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...

Jaal (The Kaal Trilogy, #1)

 

Legend has it that the Adi Shakti (Primal Energy) and the Adi Deva (Spirit of the Universe), in the Dance of Creation, bore the celestial quartet called The Chaturaanan. Each was entrusted with a divine task and they worked in relative harmony for many eons. But one day, at the beginning of the fourth Sandhyakaal of the current Manvantar ; the third sibling, the devious Maya (also going by the name, Aushij, the God of delusion, went rogue. In the true tradition of ego-maniacal deviants, he believed that Maya alone was needed for moulding the universe.

His understandably ticked-off kin, at the behest of their mother, tried to bring their errant brother under control. What ensued was a battle that almost destroyed the universe. But truth prevailed (at least momentarily) and Aushij was vanquished. Mocking his core power, the good guys imprisoned him in a prison of dreams, amidst endless delusions, hallucinations and nightmares.

But the three vanquishers knew that their infinitely brilliant brother would not stay in his formless prison forever. One day, he would rise, in all his fulminating glory. And so they planted an antidote...a seed of an idea....a super-being who would come into existence for the singular purpose of battling Maya. Centuries of trial and error passed and finally The Devnaampriya (Beloved of the Gods) came into existence.

He took the form of a humble, austere-faced young man with grey eyes called Arihant. Jaal (The Kaal Trilogy #1) is the story of how a young lad comes to terms with his terrifying purpose in life. It is the tale of Arihant’s growth : mental, physical, spiritual and transcendental. It is the first peek into the life of a teenager who morphs into a potentially deadly weapon of destruction 
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Kudos to perseverance. My perseverance, that is. If, after the first twenty-odd pages, I would have thrown my hands up in the time-honoured gesture of exasperation (and believe me, you would be tempted too)....I would have missed out on an engaging story.
 Q: Why did I have the gnawing need to abandon this book as soon as I had started it?
 A: Adjectives. A whole Mothership of adjectives littering each and every page. If I had to wade through one more paragraph of limpid streams and soot-grey wings and sandal scented baths and obsidian like torsos and venomous green lights...I would have gnashed my teeth and relegated the book to the back of my ‘abandoned-halfway-in-sheer-frustration’ shelf.

But ah, perseverance....I salute thee. Thanks to your insistent nudge, I carried on. And shining in a mire of adjectives was an almost perfect tale.

Who doesn’t like a “Chosen One”?
Who doesn’t rub their hands with glee at the prospect of a tempestuous villain hovering malevolently in the background?
Who doesn’t root for a stellar cast, especially when it includes an exiled warrior queen, a crown prince plunged into an unexpected adventure, a quick witted posse of sidekicks, a bantering mentor, an ancient being with a bruised past and the quintessential good sibling gone bad?

I, for one, am a sucker for such stories. And yes, the Potter plotline shimmers along the edges.

Arihant, the Chosen One, the Devnaampriya is a beautifully etched character (sometimes painfully so). A slender youth who has had a domesticated upbringing, wonders how he can suddenly fight mystical creatures with all the goriness of a hell-fiend. He is terrified of the evil subconscious voice that eggs him on and scares him in equal measures.

And then, when his true ‘education’ begins, he is truly radiant. Arihant is humble, a tad cocky and blessed with infinitely bad-a**, matrix inspired fight moves. He’s a hero to watch out for. The sub-plots tend be a tad confusing but are rife with political drama and deceit. When you get your mental faculties around the smatterings of flowery language and the unfamiliar names and the Tolkeinesque inspired worlds, you are sufficiently enthralled.

The book has some shining moments in it’s originality. Case in Point, the tale of ‘The Vakrini’ and her mind-created, suspended-among- dimensions city : Surangini. That particular section of the book was a superior bit of story-telling by the author and wall-papers over the foible of unnecessary prose that had you climbing up the walls.

Alternative realities....finely shaded characters....beautiful melded weapons....prophecies and their purveyors.......danger at every crossroad....a more than healthy splashing of the spiritual...flutterings of future romances.....a nemesis who sounds deliciously scary....awe-inspiring fight sequences....and a worthy champion at it’s helm.


Jaal (The Kaal Trilogy #1) is a beautiful tale. As I started the book I was wary of it’s promise. As I ended the book, I am replete. And momentarily suspended in that other-worldly atmosphere which only a well-orchestrated book brings about. And also proud, that an Indian author has taken a well-researched leap into the world of relatable fantasy. By all accounts, a book worth picking up.

