narrator

love the story, rick riordan is a genius. but the narrator, joshua swanson, repeatedly pronounces names, places, etc. the wrong way. and somehow when he is reading, he tends to make otherwise very interesting characters sound bland and unimpressive. overall, i love the book, as i love all the books in the Percy Jackson universe, but the narrator was very disappointing.

15 people found this helpful

Amazing~

Rick Riordan did an amazing job with this book and I cannot wait to read or listen to the next one. I fell in love with the narrator... His multiple voices put a smile on my face many times.

8 people found this helpful

Well done continuation of this fantasy series

This is the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Riordan. As with all of Riordan’s book he follows his normal formula. The story is well done and entertaining; although with all the different characters we are following now things get a bit drawn out.

I listened to this on audiobook and, like the previous two audiobooks in this series, this one was very well done. The narrator does a good job of keeping all of the voices straight...and there are a ton of voices to keep straight.

Finally the two groups of Demi-gods meet. The meeting results in our group of heroes, basically the groups from the first two books, joining forces and journeying to Rome to confront some giants. Additionally Annabeth is told by her mother Athena to follow the Mark of Athena, which also takes them to Rome....but leads Annabeth on a solo quest. The fight against Gaia continues.

Great continuation of this series. There is a lot of action and adventure and some great monsters just like in previous books. We even get to meet Hercules/Heracles. This story follows the same formula as previous ones...the heroes leave on a desperate quest to save the world, then find out they only have seven days to complete their mission. They fight monsters, journey, fight tougher monsters, journey, and then fight the big baddie at the end.

The story gets a bit drawn out because it's following seven different characters and we hear from all of their different points of view. It's just a lot of characters to try and stay engaged with. It ends up making for a long story. The characters are pretty easy to distinguish between; Riordan has done a good job of giving them all outstanding characteristics.

Despite the multitude of characters the story never gets confusing though and moves at a fast pace. The majority of the story is about these characters learning each others secrets and learning to trust each other. Of course they are also trying to prevent Gaia from ending the world.

My favorite part was Annabeth’s solo quest to follow the Mark of Athena, I love her character and she confronts some truly creepy things.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found it entertaining. These books are formulaic but also fast-paced and engaging. I look forward to the Doors of Hades when it comes out later this fall. Recommended to those who enjoy fantasy/adventure reads...or who have enjoyed previous Riordan books.

17 people found this helpful

The Heroes of Olympus still going strong

Would you listen to The Mark of Athena again? Why?

No, I don't re-listen very often, and Riordan does a good job of making the marking events memorable especially as you read next entries into the series.

What did you like best about this story?

Great historical tie-ins and doesn't give us the "lite" versions of mythology. The characters get to shine in seperate moments, allowing more of their personality to be revealed. I just wish I knew more about Jason!

What about Joshua Swanson’s performance did you like?

He keeps things moving and engaging, He has fun with the voices, even if they aren't all that dynamic (you can always tell it's Swanson, you never get the feeling he "transforms" into his characters) He make distinct differences between his characters (with maybe the exception of the giants, but that is understandable) Swanson also handles all the difficult names and locations which could easily get butchered.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Simply because the book is relatively short, yes I would listen in one sitting. But the book isn't so engaging or edge-of-the-seat that I felt like I "couldn't put it down".

Any additional comments?

As a series, the Heroes of Olympus is not as good as the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but is fun, and continues the stories of the main characters, and the story is good enough, you want to know what happens next.

7 people found this helpful

Love the series

I was looking for a good book to listen to while I work and I love Greek and Roman mythology so when I came across this I decided to try it out and I fell in love with the series. Also the performance is great.

14 people found this helpful

Great for a long commute!

If you get stuck traveling, this is a great way to keep you content! Recommended!

6 people found this helpful

Fantastic!!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Mark of Athena to be better than the print version?

Well, I enjoy reading the books on my own so the characters can develop and find a voice in my head on their own. I am not a fan of using someone else's thoughts to paint the characters for me..however, once I have read the book I thoroughly enjoy listening to the audio versions while driving and during my lunch breaks at work!! While the audio is wonderful I will always be a paper page reader first!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I am a huge fan of Percy of course!!! I am also coming around to Hazel.

What does Joshua Swanson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love the life that he puts into his characters they are spot on, fantastic in my opinion.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was devastated when....sorry I don't do spoilers!!! Of course there were moments that moved me!!

Any additional comments?

Love, love, love listening to this series as performed by Mr. Swanson!!

6 people found this helpful

How the hell am I supposed to go back to real life?

This novel focused on the 6-7 demigods regrouping after meeting each other and being forced to be apart again. It was a lot of cleverness and trickery, much different than when Jason or frank has a narrative (since annabeth, Leo, and piper aren’t big on combat) and a lot of minor gods (Hercules was a true d*ck) but everything led up to finding nico and an encounter annabeth will never forget. The only thing I hated was whenever you fell in love with someone’s chapters, you got ripped into another separated group’s narrative. But the books keep getting better!

4 people found this helpful

The Mark of Athena

Great book to continue the Percy Jackson saga. It’s full of fighting monsters, Giants, and Sea Monsters.

4 people found this helpful

Great read!

What disappointed you about The Mark of Athena?

That it wasn't longer

Would you ever listen to anything by Rick Riordan again?

I read all his stories

How did the narrator detract from the book?

No detractions, easy to follow, great depictions of the character's voices.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Mark of Athena?

Can't think of one

4 people found this helpful