The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Reviewed by Brandon

In the third installment of the Heroes of Olympus series, The Mark of Athena, Rick Riordan creates a mystifying story yet again. This new thrilling novel intrigued me more than his last few stories. This book should definitely be on the top of any bookworm’s “must read” list.

            Percy Jackson is a not so normal 17 year-old. Over the past 5 years Percy has fought many monsters, gods, and demigods. After being whisked away from his camp, Camp Half-Blood, for 8 months and saving his “new” camp, Camp Jupiter, from new monsters and a Cyclops to regain their War Eagle, he is reunited with his girlfriend, Annabeth, when she comes to rescue him from the Romans. The reunion doesn't last long, though. After they are reunited, one member of the quest party that Annabeth has set up attacks the Romans. This just complicates their journey even more. Now added to the stress of finding Hazel’s brother, Nico, and defeating two giants, they now must get away from the Romans as well. Then something unexpected happens…Annabeth must complete a quest by herself and everyone that has tried before her has met a terrible death. Can Percy let her go, again, if it might mean she will never come back? 

      Riordan uses a complex writing style in which he changes who the story focuses around every couple of chapters. I think this makes the story more fun to read because you get to know different points of view on what is happening within the story. This makes the book more enjoyable to me and makes me want to just read it all at once.  For example, Piper only thinks of Percy as the Son of Poseidon (Neptune), while Annabeth thinks of him as an amazing boyfriend that she can’t live without. This is why I like his writing as much as I do.

            This book had me constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to see what kinds of twists and turns Riordan could throw at me. I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars because it was so intriguing and fast-paced. I cannot wait for the fourth book to be released because I think his writing is very good.