JOHN HENRY'S BOOK REVIEW
THE MARK OF ATHENA
The Mark of Athena is a fictional book written by Rick Riordan, author also of the Percy Jackson series and the Kane Chronicles. This series is based off of Greek and Roman mythology.
The story starts at New Rome, the haven for Roman demigods, when a heavily-armed Greek trireme sails into the camp, bearing the Greek demigods Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, Jason Grace, and Piper McLean. When they land, it becomes clear they are in search of their friend, Percy Jackson, who was strangely abducted and sent to New Rome by the same person who stole Jason Grace and sent him to Camp Half-Blood.
They are successful, and everyone is happy. Until... One of the crew, Leo Valdez, fires on the Roman camp, effectively declaring war between the Greeks and the Romans. They escape with minor injuries, two of Jason's friends, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang, and of course Percy Jackson. When they interrogate Leo, he says he didn't do it on purpose, or rather he did but it was like he was watching himself do it, unable to do anything do anything to stop himself. However, they trust Leo and he is the only one who can pilot the trireme, the Argo II, named by Leo, the creator, so they put the strange occurrence aside and sail onward to Ancient Rome, in search of the Athena Parenthos, a large statue depicting Athena, that was stolen from the Greeks by the Romans centuries ago. Speed is of the essence, for it is only a matter of time before the Romans reach Camp Half-Blood and declare war.
With tensions rising between the two camps, they have almost forgotten that they have bigger problems on their hands. Gaea, the Earth goddess and her army of Giants are rising, and are preparing to walk on Olympus and destroy the Gods forever. In fact, two of these Giants are keeping Percy's friend captive, and he has only days left before he dies. In the midst of all this, Annabeth must face the ultimate challenge alone. She will have to battle the Mistress of the bitterest enemy of the children of Athena, to reclaim the Athena Parenthos, all while standing on the edge of Tartarus...
The Mark of Athena is a captivating story that held my interest from first page to last. This continuation of the Heroes of Olympus easily meets the bar set by his previous books. His style of writing is definite to please 8-13 year olds. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to any Rick Riordan fan. While serious, he always manages to squeeze humor into his books, and this is no exception. Although it was a bit mushy at the beginning, which I didn't like, as soon as I hit page 50, I couldn't put it down! I really hope you read this book! Thanks for reading!
-John Henry
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