The Mark of Athena

The Heroes of Olympus, Book 3

By: Rick Riordan

Narrated by: Joshua Swanson

Annabeth is terrified. Just when she’s about to be reunited with Percy—after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera—it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can’t blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. With its steaming bronze dragon figurehead, Leo’s fantastical creation doesn’t appear friendly. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.

And that’s only one of her worries. In her pocket, Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving command: Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find—and close—the Doors of Death. What more does Athena want from her?

Annabeth’s biggest fear, though, is that Percy might have changed. What if he’s now attached to Roman ways? Does he still need his old friends? As the daughter of the goddess of war and wisdom, Annabeth knows she was born to be a leader—but never again does she want to be without Seaweed Brain by her side.

Well done continuation of this fantasy series

This is the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Riordan. As with all of Riordan’s book he follows his normal formula. The story is well done and entertaining; although with all the different characters we are following now things get a bit drawn out.

I listened to this on audiobook and, like the previous two audiobooks in this series, this one was very well done. The narrator does a good job of keeping all of the voices straight...and there are a ton of voices to keep straight.

Finally the two groups of Demi-gods meet. The meeting results in our group of heroes, basically the groups from the first two books, joining forces and journeying to Rome to confront some giants. Additionally Annabeth is told by her mother Athena to follow the Mark of Athena, which also takes them to Rome....but leads Annabeth on a solo quest. The fight against Gaia continues.

Great continuation of this series. There is a lot of action and adventure and some great monsters just like in previous books. We even get to meet Hercules/Heracles. This story follows the same formula as previous ones...the heroes leave on a desperate quest to save the world, then find out they only have seven days to complete their mission. They fight monsters, journey, fight tougher monsters, journey, and then fight the big baddie at the end.

The story gets a bit drawn out because it's following seven different characters and we hear from all of their different points of view. It's just a lot of characters to try and stay engaged with. It ends up making for a long story. The characters are pretty easy to distinguish between; Riordan has done a good job of giving them all outstanding characteristics.

Despite the multitude of characters the story never gets confusing though and moves at a fast pace. The majority of the story is about these characters learning each others secrets and learning to trust each other. Of course they are also trying to prevent Gaia from ending the world.

My favorite part was Annabeth’s solo quest to follow the Mark of Athena, I love her character and she confronts some truly creepy things.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found it entertaining. These books are formulaic but also fast-paced and engaging. I look forward to the Doors of Hades when it comes out later this fall. Recommended to those who enjoy fantasy/adventure reads...or who have enjoyed previous Riordan books.

Another Solid Story in the Heroes of Olympus Serie

I continue to find great joy in Rick Riordan's books. The Heroes of Olympus series builds significantly on his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In this third book, the demigods of Camp Halfblood must join forces with the demigods of Camp Jupiter on a world-wide quest. The Greeks and the Romans must work together, which is no small task as they were not even aware of each other! Moreover, an incident in the beginning of the book causes war to break out between the Greeks and Romans. Seven demigods (from both camps) are chosen for this quest: Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, and Leo. In this quest, the demigods work to fight the rise of Gaea and save Nico di Angelo. In addition, Annabeth must go on her own quest to follow the Mark of Athena in the hope of finding and saving the Athena Parthenos. It is believed that this statue will help bring peace to both the Greeks and Romans by uniting Athena with her Roman form, Minerva.

There is a lot going on in this story, and it takes the characters all over the United States, across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and on to Rome. In the past, I have frequently given Riordan's books five stars. I'm giving this one only four stars for one main reason: the number of characters is starting to get a bit challenging because its not always easy to remember who is Greek and who is Roman. In addition, the relationships between and among the demigods are becoming rather complex. The only way I could remember which demigod was which was by thinking about who he or she was dating--or not dating. In some ways, this caused the book to slip a bit into the teen romance genre, which is not what I enjoy about the series. While I understand it's a common part of growing up, I am hopeful that there will be just a bit less emphasis on it in subsequent books in the series.

So Much Better

Have you listened to any of Joshua Swanson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

When we started this series, we did not enjoy Joshua Swanson's narration. He has improved so much over the three books. I know part of it is getting used to a different person but really, with each book he has gotten stronger. I have read that they changed the narrator for the next book and we don't want to buy it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The book is too long to listen to in one sitting. We listen while we drive all over Singapore. (Which is very small but we drive a lot.)

Any additional comments?

Please quite changing narrators.

Voices of characters were... Funky

I have loved this book since it was originally released in 2012. Sadly, the narrator's vocal choices made me cringe through most of the audiobook. While I know it is impossible to have them sound the way they did in my head when I read it... Percy sounded like a surfer dude. Leo like a garden gnome... Hazel needed more of a authentic southern accent... Eh. The book and story is still amazing but....

Loved the story but not the narrator

Where does The Mark of Athena rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

5/5 right next to House of Hades

Has The Mark of Athena turned you off from other books in this genre?

No it has not

What about Joshua Swanson’s performance did you like?

I persons.lay do not like the voice for this type of book. I prefer Jesse Berenstien

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Kind of