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, #2)

“When Rome fell, a lot of the legions just disappeared. We went underground, acting on secret orders from Jupiter himself: stay alive, recruit demigods and their children, keep Rome going. We’ve been doing that ever since, moving around to wherever Roman influence was the strongest. The last few centuries we have been in America.”

Sounds familiar? It does to Percy Jackson too. Perseus (Percy) Jackson (superstar demigod /self-effacing hero /North America’s confident answer to Harry Potter) has lost his mind. No, not the *I-see-conspiracy-theories-in-my-peripheral-vision-lost-his-mind*. Percy has been hit by a bout of amnesia, courtesy a certain manipulative Goddess. He doesn’t remember that he was a Greek demigod ,a son of Poseidon and a resourceful hero in the epic battle that saved the world from the wrath of Kronos. The only fact that he does recall is that he had a girlfriend called Annabeth (kudos to teenage boys for remembering the best bits).

Guided by the legendary Roman she-wolf Lupa, battling a pair of Gorgons who refuse to disintegrate/die, lugging a Goddess in road-kill disguise; Percy Jackson soon finds himself in Camp Jupiter, the roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood.

Soon our favourite hero finds himself slap-bang in the middle of yet another doomed-to-despair Quest. Accompanying him are his two new friends and Camp Jupiter underdogs : Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang.
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Things that enchanted my reader’s palate like Ambrosia:

# 1: THE RETURN OF OL’SEAWEED BRAIN : When the battle for Olympus ended with Annabeth and Percy sharing an underwater kiss, I was ready to bid adieu to the likeable boy wonder. Any attempt to stretch the taffy by Rick Riordan would pale in comparison to the immensely popular 7-Book series. Atleast that’s what I, with my limited vision assumed. But Riordan is not a brilliant storyteller for nothing. He plunges Percy Jackson into a whole new can of worms (or basilisks, which seems more appropriate) and has you whooping like a herd of Party-Ponies. Percy’s trademark wit, droll acceptance of dastardly situations, unerring loyalty to friends (old and new) and the ability to fight like a fiend is displayed to full effect. The author has also done the wise job of adding a ring of maturity to Percy’s character. His new-found confidence adds a much-needed foil to the fledgling charms of Hazel and Frank.

# 2: HAZEL LEVESQUE : Such a brave and endearing heroine. She joins Hermione Granger and Annabeth Chase in the ranks of noteworthy YA Lit. role-models for young girls. Burdened by a dark past, unsure of a long future, adorably embarrassed around the boy she likes and a bad-a** warrior to round it up nicely, Hazel is a treat to read.

# 3: FRANK ZHANG. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, FRANK ZHANG’S GRANDMOTHER: I cannot rave enough about the massive appeal of Frank Zhang without veering into *SPOILER* territory. Suffice to say, that the baby-faced, muscle-bound demigod keeps you hooked through his emotional trauma and growth. As for Granny Zhang....I was loving and hating her in equal measures. All that aristocratic arrogance duelling with a caring heart makes for one intimidating matriarch.

# 4: RICK RIORDAN’S SIGNATURE QUIRKS :
a) Mars (the Roman name for Ares) declaring the Quest was one of my favourite bits. When the God of War whips out a scroll and a ballpoint pen and scribbles a brusque, “Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by Sundown on June Twenty-fourth or die” with nary a hint of drama and the absolute absence of riddled prophecies....you got to love the big guy.
b) I had the biggest smile on my face when I read that Amazon.com is being run by.....you guessed it.....the condescending female warriors, *THE AMAZONS*. Their Queen sits on a throne made from a thousand copies of a book called “The Five Habits of Highly Aggressive Women”.(Seriously how can anyone not cackle over that?!?). It was borderline cheesy but vintage Riordan.
c) Thanatos (the God of Death) has a pure black iPad. As he whips it out, Frank Zhang hopes fervently, “ Please don’t let there be an App for reaping souls”. Again, adorable.

# 5: MOTHER EARTH UNPLUGGED : For nature lovers like me, who imagined Mother Earth to be a bosomy, *brimming-with-the-warmth-of-home -and-hearth* kind of genial lady....Gaia was an unexpected villain. A Goddess who invokes Giants, resurrects dead monsters, murmurs nasty thoughts into vulnerable minds, makes snarky promises to kill our favourite demigods and rears unearthly armies to overtake the world is NOT someone who would inspire the *Hug-A-Tree* emotion in you. And the best bit is that all these tender acts are being committed while the lady is still trapped underground. What will happen when she’s unleashed in all her grimy glory?--->*Delicious Shiver-Down-The-Spine Time*

# 6 : ACTION SEQUENCES : Here’s where you bring in all your cherished Die-Hard inspired adrenaline. The book is loaded with rip-roaring battle sequences. It gets the blood flowing and the inner warrior roars with whole-hearted approval.

