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A review by jomarie
The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
5.0
To start, I don’t know what Annabeth, the great strategist, was thinking showing up to a known army with less than a handful of demigods and a magic dragon ship. I know Camp Half-Blood usually only sends three people out on quests, but Mission: Rescue Percy is not a quest. Speaking of, when you show up out of the blue with an airship, I don’t blame the Romans for not liking the Greeks. Most interactions like that seem to be a declaration of war.
Looking at the interactions between the Greeks and the Romans, it seems to come down to different beliefs - individualistic versus collectivist. You can see how coming from a vast empire and now being tied to a permanent city versus a simple summer camp makes Romans more considerate of the majority versus “I can do this, so I will” sort of execution style of the Greeks.
One difference between the two camps concerning Annabeth was the matter of her parentage. It got brought up once, but in a way that stuck out to me. Annabeth is told the reason New Romans stare at her is not so much that she is Greek, but that her mom, Athena, is supposed to be a virgin Goddess. Annabeth had previously explained the same issue to Percy when they were younger, saying that she was a literal brainchild. Something along the lines of “Romans take vows of celibacy very seriously” is said and I just really wanted Annabeth to point out that Zeus is MARRIED, but Athena can’t like a man enough to think up a child? I didn’t want a total change of perspective, but I would’ve liked Reyna to commiserate with her about the misogynistic judgement. Instead, Annabeth feels like she’s a freak of nature, which just felt out of character for her.
Riordan begins to ask deeper questions of his characters in this book. One of the best questions Riordan asks is what is the limitations of a demigods’ power? Percy notes how Jason can fly but Thalia can’t. He theorizes it’s because she’s afraid of heights, which spells bad news for him as he begins to have a fear of drowning suffocation. We also see some deeper contemplation about what our heroes originally believed to be right and wrong. Being able to examine the grey area in the fight between good and evil elevates the story to a more mature place; it’s grown older the same way Percy has.
I related so much to Annabeth in the original series, so to get a book that more or less focused on her was extremely satisfying. She spent most, if not all, of Percy Jackson and the Olympians as part of Percy’s quests, but the search for the statue was one given to her alone and by her own mother, no less. Her journey underground was perfectly suited to her strengths. Someone else might read that as it all being too easy for her. Instead, I read it as putting her money where her mouth is; pride is her mortal flaw. I think it’ll be hard to tell her not to be proud of recovering the statue.
After establishing that both Greek and Roman gods are real in this universe and introducing the main characters of this series in the first two novels, I thought that was going to be the end of Riordan expanding the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Then, he ends The Mark of Athena on the most devastating cliffhanger that I’ve read in a while. Percy and Annabeth get cast into Tartarus.