The Mark of Athena

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (audio book)

The Heroes of Olympus series is now composed of three novels. The Lost Hero which I apparently LOVED! The Son of Neptune which I apparently loved eventually. And The Mark of Athena which I really wish I could like more. In the first book, I was wildly excited about all of the new characters. In the second book, I was mostly disappointed that the series had left Jason Grace, Roman demigod and son of Jupiter, and returned to Percy Jackson, Greek demigod and son of Poseidon/Neptune. But I was eager to hear that Jason was on his way!

Book three? Jason never arrived. That is not to say that he didn’t arrive at Camp Jupiter on a Grecian war trireme with three other powerful demigods. This he did! and raised the alarms at his one-time home. Unfortunately, Jason never seems to be anything more than a passenger on this new adventure ride across a nation, across an ocean, and to the old world. His powers come in handy, but his mind is never utilized.

The Mark of Athena is a story told in too many voices and NOT the one I was hoping for. Annabeth, daughter of Athena; Piper, daughter of Aphrodite; Leo, son of Hephaestus; and Percy each have the opportunity to tell their part in the story. This leaves three demigods of the Prophecy of Seven without a voice – Jason; Hazel, daughter of Pluto; and Frank, son of Mars. I am not upset about Hazel and Frank being left out in the dark. They left their mark in the last book. I happen to be interested in Jason from book one and there is nothing new to add here.

Of the four characters who carry the book and move the action forward, I prefer Leo and Annabeth. The title was an obvious giveaway of who would be the driving force here. Only a child of Athena is given the chance to follow the goddess’ Mark and then – only alone. Annabeth knew that her mother was acting oddly. She discovers that the Roman deity Athena was forced to become, Minerva, might hold the clue to joining the two warring Camps together. Athena’s role of warrior-goddess was taken from her. And Minerva would have no children. Athena has called upon her children to avenge her ever since.

But Leo is my favorite. I figure it is because he is the underdog and the seventh wheel. While he becomes almost immediately attracted to Hazel, he recognizes that she is attached to Frank and remains mostly respectful. Leo doesn’t engage in any of the sappy worrying that the other three voices carry on and on about. Will Percy/Jason be different? Will they still love me? Do they like someone else? Can I live without them? What if I cannot save them? What if they have to be sacrificed? What if I have to make a choice? Oh, teenagers, please!

No, Leo gets a lot of work done and mostly on his own while everyone else is more concerned with their love life. He discovers the lost spheres of Aristotle. He manages to unlock one of them on his own. He makes an enormous sacrifice to unlock a second one – sacrifice for another demigod without hope for reciprocity. And of course, there would be no Grecian trireme without his having built it and navigated it with a little inexperienced help now and again.
 
Speaking of help, my favorite part of the first book in the series was the gods. Unfortunately, the gods give little hints and even less help along the way. This is troubling because the demigods cannot hope to defeat Earth Mother Gaea without parental aid.  But there is still time. Before they can close Death’s Door, the seven must rescue Nico di Angelo son of Hades. He holds the answer to closing the Door, but he is due to die in seven days. So much talk of death! The titans and little gods are still the main obstacles at every turn and their main objective is to KILL!