I'm done with The Mark of Athena!
All I can say is, wow.
This book was intense. I was completely blown away by the epicness of it, the twists and turns, the characters, the relationships, and the storyline. And of course the heartwrenching cliffhanger ending (which unfortunately I scim-read even before I was done with the book. A fault of mine I can't seem to control).
The Mark of Athena delivered everything we've been waiting for, and then some. Let me point out my favorite/not favorite moments and things I would love to comment about. SPOILER ALERT!
1. The Percabeth reunion and moments throughout the book were sooo cute! I mean so cute! They didn't conflict with the storyline. They added to the characters and made the story stronger. Let me just say that I am more sure than ever before that the two of them are absolutely perfect together, and still remain my favorite book couple of all time. Every time they kissed, held hands, hugged, thought about each other, talked, or looked into each others' eyes there was an inner chorus of "Ahh!" inside my head.
The reunion was perfect. I loved how they were ecstatic to see each other and were just content to be together again, despite all the hardships they face. Of course, the time they sneak out and talk in the stables of the ship was so adorable. When they talked about how long they've been friends together (since they were 12) it was just such a cute conversation. It made me realize how long we've known them and how far they've come.
And the ending...heartwrenching. But again it was so adorable because they really seem to genuinely love each other and wanted more than anything else to just be together-no matter where they were. Percy wouldn't let Annabeth go, despite her telling him selflessly to save himself. They fell into Tartarus together! But to Rick Riordan's credit, he let them remain together.
2. I'm going to describe the lovely things I want to say about each character. First of all, Jason Grace. I'll admit, I didn't necessarily like him that much in The Lost Hero. Not so much as I didn't like him, as he didn't seem that interesting. But after this book, it's impossible to not like any of the 7 demigods in my opinion. I like his level-headedness and his ability to help others remain calm. He's without a doubt a natural leader and good friend. I enjoyed his character development in having self-doubt and realizing that he doesn't have to be the main leader all the time anymore. The 7 are there to help each other and balance each other out. He starts to realize this.
3. Piper Mclean. I like her a lot more in this book too. I love that she's a daughter of Aphrodite and is self-concious. I love how down-to-earth she is, and how she is so friend-oriented. She seems really talented on knowing what the others are feeling and how to help them feel better. I love that she always goes back to her father and grandfather's Native American bedtime stories to help her solve problems. Her charm speak is pretty cool and saves everybody quite a bit in this book. I didn't realize that she and Annabeth had become so good of friends in between books, but I'm glad that they did. She's gaining more self-confidence and honing her abilities. She's seeing her value. I like her and Jason together. They compliment each other well.
3. Leo Valdez= awesome. I may have developed a crush on him in this book, and I like him way more than in the previous book. Poor Leo and his girl problems. He deserves a good one. I like that Nemesis mentioned that he is the "odd man out." I noticed the same thing about him. He fits in better with machines than people, but he desperately wants to fit in and belong with his friends. He takes the news hard, but he hides it and moves on. He develops more emotional instensity and maturity in this book. He saves everyone multiple times. He's hilariously funny as usual. I like his relationship with Hazel and Frank. It's going to be interesting for sure.
4. Frank Zhang. I love this guy, he's a big "teddy bear." I got caught up in the Hazel, Leo, Frank love triangle/problems. I can understand Frank's resentment, but I wish he and Leo got along better. I think they were headed that direction near the end of the book. He can turn into some epic animals, and he was hilarious in some transformations. Namely the goldfish and iguana incidents. I like the moment he and Leo connected with the deaths of their moms. I think he became more confident in some ways, and less so in others. He's conflicted. He's worried about Leo's fire abilities, and his relationship with Hazel. I loved how he went to Annabeth for advice, and gave her some of his own. He needs to gain more confidence, and he will be a strong force to contend with.
5. Hazel Levesque. I love her, she's adorable. I view her as the "little sister" of the group (as she is the youngest). She is also really conflicted in this book. She's confused over Frank and Leo, and I think she's mad at Leo for confusing her (I think she may have realized she might like him too). She's worried sick about her brother Nico. She takes a step back in self-confidence in some ways, but gains more in others, like Frank did as well. I like the moment she confronts Jason, telling him how he should step up because she expected more of him, and she looks up to him. It made me realize that she really is the youngest in the group, and looks up to the others.
6. Percy Jackson. Where do I begin with him? I still have a crush on him as always, even more than I did before. He really had major character development in this book. He became more serious, more seasoned, more sad. He definitely upped his maturity level, and even came across as being smarter. He feels like he and Annabeth deserve a break. As Cassidy Tucker said, the youtube blogger I mentioned in the previous post and who I will post here again, "he's getting tired." He's very protective of his friends, particularly of Annabeth. You can really see how his fatal flaw is being affected in this book. He has become gentler, more prone to sensing the feelings of Annabeth and the others. I love his "bromance" with Jason. I had hoped the two would get along and they showed that they could, even if they had a hard time sometimes. They are really similiar in a lot of ways, and different in others. I appreciate his phobia of "drowning." As horrible as it is, I really like this character flaw. It shows he has a big weakness, despite his awesome strengths.
7. Annabeth Chase. Where do I begin with her? This is the first POV we've ever had of her (about time, it was really exciting), so we got to see her character development from her view for the first time. This is also the first time she's been a main character since The Last Olympian so we can really so how far she's come since then. She's just awesome! She completely blew me away more than any other character in this book. She was smarter, braver, funnier, gentler, and more epic than I realized she was (and I already loved her to death, so that's saying something). I love how much she absolutely adores Percy and vice versa. It's nice to see their relationship from her POV, and realize without a doubt that their love is mutual. Was I the only one who squealed when she talked about liking Percy from forever, and when she said twice that she "loved him?" Her Mark of Athena solo quest was epic, and her keeping that inside her for so long just proved how brave and selfless she is. I really understood her phobia of spiders, and really felt so sorry for the 7 year old girl hiding in the covers at home from the attacking spiders. And her facing Arachne? She's so brave. I liked her relationships with Piper, Hazel, Leo, and Frank and her growing respect of Jason. She had matured and become so much gentler than she was the past series. I think her seperation with Percy helped her to appreciate the time spent together more, both with him and the others. I loved how she talked to Frank and I think their friendship is adorable. She became a less "stick-in-the-mud" and learned how to laugh more and have more fun.
8. The shared memories of Hazel and Leo was awesome! It was emotional and helped us finally understand the connection. Sammy is Leo's great-grandfather, and I thought it was cool that Sammy never forgot Hazel, somehow knew that Leo would meet her, and told him to look after her. It was so sweet, and that provides a cute connection between Leo and Hazel. I'm excited to see it from her POV in the next book (which I'm guessing we will).
9. I really, really liked Reyna a lot in this book. The poor girl is so conflicted with both the Romans and Greeks, her responsibilities, and her emotions. She deserves a big hug and she really deserves a good man.
Ok that's all I can think of, sorry it's so long but I really loved this book! Totally recommend. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best, I would definitely give it a 5! Well done Mr. Riordan!
No comments:
Post a Comment