The Mark of Athena
Ratings463
Average rating4.2
Just as good as Percy Jackson and the Olympians: danger around every corner, humorous, unforgettable characters and quests. 5 stars!
#3 melhor da série. Os combates são MUITO bons, ver todos eles se juntando também é muito mágico. Esperava mais da luta do Jason e do Percy, mas em geral é um ótimo livro!
THE best of the entire Percy Jackson saga yet. Incredible from start to finish. Can't wait to re read house of hades, which absolutely floored me reading at 12 years old
This is the book that brought it all together, and I think Riordan did an excellent job handling a much larger cast of characters without making it feel overwhelming.
Age range: 10+
Younger readers may find it a little scary.
“Percy was almost the same age now as Luke had been then.”
this whole book for various reasons summed up in an emoji:
I finally read this book, I don't know why it took so long to get to it, but it was great and now I'm anxiously awaiting the next one. Cliffhangers. More like cliff... not hanger.
Accion, batallas, aventuras, de verdad lleno de emociones este libro
i don't think i like annabeth as a character, so that's why i'm giving this three stars
I just can't.
I know it will probably get better later. I know I would have liked it better had I read it quickly when I started reading these books. I think I did read it, and liked it, like 10 years ago, or so. Right now I don't even care to go find out when it was published. I think I read it within 2 years from being published. I devoured the Camp Half-Blood books pretty much then.
Now, I can barely read a sentence without getting upset. I hate how Annabeth is suddenly a lovestruck puppy and jealous bitch, looking at a 13 years old kid as a romantic rival. I hate the misogyny, and Goddess hate. I hate how bullying unlikeable characters is supposed to be funny.
“You're letting these intruders into the camp?” A tall guy with stringy blond hair elbowed his way forward. “Reyna, the security risks—”
“We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian.” Reyna flashed him a stern look. “We'll eat here, in the forum.”
“Oh, much better,” Octavian grumbled. He seemed to be the only one who didn't defer to Reyna as his superior, despite the fact that he was scrawny and pale and for some reason had three teddy bears hanging from his belt. “You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship.”
“These are our guests.” Reyna clipped off every word. “We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely.”
“Good idea,” Percy put in. “Go burn your bears, Octavian.”
Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile.
this book was STRESSFUL. These characters never catch a break, it was making me exhausted
Soo... I didn't enjoy this much.
Fair warning, guys, this is going to be brutal.
I've never liked Annabeth. I had held out some hope that, finally getting into her head, would make me like her more. It didn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure it went the other way and made me like her less. That being said, I could see myself, possibly, liking her as a character if it wasn't for the romance. (Seriously, not every internal monologue needs to be based around romance and, yes, boys and girls can just be friends.)
Honestly, that might be my biggest issue with this book. Everyone is motivated by how in love they are with another person. Percy and Annabeth are obsessed with each other and Jason and Piper aren't much better. (I'm not even going to get started on the love triangle that is Leo/Hazel/Frank.)
Once again, this probably wouldn't be so bad if I actually shipped Percabeth. But I never did because they don't feel like a good couple. They have nothing in common and... Well:
Annabeth smirked, like she was pleased they were back in their old familiar pattern - Percy being ignorant, she herself explaining stuff.
...
This is the be-all-end-all romance that everyone obsesses over? No thank you. (Personally, I never thought their friendship should turn into romance because it never felt like it would be a healthy romance, but I was willing to overlook it in the first series because they were children. But now they are almost adults and this is showing signs of an unhealthy relationship.)
As for Jason and Piper... I'm still unsure about them. I'm leaning towards not shipping them, either because, once again, they don't fit.
In other thoughts:
I finally figured out what it is about these books, how I can buzz through them (usually) like I'm eating popcorn, only to feel a little empty - and maybe sick - at the end. These books never slow down. They are nonstop and, while sometimes very fun, they are also rather shallow.
That's part of the reason I tend to read them so fast. I race through them at the same speed they go, looking for that emotional payoff that I will never get. (Is this because they are MG books? Because the deaths in the first series left me feeling nothing. Much like the deaths in Harry Potter also left me feeling nothing.)
Also, as I discovered on this book, there is no internal motivation for me to keep reading. I put this book down for almost three full days (I only read like ten pages in that time) and I've only finished it now so it's not dragging out over my weekend.
Because The Kane Chronicles was a breath of fresh air, I am going to plow through this series to get to Magnus Chase in the hopes it will be the same as Carter and Sadie. But this book has dragged back down to my thoughts of the first PJ series: such indifference. Because this book is a retread of all the others in this series: prophecy, set out, attacked ad nauseam - with ‘jokes' that really weren't funny coming from twelve year olds and are even less funny from sixteen year olds and the absolutely lovely addition of romance woes.
Sigh.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. Nope.
I just realised something while reading this book. That the only couple that i really care is percabeth. The others, meh.
As the series continues i think it gets repetitive in terms of the quests. I mean.. it was fun but... well, they are demigods after all.
I really liked the overall plot and I honestly loved the Percy and Annabeth moments. The cliffhanger was amazing and I loved the inclusion of the Athena Parthenos and its disappearance.
Still weirded out that two 16 year old boys find a 13 year old girl hot. Like, I know 3 years isn't a big difference, but that's later when they're... 18-21 or whatever. When she's 13 I'm just ??? how can you find a 13 year old attractive? Doesn't even get fixed with her being 10x more mature than them both. That's literally why I didn't give it 5 stars. I felt uncomfortable with those scenes.
Part of the problem with series is that the middle pieces feel less than complete. That is true here.
