will be doing Throwback Thursday. This is where I will talk about previous books, in particular series but I will also do standalone books, that I have read. On a Throwback Thursday I might give a mini-review on each book (but not necessary everytime), tell you what my favourite/least favourite parts were and tell  you how I came by these books. 

So now to my first Throwback Thursday. This week I am going to cover two series because the second leads on from the first, that being Percy Jackson and the Olympians (PJO) and Heroes of Olympus (HOO). I first came across PJO because of the move, The Lightning Thief. I enjoyed the movie and then saw that it was based on a book, so I went out and bought the box set and read all the books in the series. Then I questioned how that could completely ruin the story line of the first book when they turned it into the movie. After falling in love with Percy and his friends in PJO I found out about HOO and then I read them. 

I recently took to rereading PJO and the books current released of HOO before I read the latest book out, the Mark of Athena. I will do a full review of Mark of Athena when I have finished reading it, but before then I had the idea to share some of my thoughts on each of the books so far. 

Firstly, just a comment about the writing style. In the PJO series the writing is first perspective, with the main voice being Percy (obviously). I am not usually a fan of first perspective writing because I feel like we miss out on other things (for example, The Hunger Games where I feel we miss so much of the action and revolution because it is all written from Katniss' perspective). However, in this series I felt it worked really well because Percy was generally right in the thick of the action and anything else important to the plot that he didn't experience he saw in dreams. In HOO the writing is third perspective and I really like this. It was refreshing to have someone else's point of view and it allowed you to see things important to the story line that the other characters didn't know at that point in time. 

I loved Rick Riordan's writing style. I found it so easy to read, but he put enough complexity into the plot so I wasn't certain of what was to come. I really like books where I have to guess what is coming, and the more wilder my theories the better.

So the first book in the PJO series is the Lightning Thief. One thing to say first, if you haven't read this but have seen the film please do not be put off, the book is different in so many ways to the movie, and heaps better. So what did I like about this book? I think the better question would be what didn't I like about the book, which other than the betrayal, which was needed but I didn't have to like it, the answer to that would be nothing. Probably the best thing I liked about this book was the complexity. I spent a lot of my time guessing why someone would do certain things and wondering how Percy was going to get out of each situation. I also really like the monsters. The descriptions were so vivid and imaginative and they could be fairly witty too.

My favourite part about the second book, the Sea of Monsters, would definitely be the humour. There were so many great mental images that I got from some of the scenes, particularly with Grover and his 'love' and also the Party Ponies (sorry about the vagueness but I am trying not to spoil anything if you haven't read it). The introduction of a couple of new characters was well done, each one having a particular part to play and they weren't unnecessary. Even though I liked the humour, it is a serious story and there are plenty of sad/somber parts. There isn't really anything that I didn't like about this book.

This also applies to the third book, the Titan's Curse. This was a great book, possibly the best. Again there was plenty of humour and again there was plenty of sadness. There was also quite a bit of tension and hostility in parts of this book, particularly between the Hunters of Artemis and the demigod's from Camp Half-Blood. I have to say, and I am a little ashamed to admit this, I absolutely love Apollo. His humour was refreshing, but he also showed that he could be serious, particularly if someone was messing with his family. I am pretty sure he is one god that you wouldn't want to mess with.

There were plenty of times in the fourth book, the Battle of the Labyrinth, that I had no idea how Percy and his friends would survive. There was so much suspicion, tension, spite and many near death experiences. It was really fast paced and action filled, although in saying that there was still humour with my favourite part involving a mortal, a blue plastic hairbrush and the king of the titans. I loved how a lot of the story lines were starting to come together before the final book, even though new questions were also posed.

The fifth and final book of the PJO, the Last Olympian, was probably my favourite of the series. It had me sobbing and laughing at different parts. The ending was brilliant, not what I expected to happen, but it was sad. I loved how at the very end Percy stood up to the gods, and made them accountable for their part in the what had happened. The flashbacks intertwined in this book was well done and gave you enough information that you started to piece together what had happened and what was possibly to come. It really was the best way to wrap up the series.

Then along came the HOO. In the Lost Hero, we met Jason, Piper and Leo, along with most of the regular members of Camp Half-Blood, with one major exception. I loved these three together. They all had their flaws but they all just gelled together. There were some major pieces of news in this story, particularly if you were familiar with PJO, which had me reading into the early hours of the morning, wanting to know what was going to happen next. The mixture of old places and new places and old characters and new characters was handled really well by Riordan and you didn't miss previous characters because you learnt to love the new ones. It was an intriguing and brilliant start to the new series.

In the second book, the Son of Neptune, Percy was joined by Frank and Hazel, as well as quite a few new faces. Again the mixture of new and old was handled brilliantly and I loved having the different perspectives. I felt that it was needed more in this book than the previous one because of the different backgrounds of the characters and the different secrets that each character had. Again, I was constantly wondering how on earth  the characters were going to survive and achieve their goals in time. It was fast paced and left me wanting to know more. One thing I didn't like was Octavian. Every time he was present in the story I wanted to strangle him, and usually I am a non-violent person. He drove me insane, but his character required that and I think it will be very important for the stories to come.

So now it is time for me to read Mark of Athena, which I have been wanting to read since it came out in October. There are so many questions that need answering, but may or may not be answered in this book, and I am pretty sure a ton more will pop up. 

Now my first ever Throwback Thursday is complete and it has been fun. I hope you have enjoyed it and please leave comments bellow on your thoughts about the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series.

Bye for now,

Mel.

Up next: An introduction to what I will be posting and when.