Daniel Yang

Daniel Yang
The Mark of Athena
Rick Riordan
Fantasy
Just Right
151

1. I am currently reading, The Mark of Athena, by Rick Riordan. At the moment, the seven children of the prophecy (Jason Grace, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang) are trying to unite the Greek and Roman camps to stop the Titans from taking over the world. But they are trying to escape the Roman half-blood (demigod or half human - half God) camp since Eidolons took over Leo's body, causing him to fire at the Roman camp with cannons. Eidolons are spirits sent by Gaea (Greek God of "Earth" - which is evil and one of the main antagonists) to take over bodies causing them to unwillingly do evil actions. The Romans were already on their toes before the Greeks arrived to greet them; they had even thought the Greeks were hostile when they came so having them attack leaves them with no intention to work together. They do not know what Eidolons are and will not believe them with what evidence they have now. The Romans' Augur (religious priest), Octavian, keeps stirring them up due to the fact that he was the one who least liked the Greeks. It is a known fact that Greeks and Romans never get along. The Greeks especially know this so they seek out the help of Bacchus, the God of Wine (or Dionysus in Greek) since it was mentioned that he is able to help in one of the many prophecies uttered by Oracles (priest/priestess-like figures that inform heroes with prophecies that act like a poem and guides them through their quests). The seven children have many things to worry about including keeping a safe distance from the Greeks, not being attacked by Gaea and her forces, and trying to locate the Gods that will help them solve their problems.

2. This is a sequel to my absolute favorite series and is just as good so far as I had expected it to be. The creativity the characters obtain intrigues me which keeps me entertained and unable to release the book out of my tight grasp. It also helps them solve problems that surprises me greatly since I would have never thought what they did would work or would even come into my mind as an idea. The author, Rick Riordan, succeeds yet again to hook me onto his book like chewed gum on the bottom of a shoe. The detailed and complicated traits he puts into the characters will never stop in its tracks to keep me reading. Each child of the prophecy have their own unique traits that pull me in. I admire the fact that Riordan even puts a decent amount of negative traits in the protagonists such as stubbornness and trouble-making so they won't be "perfect". The author also puts an ample amount of humorous or positive traits such as sillyness, passion, heroic qualities, joke-making, strength, persistence; which is just the beginning of the numerous qualities Riordan puts into these figures. The plot is surprising, and at times unpredictable. This makes me think that there will always be something new and creates an objective for me to read until the problem is solved, thus making it painful for me to put this fantastic book down for another time to read.

3. The theme, in my opinion, is teamwork. Although the demigods have a hard time doing this, they do their best to stop at nothing to bring together the Romans and Greeks and finish their quest, saving the world. Teamwork appears in both characters and in the plot because the seven children know that they must work together in order to stop Gaea. Some of them are Roman and the others are Greek, yet they still work together to bring the rest of the Roman and Greeks together along with their camps to finish their quest. In the plot, it is impossible for a Titan ("Gods" of the Gods) to be killed unless a demigod and a God work together to do so, which happens in The Son of Neptune, the prequel to The Mark of Athena when Percy works together with Terminus, the God of Borders, to kill one of the antagonists, which was a Titan. Now the Gods and demigods must do this once again to stop Gaea and her children, the Titans.

4. My favorite character is Percy Jackson. He is very silly, makes trouble, yet heroic, brave, and strong. He has been in the series since day one. He has an amazing power which is to control water and interact with anything that his father, Poseidon - God of the Ocean (one of the three main gods), controls. These abilities help Percy talk with horses (since Poseidon created horses), heal any wound with water, breath in water, talk with sea creatures, control sea creatures, and control water. Percy has the greatest amount of abilities out of the seven children which gives him a wider variety of fighting styles and options.

5. My least favorite character is Octavian. Although he has a fantastic name, one of the main reasons that it is so hard to convince the Romans that the Greeks are on their side and trying to work together is because of Octavian. He stirs up the whole camp making them anxious and hungry for revenge, even though some of the leaders of the camp are trying to calm them down and convince them to trust the Greeks again. He also cuts open stuffed-animals for prophecies (I like that trait but it's still awkward) and carries them around with him which, to me, makes him seem like a spoiled brat who still sleeps with the stuffed-animals that which he had obtained ever since he was just a baby. Ever since The Son of Neptune, he has always been trying to get dirt on the Greeks and causing the Romans to not trust them. These qualities make Octavian a distasteful character and almost makes him look like one of the antagonists.

6. The book is very unpredictable but while I was writing the very last sentence of my least favorite character, Octavian, a prediction came to me. I think that the Eidolons will take over Octavian's body and cause him to attempt killing the Greeks or make the Romans even angrier at the Greeks. I think that the Romans will figure out that something is wrong but don't know what because they do not know what Eidolons are since the seven main characters have not yet explained to them what Eidolons are. After figuring out what has been up with Octavian, I think that the Romans will try to attack him, but with the Eidolons skill in fighting, they will not be able to pin him down and strip Octavian of the evil spirit inside him. But finally, I think that the seven children will come along to help the Romans save Octavian, thus creating a thin, but worthy trust between the camps allowing them to work together.