The Mark of Athena book review

Posted by Lauren Thomas on

The Mark of Athena is the third installment in the Heroes of Olympus series written by Rick Riordan. The Heroes of a Olympus is a continuation of Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. It takes place about six months after the final Titan War in The Last Olympian, book five of Percy Jackson. Rick was an english teacher who started Percy as a bedtime story for his dyslexic child. Percy and all the demigods are dyslexic and have a form of ADHD, making the story some-what realistic and relatable - a fictional world to escape to. 


To understand the concepts of The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune and The Mark of Athena (the books in The Heroes of Olympus series) it is almost imperative to read the Percy Jackson books. The series is about children who are half mortal and half god: a demigod. Any god or goddess has the ability to create offspring with a human. The godly parent does contribute some traits that goes towards the child’s physical features; however, there is much more unseen, such as special talents and powers. Poseidon, the Greek god of the seas, is Percy’s father; therefore, Percy has black hair and blue eyes - traits he shares with his father. Percy also can breathe under water along with controlling it. Each child has specific abilities depending on their godly parent.


In The Mark of Athena, the seven children of the prophecy, both Greek and Roman, must unite to stop Gaea from not only destroying Olympus, but also the world. The demigods embark on a journey that starts in the western United States and ends in Rome. The purpose of going to Rome is to save the Athena Parthenos which will aid the seven in uniting the Roman and Greek gods and demigods. The four separate worlds must work together to save the world from Gaea destroying it. The only people who are allowed to find the Athena Parthenos are children of Athena. Athena chooses a few of her daughters or sons at a time to find the statue but they always went missing. 


The children of the prophecy are either Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon; Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena; Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite; and Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, are all from the Greek Camp Half-Blood. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter; Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto; and Frank Zhang, son of Mars, are from the Roman Camp Jupiter. My favorite character in the book is Percy. Percy can breathe underwater, but he has a fear of suffocation. This shows that no matter how strong you are, you have a weakness and Percy knows about his weakness and he accepts it. Percy’s fatal flaw is personal loyalty, which means he would sacrifice the world to save the people close to him. Percy Jackson is a character I can relate to, which is another realistic aspect of Riordan’s books. 


This is a great, well-written book and Riordan’s writing abilities have matured. I have read all the books Riordan has written and you can tell he has improved. The Mark of Athena has an interesting plot and sub-plots which keeps the book structured. I enjoy reading the book from different character’s points of view as well. Reading from the different view points allows you to look deeper into a character’s personality and you’re even able to view their weaknesses and what keeps them grounded. I felt there is some holes in the book when switching between the points of view, but they are subtle. If I had the ability, I don’t think I would change anything in this book. I love Rick Riordan’s book and I look forward to the fourth book in the Heroes of Olympus series, The House of Hades. 


Ultimately, I would recommend this book to other people. I started reading Percy Jackson in fourth grade and I loved Greek Mythology, so this book was great for me. However, you don’t have to have a love of mythology to read these books. The Mark of Athena is adventurous, suspenseful, and humorous. The plot lines and character interactions are great and well established which makes this book a great read. You don’t need a knowledge of mythology to enjoy this book. You can even learn a lot of mythology from just these books! 


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SAM_2289

For the creative portion:

I decided to create a canvas painting on the seven children of the prophecy. Because the main reason of the Mark of Athena is to unite all four worlds - demigod, god, Roman and Greek - I decided to unite them in my painting. I painted each character and their parent in a person-shaped totem. Here is a description of each totem, left to right, and why it is symbolized that way:

 

The Greeks

  • Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, and her daughter Piper. Pink and a dove are some of the things associated with the goddess Aphrodite. 
  • Hephaestus, the god of metalworking, masonry and fire, and his son Leo. I used the hues of fire and a tool to depict the two.
  • Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and her daughter Annabeth. I used the three items found on the Mark of Athena coin which is what Athena gave to Annabeth.
  • Poseidon, the god of the sea and earthquakes, and his son Percy. I used the hues of the ocean, waves and a triton, which are all things associated with Percy and Poseidon. 


The Romans

  • Jupiter, the of the sky and thunder, and his son Jason. I used thunderclouds and thunderbolts to symbolize them.
  • Pluto, the ruler of the underworld and god of precious metals and gems, and his daughter Hazel. Because Hazel has the talent to sense precious metals and summon them, I used them on their totem along with a skull to symbolize death.
  • Mars, the god of war, and his son Frank. I used weapons to symbolize the two, especially the bow and arrow because that is what Frank is trained to use. 


I painted the background as green and brown tones because they represent Gaea, their main foe. What I wrote on the canvas says “Greek & Roman, demigod & god... must unite.”


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