Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsAnnabeth is a little more tolerable than she used to be, but still pretty useless.
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2022
Rating system:
1 star = did not like
2 star = it was okay
3 star = liked it
4 star = really liked it
5 star = it was amazing
3.5/5
This one had a lot going on. The various perspectives became extra important because three separate missions were going on at one point. The group often breaks up into three separate groups to get things done throughout the book, whether the tasks are big or small.
I was concerned going in that I might not like this one because of Annabeth being a main focus, you know, with it being called The Mark of Athena. Annabeth's personality seemed milder, and just nicer in general. I found her story arc anticlimactic. I was expecting more from it. Her task was built up so much that I was expecting it to be lengthier and harder than what it turned out to be. I felt similarly about the quest she led in the Percy Jackson series. Her parts of the story just don't seem like much to me, and she always seems useless, like Sakura from Naruto. I'm just glad she's gotten more tolerable. I liked all the other characters' parts a lot more.
A large chunk of the story starting out covers the group struggling to mesh while on the ship and doing side quests. That was nice, it made it feel more real, because they didn't all just instantly get along. For a minute I saw some Zeus vs. Poseidon rivalry with Jason and Percy rearing it's head and I wondered if it was going to be a thing.
Piper's thoughts about Percy were kind of funny. I think she's the first person to describe him in the way she does, and it's not exactly flattering.
Major cliff hanger warning. I opened the next one and the dedication is literally Rick Riordan laughing about the cliff hanger from this book. So, be warned, maybe make sure you have the next book ready to go.
