Tag Archives: urban fantasy

Book Review: The Heroes of Olympus The Mark of Athena

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The Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan is the third book within the Heroes of Olympus series. Within this book, the seven demi-gods mentioned in the prophecy of the seven finally meet up and begin their quest. Of those seven demi-gods, this book shows the P.OV. of the four of them who are Greek demi-gods, namely Percy Jackson son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena, Piper McLean daughter of Aphrodite, and Leo Valdez son of Hephestus.

Moving more into the plot now, this book places a lot of emphasis on the struggles and furthermore, the doubts of the protagonists. With Percy we see him being to think more about his role on the team, his fatal flaw of loyalty, and how that affects him. Percy is grappling with the fact that he is insanely loyal and protective of his friends and therefore struggles with letting them go and do their own thing because he’s worried that if they do and they get hurt it will be his fault.

With Annabeth we mostly see her struggling with her doubts about if she can complete the quest her mother gave her. Basically, Annabeth is given the task of following the Mark of Athena and recovering the Athena Parthenos, which was stolen by the Romans several years before the story started and is now in the hands of the antagonists. This quest becomes even more important when it is learned that the recovery of the statue is important to fixing the gods’ case of fantasy dissociative identity disorder(don’t ask).

Piper’s issue is honestly mostly petty drama with her boyfriend who spends most of this book passed out so we’re skipping over that dumpster fire to talk about Leo. So Leo’s issue is due to the fact that he is something of the odd man out in the group of heroes. Leo has a lot of issues combining to make him the proverbial black sheep with the two most notable being that his being possessed by ghosts at the start of the book starts a fair bit of the book’s conflict and the fact that he is the only member of the seven to not be in a relationship. The second one may seem minor by comparison but given that there are several points where he is referred to as a seventh wheel it’s pretty clear that it affects him a lot.

I honestly have to say that I enjoyed this book more than the previous two in the series. Not that the first two were bad it’s just that most of the “character development” there was a character getting over trauma related to one of their powers or with Percy and Jason dealing with their amnesia (long story). In conclusion, I would say that this series is definitely a good one and that its author really earned his title of “the storyteller of the gods.”

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Book Review: Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

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I honestly had no idea what this series was even about until I found this book one day and started reading about it. It turns out that the full story of Nick Gautier, a high school student destined to become a monster known as the Malachai, is revealed, as he goes through poverty with his mom desperate for jobs and finding one as a club dancer and his father, who is the current Malachai, is in prison. Even though Nick tries his best to live his life right, he finds himself in dark corners and often unable to find anyone in his life, tormented by bullies and yelled at by his mother despite acting in defense of his bullies talking bad about her. Even today, I feel like some high school students have similar experiences with bullying, as it is still ongoing today and victims often face harsh conditions such as poverty like Nick, and even struggle with mental illnesses, with the bullying adding to their problems.

However, Nick unknowingly finds a glimpse of hope when he meets a girl named Nekoda Kennedy, a new girl at his school in his grade who he ends up making a friendship with. Although Nekoda acts friendly to Nick and treats him nicely, she is secretly tasked with the duty of ensuring that he does not become the monster he is destined to be, known as the Malachai. Although Nick believes he can trust Nekoda, his trust in her can completely be shattered once he hears about her duty. Despite this task for Nekoda, however, she sees some good in Nick and pushes herself to try to save him and keep the good in him, garnering feelings for him in the process.

Nick learning of his destiny is also a pivotal part of this book, as he tries to keep the good in himself alive to ensure that he does not become his father. This is shown in his many interactions with Nekoda, Bubba, Mark, and Kyrian, as he sees his friends as a guiding light to a straight and narrow path to preventing his destiny. His friends are primarily what separate his father from Nick, as his father seemingly has situational allies only and no true friends, although Nick has plenty of good friends and people he has helped in the past. Without his friends, Nick would surely embrace the darkness and become the monster that Nekoda has sworn to destroy.

Overall, I thought this book was very interesting despite my lack of understanding in mythical creatures and beings. The correlation to human life and mythical life is very well executed in this book, and putting Nick in a sympathetic light makes the readers want to root for him and ensure that he does not repeat his father’s history. The warfare between good and evil is also very prominent in this series as well, as each character faces their own personal demons throughout the story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good series to read.

Lawrence B.