The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, #3)

by Rick Riordan

[thepunktheory]

As always: I absolutely adore Rick Riordan's mix of Greek and Roman mythology with modern themes. Although I already read a bunch of books on that matter, he manages to come up with something new every time!
And how he does it! I really thought that after the Amazons and Iris with her ROFL-store I couldn't get nay better. However, Riordan surprised me again. You should know that in total this book is a bit darker and not as funny as the other installments. But don't worry, there will still be some parts that make you smile, I promise ;-)
Furthermore, we also encounter many place across the world and Riordan simply weaves them perfectly into his modern mythology plot-lines.
What I really like about The Mark of Athena is that each character gets more responsibility and acts independently. I feel like there are more solo or small group mission. Especially Annabeth's very own challenge was super thrilling. I held my breath the entire time!
Another important point I love about Riordan's books is that his characters are not too stereotypical. This is a problem I often have with YA novels, but Riordan does well! This brings me to another point that really annoys me about many YA stuff: love stories. YA in general seems to have a tendency to slowly drift towards a romance loaded plot that simply is not interesting to me anymore and I get super upset that the story strays so much from the initial starting point. However, even when Riordan introduces some love story aspect, he handles it perfectly. He gives it exactly the right amount of space to develop and become deep and meaningful without losing the focus!

Summing up I can only say that The Mark of Athena is as brilliant as the other books in the Heroes of Olympus series! Go check it out!