Rick Riordan hit it big with his Percy Jackson books, and continues the trend with The Mark of Athena, the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series. The Lost Hero followed Jason, son of Jupiter/Zeus, and his friends Piper and Leo, as they discover who they are and how they fit into the Prophecy of Seven. In The Son of Neptune, Percy’s back, with new friends Hazel and Frank, who help him get back his memory and free Death from a giant.
The Mark of Athena brings the Camp Half Blood heroes together with those from Camp Jupiter, forcing the Greek and Roman demigods to work together to solve the Prophecy of Seven. Narration alternates between Percy, Annabeth, Leo and Piper as the kids go off on tasks in different groups, learning each others’ strengths and weaknesses as they meet up with gods, battle monsters and work to free yet another hero from the giants that have captured him. Annabeth’s participation is especially vital, as the daughter of Athena, she has a quest to fulfill all on her own.
One aspect of these books that really stands out to me is how human the heroes are. They don’t always help each other, they have trust issues, stemming from the fact that they all had crappy childhoods, and sometimes they’re plain scared witless. But they also encourage each other, learn to at least accept the others, even if they don’t necessarily like them, and in the end they have each other’s backs.
Even though I’d read the first two books in the series, in my old age I couldn’t remember much about the characters, other than Percy and Annabeth since they were featured heavily in the first series. There’s a brief description of each of them at the beginning, and more is revealed throughout as the two camps get to know each other, and of course thanks to the wonders of the internet I was able to refresh myself on the other demigods’ abilities and characteristics. All that being said, this book is part of a series and as such does not stand alone.
The Mark of Athena ends with a whopper of a cliffhanger and it’s going to be a long year waiting for book 4.
Content Notes: The demigods are getting older, and with that comes more serious relationships. The kids have coupled up and there’s a bit more kissing than in past books, but nothing more. One scene that has Percy and Annabeth sneak off in the middle of the night to talk, where they end up falling asleep and then get in trouble with their chaperone is about as racy as it gets.
Nancy has had a long fascination with Greek mythology. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.
I loved, loved, LOVED it. My son had some school projects that needed to be finished, so I got first dibs on the book after it came in. 🙂 I do enjoy Riordan’s character development, and I’m not looking forward to waiting another year to find out what happens from that nail-biting ending!