# 7: SUPPORTING CHARACTERS :
a) Slimy, power-hungry Octavian who sees prophecies in the innards of stuffed toys.
b) Royal *you-lie-and-my-dogs-will-dismember-you* Reyna.
c) Ella, the twitchy red-feathered harpy with the quirk of spouting random bursts of dead-useful (and pointless) information.
d) Nico Di Angelo in a short (but hopefully epic) reappearance.
e) Iris, the Goddess of The Rainbow (and now the proprietor of R.O.F.L. –Rainbow Organic Foods and Lifestyle). Don't ask.
f) Terminus, the rule abiding God of Boundaries. Never has a pillar of stone been so pedantic. And so useful.

I cannot elaborate on any without spilling out the plot. All I can do is assure you that it’s a stellar casting.

# 8: ARION: Okay, which girl/woman does not want a celestial Horse that can break the sound barrier, run on water and up slippery slopes, cuss like a seasoned sailor and mutter grumpily “I will trample you to bits, silly baby man!”. I love this horse. I want this horse. Case closed.

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Things that tasted like Iris’ gluten-free, sugar-free cupcake simulations (translation: things that left a bitter taste in my mouth)
*..........BLANK.........*

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So, in conclusion, did I like HEROES OF OLYMPUS : THE SON OF NEPTUNE?
You bet your imperial gold/ celestial bronze/ stygian iron I DID!

I LOVED IT! (And I’m not one to use CAPSLOCK carelessly)

The book is an absolute treat. The return of old favourites stitched with the chutzpah of new arrivals worked like a charm. Yet again, Mythology and it's Gods left the hallowed portals and became cheekily shod with feet-of-clay. With a “it-could-go-anyway” cliffhanger, Rick Riordan has laid the groundwork for a delightful sequel.

ATHENA, make your MARK already!

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, #1)

"Seven Half-Bloods shall answer the call.
To storm or fire, the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath.
And foes bear arms to the doors of death."

Percy Jackson’s nerve-racking adventures ended with this cheery prophecy. The resourceful demigod had just fought The Second Olympian War and emerged victorious. When his friend and now, new oracle, Rachel Dare made the aforementioned divination, Percy hoped that it wasn’t something that he would have to deal with in this lifetime. His best bet was that this phenomenon would occur a few centuries down the road.

But doom-and-despair laden prophecies have the uncanny ability of hitting below the belt.

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book #1) is the story of Jason Grace, a teenager who is suffering from memory-loss. Jason has no clue as to why he is on a school bus for delinquent kids. He apparently also has a girlfriend, Piper McLean and a cheeky best friend, Leo Valdez.

When the school bully suddenly transforms into an ‘Anemoi Thuellai’ (sincerely scary Storm Spirit) and the school coach transforms into a ‘Satyr’ (we all know what that is), Jason has an inkling that amnesia is just the tip of a deeply embedded iceberg.

Dodging...well, dodgy incidents...Jason, Piper and Leo soon find themselves at Camp Half-Good. And Lo! And obviously... Behold! It’s QUEST TIME! Hera, the Queen of The Gods is missing. Olympus has been closed down by Zeus and none of the Gods are making contact with the outside world. A deeper, darker and more sinister force than the Titans is at work. And if the world has a fighting chance against these new evil, Jason will have to set out and save Hera before the Winter Solstice. In the true tradition of panic-inducing deadlines, the Winter Solstice is just four days away.

And so, Jason (the hero-with-no-clue), Piper (the heroine doomed to betray her friends) and Leo (the smart-talking sidekick with a troubled past) set out on a suicidal mission. Along the way, they will deal with malfunctioning mechanical dragons, power-crazed Wind Gods, cannibalistic Cyclopes, disturbing dreams and the ever-present possibility of meeting an extremely sticky end.

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The first book in the new Heroes of Olympus Series lives up to the Rick Riordan hype. The tongue-in-cheek author is definitely NOT a flash-in-the-pan. Just when you thought that he couldn’t recreate the adrenaline of Percy Jackson’s adventures, he promptly churns up a new and endearing hero. Besides Jason, you actively root for Piper and Leo and get drawn into their respective mental conflicts.

At the end of the day, it’s the Gods and Riordan’s treatment of celestial souls that keeps you hooked. Without being blasphemous, the author perfectly captures their powers, their mood-swings, their quirks and their vulnerabilities.

In all, it’s a magnificent door-stopper of a book. Packed with memorable characters, delightful witticisms and non-stop action, this is yet another winner from the talented author,