Title: The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: October 2nd, 2012
Standalone/Series: Series
Genre: Young Adult – Fantasy

Goodreads link

My rating in stars: 4 stars
My rating in words: Really liked this book

What it’s about:

Annabeth returns in the third installment of the biggest series yet from Rick Riordan, author of the #1 New York Times best-selling Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

In The Son of Neptune, Percy, Hazel, and Frank met in Camp Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-blood, and traveled to the land beyond the gods to complete a dangerous quest. The third book in the Heroes of Olympus series will unite them with Jason, Piper, and Leo. But they number only six—who will complete the Prophecy of Seven?

The Greek and Roman demigods will have to cooperate in order to defeat the giants released by the Earth Mother, Gaea. Then they will have to sail together to the ancient land—Greece itself—to find the Doors of Death. What exactly are the Doors of Death? Much of the prophecy remains a mystery…

With old friends and new friends joining forces, a marvelous ship, fearsome foes, and an exotic setting, The Mark of Athena promises to be another unforgettable adventure by master storyteller Rick Riordan.

My thoughts (spoiler-free):

“Being a hero doesn’t mean you’re invincible. It just means that you’re brave enough to stand up and do what’s needed.”

I love Rick Riordan books. I’m starting to repeat myself here, but I do. Reading these books is like being transported into an other world. A world in which Greek and Roman Gods are real and they send their present-day kids off on dangerous quests.  I know most books transport you to another world like that, but there’s something about Rick Riordan books that makes the process feel magical and effortless.

Anyway, I’m still buddy reading this series with the lovely Uma of Books. Bags. Burgers and we have hit book three, The Mark of Athena. So far, I have loved both book one (The Lost Hero) and book two (The Son of Neptune) but to fair, I’ve been waiting for book three for a long time. Why? Because it’s the long-awaited meeting of all my favorite characters!

To be honest, as much I love the plot of these books, they’re also all kind of similar? Important, possible life-threatening quest. Multiple side-adventures. Meeting different creatures and gods, some helpful, some pretty evil. I mean, it’s fun and genius and I love me some mythology and it’s amazing reading how Rick Riordan manages to tie everything together. But really, I’m here for the characters most of all. I love them all separately so much, but now they are actually meeting and interacting and I AM LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT. I mean, give me an entire book of these kids bantering over their pizza dinner and I would enjoy it! So this review will be like 90% me gushing about these characters and I apologize in advance.

Percy is still my number one. He’s one of my all-time favorite characters ever and I don’t think this’ll be changing any time soon. He’s changing and maturing a lot and his character development feels so real. I love his sassy banter with every other character, and I swoon over every single one of his interactions with Annabeth. Annabeth is awesome! She’s finally got her own POV here and I am here for it. Give me more of wisdom’s daughter! I fell in love with Leo in book one and my love isn’t diminishing any time soon. Thankfully he also had his own POV and his subplot about being the seventh wheel and his whole history with Hazel only made me more invested (#TeamLeo). Hazel felt a little less prominent in this book, but I still adore the daughter of Hades. Same with Frank, though I was living for his little feud with Leo. Frank is adorable and brave and I’m sure we’ll still get so much more of him! Piper was the fourth and final POV and to be honest, my least favorite. I still like her a lot, and she still continues to kick the ‘daughter of Aphrodite’ stereotype’s butt, but her storyline here focused a bit too much on jealousy and insecurity in her relationship with Jason. And Jason, well, he’s nice and all, but still a bit too bland for me. Like Percy himself said, he seems like a blond superman. Though I must say I am loving his new bromance with Percy! And last, but certainly not least, please give my cinnamon roll Nico a bigger role in the next book! He deserves the world. The world, I tell ya!

So yes, did I mention I love these characters? Because I do. So, so much. And I want to start The House of Hades pretty soon, because A) I want more of these characters, B) I guess House of Hades means lots of Nico, and C) that cliffhanger was brutal!

Favorite quotes:

“Hercules,huh? Percy frowned. “That guy was like the Starbucks of Ancient Greece. Everywhere you turn–there he is.”

“Like water leaking through a dam,” said Piper.
“Yeah,” smiled Percy. “We’ve got a dam hole.”
“What?” Piper asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “Inside joke.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “We’re together.” He didn’t say you’re okay, or we’re alive. After all they’d been through over the last year, he knew that the most important thing was that they were together. She loved him for saying that.”

“I could have killed you.”
“Or I could have killed you,” Percy said.
Jason shrugged. “If there’d been an ocean in Kansas, maybe.”
“I don’t need an ocean—”
“Boys,” Annabeth interrupted, “I’m sure you both would’ve been wonderful at killing each other. But right now, you need some rest.”
“Food first,” Percy said. “Please?”

“Aphros nodded, a glint of pride in his eyes. “We have trained all the famous mer-heroes! Name a famous mer-hero, and we have trained him or her!”
“Oh, sure,” Leo said. “Like…um, the Little Mermaid?”
Aphros frowned. “Who? No! Like Triton, Glaucus, Weissmuller, and Bill!”
“Oh. ”Leo had no idea who any of those people were. “You trained Bill? Impressive.”

Have you read The Mark of Athena? What did you think about it?