Oh Look, One of the Best Books of All Time Just Came Out.

The Mark of Athena

By Rick Riordan

Of all the books to review, I chose this one; the third book of a second series.
Last week Rick Riordan's new book came out. Honestly, I don’t know how I survived the wait. His latest book, The Mark of Athena, is the third book of the Heroes of Olympus series, which in turn is a follow-on from the Percy Jackson Series.

It’s hard enough to write really good sequels - there are a lot of crappy sequels out there - so maintaining a five-book series is hard enough. Adding a second series? Normally I hate second series. Normally I despise them with a passion. I find them uninteresting, just trying to cash in on the success of the previous series. But who am I kidding? Rick Riordan wrote this series; of course it’s going to be awesome!

This series picks up where the final Percy Jackson book left off, but with new characters and locations. The first book in this series - The Lost Hero - is narrated from the perspective of three demigods, one Roman, two Greeks. The second book - The Son of Neptune - is the other way round, one Greek, two Romans. The third, Mark of Athena, is narrated from the perspectives of four demigods, including Annabeth and Percy from the previous series. But this isn’t Percy Jackson mark 2; this is an entirely new series, with amnesia, heroes with baseball bats and ballerina giants. (Seriously, how cool does that sound?)

The Mark of Athena lived up to my expectations in every aspect. So far I think it's the funniest of the series. In the first book I think Riordan was experimenting with the series, and in the second book he's settling in, but by Mark of Athena, he's well and truly settled. The group dynamics work  especially well in this book, and I'm not really sure if I can hold out until fall next year for the next installment...

One of Riordan’s gifts is to write believable dialogue, a lot of books are ruined by the fact that the teenagers just don’t sound like teenagers, and I think part of what makes his books work so well is that you believe the dialogue.

His other gift is his humour. Rick Riordan’s books are hilarious, but the humour really ramps up in this series, and not just more jokes, each character has his or her own personal brand of humour. Also the fight scenes are getting - for want of a better and more grammatically correct phrase - even awesomer. I have to say that this is probably Riordan’s best series yet. The only criticism I have is that the romance could do with a bit more depth; however, I get that that would completely change the audience of the series.

So, general conclusion? Awesome!

Feisty chick-o-meter: 10/10
Age rating: 12+
Rating: 10/10
Stand alone or series: Honestly, this is the mother of all series

The House of Hades is coming out in a year...Not that anyone's counting...