Book Review: Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena

                                   Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena Review

The Mark of Athena starts off pretty much where the last book ended with Annabeth, Jason, Piper and Leo arriving at Camp Jupiter in their warship with the Romans being ready to attack it. The group from Camp Half Blood are met with suspicion but it looks like an alliance could be formed between the two groups. It's agreed that Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Piper, Hazel, Leo and Frank will be the seven who go on the quest to Rome in order to defeat the giants and keep Gaea from raising. Leo ends up becoming possessed and then fires on Camp Jupiter which leads to Camp Jupiter declaring war on the seven and Camp Half Blood.

The book mainly deals with the journey to Rome with there being a whole of monsters to defeat along the way and there is a team being formed along the way since not everyone knows each other all that well at this point. It is revealed fairly early on that Nico Di Angelo who is Hazel's brother has been captured by twin giants and only has a few days left to live which is something that gives an even bigger sense of urgency when it comes to getting to Rome quickly.

 It's revealed that Annabeth will have to go on a quest of her own to save the mark of Athena once she gets to Rome and that her succeeding will lead to the Romans and the Greeks being able to work together but her failing will lead to her death. It's also made clear from pretty early on that Annabeth must go through with this quest alone.

Also in the book there is a subplot about how Leo looks just like his grandfather Sammy who Hazel was very close to in her first life and this leads to the two of them bonding a bit and a bit of tension between Leo and Frank. There's also plenty of romantic moments between Piper and Jason as well as Percy and Annabeth throughout the book that still fit with the overall plot rather than taking away from it.

Overall I loved this book I found it just as fun and action packed as the other books in this series. I found the characters to be enjoyable as always and I found many parts of the book to be funny as well. Please tell me your thoughts on this book or the series as a whole in the comment section below.