Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan Review

Where the previous books in the series have been funny, action packed and adventurous, The Mark of Athena does it infinitely better. This book has it all: character and relationship development, and action packed plot. Basically, this book was the bomb: 


The book picks up from where we were at The Son of Neptune . We finally, finally get to see Percybeth reunited an entertaining fashion (view spoiler). However, the reunion is cut short when, in typical demi-god style, not everything goes according to plan. Thus, within 20 pages of the book we already have some action!

After the mishaps (view spoiler), our heroes begin the quest. Told from four alternating perspectives, this book is all about the quest of sailing to the ancient land (ie. Rome) to find the Doors of Death. On the way, the characters go on mini-quests and then report back in the Argo II. 

In these mini-quests we really get a feel for the characters. The character development in this book was gold. Jason, who I've never really liked, gained my respect. Piper, who is cool but a damsel in distress changes our perception of her. Leo by default is awesome but in this book he becomes very relatable (view spoiler). Percy, who we think we know, we see from different angels that give us more understanding of him as a character. We really empathise with Hazel and Frank in their complicated situations. Despite all these good characters, Annabeth stole the show. She has always been brave and intelligent but in this book she really demonstrates just how brave and intelligent she is. Basically, if you didn't like certain characters before hand, you at the very least respect them by the end. And if you don't:

Just kidding. People are entitled to their own opinions. 

Talking about character development: relationship development. Percybeth in this book was different. Typically, they have a "lighthearted, awkward, teasing relationship." In this book we see Annabeth distance herself from everyone because she needs to be secretive. Percy is still the same but he develops a major fear and grows slightly weary of the hero life. As a result of the character changes, the relationship changes. I can see how people don't like these changes but I personally applaud them because it shows Percy and Annabeth are growing up and maturing. 


The other relationship which was developed was Jasper. You can see how they are sort of perfect for each other. On the other hand, I can see the issues with their relationship because:
1) Piper likes Jason for what she wants him to be
2) Jason is impassive. 


If you don't like the relationship and character development there is lots of action. We have our usual selection of monsters which our heroes fight them off with their God given powers. I particularly liked that the heroes didn't just try to brute force beat an opponent. If the other person was stronger, faster, or just genuinely better, the hero would use their intelligence to beat them. In this book you understand what that, "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." 

Finally, the plot in this book was... different. Generally, Riordan's plots are formulamatic: Hero receives a prophecy and completes it (albeit, not according to plan and just in time). InThe Mark of Athena there are three prophecies which are stated in a slightly confusing fashion which makes it hard for you as the reader to really grasp all of them (although, I did read this at 12 am - my brain wasn't functioning at it's potential). Despite this, we do know that there is a basic plot: find the Doors of Death. It could be argued that that is really all we need. 

To summarise, this book was good like the get-off-your-butt-and-go-buy-a-copy, page turning, this-should-be-more-popular good!