The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan | Teen Ink

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

December 21, 2012
By Anonymous

Seven demigods shall answer the call. To storm or fire, the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. When I finished the Percy Jackson series I didn’t understand what this meant, but after reading The Mark of Athena it makes so much sense. In the book, Rick Riordan does a phenomenal job of bringing the prophecy into play in the third book of The Lost Hero series.

The book starts out as Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-blood come together because Camp Half-blood wants to make an alliance with Camp Jupiter so they can fight the earth titan Gaea and destroy her plans. That doesn’t really work out and it starts another war with the two camps. Their only hope now is to find Athena Parthenos hinden in Rome or also known as the ancient lands. For Romans it would be suicide but for the seven it means adventure and well a lot of monsters.

In the book I really liked how Riordan really described the setting it really helped imagine what was going on in the book. I also liked how he used other demigods like Hercules in the book. Riordan has a way of describing things like you are there, but really your eyes are just flipping through a bunch of words. He uses descriptive language to describe his settings and characters that really catch your attention and have connections with.
Riordan never fails to catch my attention with his books, but I have to say that this book in particular really had a lot of good built characters. One of my favorite characters is probably Annabeth Chase. Wisdom's daughter walks alone, The Mark of Athena burns through Rome.When Annabeth goes on her quest I think Riordan really shows how much wisdom Annabeth has and how she uses it. Annabeth is a very relatable character because when she is scared of spiders, I think of things I am scared of and that even a demigod like Annabeth has little fears like that. Annabeth I think is really a strong person who is also a leader.
In The Mark of Athena there really isn’t much that I disliked but the two characters that really brought me no pleasure of reading were Piper and Frank. With Piper I think she is selfish because all she thinks about is Jason, but you know she is the daughter of Aphrodite. Frank on the other hand could have been so much more helpful. He takes his power for granted and he doesn’t use it that well. In my opinion I think both characters could have stepped out of their comfort zone and grown up. If they did they could have saved so many other peoples lives, and they could have helped move the journey a little faster.
If I had to recommend a book to someone it would be this one. This book is full of suspense and a bit of romance. I think this book has a lot of times when you could just connect with it , which is really why I like it. From The Titan’s Curse to The Son of Neptune all the book before The Mark of Athena they have all added up to make The Mark of Athena the best of the best.



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on Dec. 16 2014 at 10:40 am
The Mark of Athena is book 3 in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series. It follows the plot at the end of Son of Neptune where Percy, Hazel, and Frank get back to Camp Jupiter and are awaiting the Greeks arrival. This series unlike Riordan’s first Olympian series switches points of view with all 7 demi-gods in the prophecy of 7. In this certain book it goes from Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, and Percy Jackson. When switching his point of view it gives you other ways of experiencing the story and other linchpin’s so to speak with the crew in the Argo 2.Rick Riordan started his Percy Jackson books with Percy Jackson and The Olympians for his sons as little kids. When he was told they were good enough for publishing he began to write them down with the help of his sons for descriptive assistance. His series became a sensation and are still beloved now almost 10 years later since he brought Percy Jackson and his world to life. From the spin where Percy had a Cyclops brother named Tyson to when he and his Camp Half-Blood friends defeated Kronos in New York, his readers wanted more. A year after The Last Olympian came out Riordan came with another spin- Romans. The Lost Hero brings to light a new protagonist Jason Grace and another Great Prophecy. Now the fans are three books in and even now they are as ferocious and loyal as ever. In this certain book it begins with Annabeth and the hard truth that for some reason her mother Athena has disbanded her as a child of Athena. Reunited again Percy and Annabeth believe everything will go well but the Romans threaten war against Camp Half-Blood after a miss-fire from the Argo 2. The crew of the Argo 2 are now running from the Romans, Gea, and the giants as the travel to ancient lands for the prophecy of 7. Everything seems as well as they can get but when the Mark of Athena separates Annabeth from the crew she is forced to fight her own battle- and worst fear as her friends fight together. Will the crew be untied once more of will they be even more spread apart. This book along with its fellow series’ make my heart throb, ache, and yearn for the Greek and Roman Mythological world to be real so that I may also be able to fight the monsters of that culture. Riordan has a way of writing his world so that is flies off the pages, quite literally-as if Percy Jackson is flying off the book on Blackjack to save Annabeth. His theories, and Greek/Roman Mythology have a way of pulling you in so that the only way you can make it to afternoon tea is if you are attacked by fellow friends of that fandom (though they should know better than to interrupt), family or certain breed of monsters that just hate demi-gods so much they won’t even let you finish the last chapter.   This book and its series are a fantastic, riveting read that I have indulged in a matter of months. Though books can sometimes be expensive and there prices ward people off more effectively then a horrid cover, and or terrible cover summary these books were worth the spend. Even is that did mean I had to visit my public library to read most of them. Riordan is a fantastic writer and I cannot wait to read everything else he has, and will write.

on Dec. 31 2012 at 3:12 pm
WaffleOcean2934 PLATINUM, Rogers, Minnesota
42 articles 9 photos 116 comments

Favorite Quote:
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams-Eleanor Roosevelt

You make me want to go read the book now!  :)