32 ratings (4.00 avg)
1 review

Ariel

Add friend

Ariel’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (0)

currently-reading‎ (1)

read‎ (32)

Stats | More…

Ariel is Currently Reading

Ariel is currently reading

The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus, #3)

by Rick Riordan (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Ariel said: " The Mark of Athena, the third book of the Heroes of Olympus, is an overpraised book, along with the other Rick Riordan books because of its liberal ethics, drab storyline, and uninteresting characters.
The Mark of Athena takes place in current times. The Mark of Athena, the third book of the Heroes of Olympus, is an overpraised book, along with the other Rick Riordan books because of its liberal ethics, drab storyline, and uninteresting characters.
The Mark of Athena takes place in current times. The plot takes place all over the globe and the characters are a mix of humans and ancient deities. The seven main characters in the Heroes of Olympus are Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and Piper. They are all on a quest to stop the evil deity Gaea from rising, as well as to defeat her children: the Giants. In the book Gaea is trying to take over the world, and wants to shape it in her and her children’s image. I personally challenge the author’s assumption that Gaea’s power is a negative force. After all, classically, Gaea is mother earth, who is the life-bearer, responsible for all living things. While an entire series has been written about an oddly long quest to stop Mother Earth, I had a hard time relating because there are far more realistic scenarios and evil forces that threaten our world.
As the plot unfolded, I could clearly see that the author was pushing his world view, which appears to represent the most common liberal beliefs. He is shoving a liberal agenda unto the plot, even when these views made no sense what-so-ever. The characters made questionable choices, and were more concerned with “fairness” than they were with the task of global salvation. I find that quite odd and naïve. In the modern world, would you allow serial killers to roam free simply so you would not infringe on their freedom? Not to mention that the characters in the book are supposedly attempting to save the world, and there is too much at stake to allow a single slip up, although in the book, slip ups for the sake of fairness are a common occurrence.
Perhaps because this book is a part of a series, it does not reach a conclusive resolution. Rather, the book ends in a way that is meant to entice the reader to purchase the additional books Mr. Riordan will add to the series in the future. As such, the characters manage save Hazel’s brother Nico, but still allow Gaea (supposedly the evil spirit that threatens the world) to roam free. While interesting, this was not a part of the quest, the goals or the all-important mission of saving the world.
From a literary perspective, the flow and character development were not smooth. I had a hard time relating to the characters and to their choices. The plot is also simplistic because it did not portray the journey with enough detail and complexity to grab my attention and to earn credibility as realistic. The author was unwilling to tackle the complex choices real- life heroes have to make, and the painful sacrifices that these choices often involve. Instead, the author pushed his personal agenda by focusing the plot on making “fair choices’ and on being “fair” in general
For the reasons I mentioned above, I would not recommend The Mark of Athena for Middle School or High School students. I would however, recommend this book for third to fifth grade students because I do not think that these young minds are ready to learn about issues such as radical Islam, and global warming. I would read this book to a younger child to teach them values. But, I firmly believe that the mind of the older student have already assimilated these values, and are ready to tackle more complex moral challenges with an understanding that the world has many gray shades and is not made of black and white. ...more "

Nov 26, 2012 02:45PM · see review