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

   When I was reading The Mark of Athena, I was also battling a mild fever. My fever was accompanied by some very interesting (or deranged, as some muggles would like to call it) hallucinations. For three consecutive nights, I dreamt that I was standing at the helm of a bronze Trireme which had a flaming dragon for a masthead. And every single time, I had hooves. AND, I kept up a constant war cry of “DIE, GUACAMOLE BREATH, DIE!!!”

So yes, the latest instalment in The Heroes of Olympus series (and more importantly, Coach Hedge) has made a powerful…dare I say it…mark on me.

There were so, so many things to love about this book.
 Let me elaborate:
 a) LEO VALDEZ: As someone on Pinterest rightly put it, “If Leo were to be made a God, I hope he’s made the God of Sass”. He has the best quips and comebacks, the coolest technology and gadgets at his disposal (I love you, Buford) and a veneer of loneliness that makes him strong and vulnerable in equal parts. 

b)The PERCY JACKSON – JASON GRACE bromance: Endearing and believable. The two superamped demigods complement each other with their combination of foolhardy courage (on Percy’s part) and disciplined action (on Jason’s part). And just when you assume that things are going to go splendidly between the two heroes, they rock the trireme with their petty one upmanship.

c) FRANK ZHANG as a giant koi goldfish. Stellar chapter, that.

d) A beautiful tale behind Leo’s uncanny resemblance to Hazel Levesque’s old friend SAMMY. If it doesn’t make you hastily brush away an unexpected tear, shame on you. You, dear sir/ madam, have had your soul sucked out by a Dementor.

e) Please say hello to the latest, cheesiest entrants to the Villains Hall of Fame: Twin Giants, EPHIALTES and OTIS. Every single time that the terrible towsome made an appearance, I was thoroughly entertained.

f) HERCULES, popping up like a bad, egotistical egg and making life and quests harder for the young demigods.

g) COACH HEDGE as a chaperone. Coach Hedge as a viewer of bad martial arts movies. Coach Hedge as an adrenaline packed satyr out to chew the enemy to shreds. More power to COACH HEDGE!

h) PERCY and ANNABETH finally getting some quality couple- time together. They deserve it, what with Percy having metamorphosed into a lean, mean handsome demigod and Annabeth having finally accepted that there’s more to Percy than just being unjustly titled as Seaweed Brain. Okay, I tried to desist from adding gifs and artwork, but how adorable (and accurate) is this:



At the end of the day, The Mark of Athena belongs to Annabeth’s lonely quest. The one-time calm and level headed Goddess Athena has transformed into a bitter, forgetful Roman version of herself. And while she once loved her daughter, she now has no qualms about sending her off an epic and murderous quest…a quest moreover, that none of her previous children have ever returned from. I have nothing bad to say about the book (although Piper does hover around like a fractious boyfriend obsessed bee.) and as always, I feel completely happy after reading a Rick Riordan book. Mythological tales…word play and subtle slapstick……the efficient use of weapons…the magical charm of God Given powers and the ever present lesson to use your brains and stay loyal……all this and more, effectively covered by dear Mr.Riordan.


 As for the cliffhanger...

The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle, #1)

 

SYNOPSIS:
Despite her eccentric clothes and irregular-on-purpose tufty hairstyle, teenager Blue Sargent is touted as the sensible girl in her family. After all, in an estrogen laden household that comprises psychics, clairvoyants and mystical seers, Blue is almost an anomaly.
However, Blue has the essential essence that makes someone else’s psychic power stronger. Almost like a human battery charger. In a lifestyle rife with mystical happenings, Blue and her mother Maura have an yearly tradition. Every year, on April 24th,St.Mark’s Eve, the duo head off to the local ruined churchyard and keep watch on a path, eerily named The Corpse Path. Along it walk the soon-to-be-dead-in-twelve-months souls and they can only be seen by Maura. Blue, happily enough, has never sighted them.
But this time around, a spirit of a young man is suddenly visible to Blue and he speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey and he is a student of the privileged local private school, Aglionby. If that hasn’t freaked the beejesus out of Blue enough, she is blithely informed by her aunt that the only reason a non-seer like Blue could see Gansey was because either Gansey is Blue’s true love OR Blue will be the reason behind Gansey’s death.
Happy times.

Coming to Gansey, he is no ordinary, what-on-earth-is-this-magical-mumbo-jumbo kind of obnoxious high school prat. Gansey is a boy on a mission. A mission to discover a ley-line (an invisible energy line that connects spiritual spots), a tomb that lies on this particular ley line and the tomb’s legendary and royal occupant, Owain Glyndŵr (Owen Glendower). So what happens when Blue and Gansey cross paths? All this and so much more in the first instalment of The Raven Boys.

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MY (gushing and completely non-Critical) THOUGHTS:

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I DID! SERIOUSLY, BEST.THING.EVER! I could leave it at that. And be content. But the book is so rich and delicious that I need to say a bit more.

#1: Blue. Dear Blue, how straight up are you? No emo drama. No angsty silences. No supposedly endearing but actually spoilt flashes of teen rebellion. No long drawn out monologues about love, life and Gansey’s fanning eyelashes. I loved her character from the moment she made an appearance on the church wall spotting invisible souls right up till the end when she had to deliver a message from “the beyond”. She holds her own in a gang of strong-willed boys and shows tremendous potential for the future books.

#2: The Raven Boys. The beauty of this tale is that it’s not about the Glansey-Blue love story. Infact, at the risk of pitching in a spoiler, I could almost say that it barely took off. The book infact is the mother of all Bromances. Adam Parrish, the seemingly perfect and dapper Aglionby boy whose elegant facade hides a savage home life.....quiet, soft-around-the-edges Noah who sees much but says little .....and the darkly decadent bad boy with the shimmering tattoos and *lock-your-daughters-up* demeanour, Ronan Lynch form a shining trio around their unofficial leader, Gansey. No sparkling vampires, no prancing about in skin-tight shorts werewolves...just everyday boys with everyday problems.The interaction between the lads, their quips and wry asides, the simmering resentments and the unwavering loyalties are all placed at perfect pitch. What proves to be an exceedingly long book is gently cushioned by the drama surrounding the four friends. They keep you hooked, well-lined and completely sinkered with their individual and collective story lines.

#3: The Mystery/ The Hunt/ The Backbone of the book: Even if I tried, I couldn’t do justice to the concept of ley lines. So do savour those bits for yourself. The hunt for Glendower was such a beautiful idea. While I always love a good romance, I am more often than not disappointed by the fact that a seemingly supernatural thriller fast derails from it's paranormal angle and ends up as kissy smoochy mopey whiney session between the protagonists. Not so, with The Raven Boys.
The book is packed with intricate details, delightful patches of history, legends, scientific facts and unexplainable phenomena. It's a regular reopening of the long buried and much loved X-Files. The author takes the mysterious concept of ley lines and unravels the story in a manner so eloquent, that mentally, you feel that you are sitting in the back of a battered up Camaro as you race against time and logic to plumb the deepest mysteries of the earth. Completely enchanting.

Many of the readers had complaints about the abrupt ending.I have no such qualms. If, as I believe, the series is supposed to span four instalments, I think the author has nicely laid the groundwork for future fireworks. I can’t wait to learn more about Ronan Lynch (who comes across as a younger,edgier Sirius Black) and the manner in which his angle progresses. So yes, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all who love a good old-fashioned paranormal fantasy with a healthy splashing of boy bonding and a smidgen of gutsy heroine thrown in for good measure.