Books: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Another mythology novel! Actually, after reading The Song of Achilles, I've been reading another book... Essays in Love by Alain the Botton. But suddenly September become such a storm in my work life and I hardly find a proper time to read the book. By the time October rolls, The Mark of Athena is released and honestly, I prioritize to read this book first because, well, I can finish it in a very short time, like... 8 hours straight.

The Percy Jackson series target the teenager audience and it is feel every bit teenager as a teenager book should be. For those who are following the the Heroes of Olympus series, we already know that the first two books (The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune) set as the introductory stories that led to the quest in The Mark of Athena. This is when finally two-powerful culture entity collide, different value clash and loyalty tested. 

Starting in the very moment after Percy Jackson raise as praetor in the previous book, the ship Argo II sail from Half Blood Hill and arrive at New Rome with diplomatic mission, to unite Greek and Roman and fulfill the New Great Prophecy/Prophecy of Seven.

The highlight of this book is Percy and Annabeth together again! I love it for that. I love how the author intensify the bonding between Percy and Annabeth, and how importance that development to the flow of the story. The scene when Percy and Annabeth meet the first time in New Rome after months of separation is every bit as I imagine it could be. Annabeth reaction is so good but not unexpected judging by how she and Percy relationship like. 

Annabeth has the hardest path in this story. Bearing a personal quest that has been trusted to the children of Athena for centuries, bring Athena back home. Putting the transformation conflict between Athena's Greek personality to Roman's Minerva as the main driver of the story is brilliant. It means that the author also understand the conflict that once happened eons ago. The story develop more adult and serious vibe because of it, and it also lead to the key to end the Greek-Roman feud.

On the not so nice side, there are 7 POVs in this book, and honestly, it's too crowded. I like the 'Percy Jackson and The Olympians' format much better (with just one POV - Percy), 3 is fine, but 7? it's quite confusing and the emotional exploration of each character feel a little bit so-so. 

I'm also hope that there are some personality/morality clash between Percy and Jason, to think that they are very powerful demigod and a leader from different spectrum of culture. But the main ripple of the group is more like 'love-line' problem between Frank-Hazel-Leo which I found a little bit boring. I love the bromance and competition-to-protect between Percy and Jason, but still, having their bonding so smooth is quite a disappointment for me to think that Percy even had quite a clash with his sister Thalia in The Titan's Curse before.

In my conclusion, this is a better development than the previous 2 books in the series. It set another path to more complicated task ahead and ultimately to the main issue, fulfilling the prophecy. Rick Riordan has stated in his website that the next book will be released at fall next year and the title will be 'The House of Hades'. There are 2 children of Hades/Pluto in this story, and the fact that the story is about the Door of Death, I think it will be interesting. More truth to come in the next book and I'm really looking forward to it.