The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (So Beyond Awesome)

I've been excited for this book to come out for about a week more than a year.  It didn't disappoint.  In fact, I think it's my favorite book by Rick Riordan so far.  If you haven't read any of the previous books in this series before, then you are in the wrong place.  Without further ado, the cover:

 

 

It shows Percy fighting Jason with the owl, the mark of Athena, in the background.  It's an amazing cover, even if it ended up not being what I expected it would be.

 

Description:  The Argo 2 sets sail for Rome with the seven demigods on it... and a slightly violent satyr as supervisor.  While they wind their way to Rome, a feud rises between the two camps.  Annabeth is charged with the important, yet impossible task of following the mark of Athena, which has the slightest chance of bringing peace to the camps.  With monsters, ballerina-wanna-be giants, and Diet Coke-drinking gods appearing everywhere, getting to Rome might be even harder than expected.

 

This was the most amazing story that I've read in at least two years.  It was suspenseful and sweet and sort of sad and amazing and so much more.  I actually laughed out loud way too many times to count.  This was the most hilarious, touching, and exciting of all of Rick Riordan's books so far.  It was SO amazing!

 

The next book, is The House of Hades.  The title's meaning you can guess once you finish reading it.

 

You may know how there was supposed to be a cliffhanger at the end and a part that Rick "got teary-eyed" writing.  I know now without a doubt what he was talking about.  It was so freaking sweet!  The whole second to last chapter has replayed in my mind so many times since I finished reading it.  About five minutes after I finished the book, I started crying because the ending was just so so so sweet.  You'll see what I mean.

 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who lives.  Seriously, go read it.  Read the rest of the series first and then read it.

 

On a kinda-sorta related note, I saw Rick Riordan in Charlotte, NC yesterday.  That was super exciting and I listened to him talk about everything.  I made a couple of friends with the people around me and got to be in the third row, so that was awesome.  For the record, he didn't mean for The Mark of Athena to age in its maturity level.  And I officially love his "British" accent.

 

 But, I didn't have a chance to ask my question, so if you are going to one of the events and want to ask a question but don't have one, try to ask this.  "What monster did you feel the most evil about sending after the characters?"  I bet there's a good answer to this.  Write in the comments if you do and please tell me what he said.

 

Sorry that I've been so late, lately.  I'm going to try to post a lot to make up for all of the books on my to review list, soon.

 

PS I'd love to talk about Mark of Athena with basically anyone.  Please, please comment because I don't know anyone else who has finished and I really want to talk about it! 

 

Thanks for reading!