The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

So much happened in this book, but I guess when you're juggling seven story lines it's to be expected. Even though our seven prophecy-chosen demigods are all questing together in this book, there are a lot of moments of fragmentation - small group off-shoots - that end up keeping the overall story moving forward. It honestly got a little confusing who had done what and where at times, but like I said, this was a very busy story.

Finally, the seven demigods meant to save the world have come together: Percy and Annabeth who you know really well by now if you're a Riordan fan, Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Leo. Their group quest is to travel to Rome and destroy twin giants - Gaea's minions - before they destroy Rome, but a separate quest has been given to Annabeth to find an old statue of Athena that went missing in Rome centuries ago which Athena has been trying to get back ever since, sacrificing her demigod children along the way. Apparently the statue is necessary to ultimately stop Gaea so Annabeth has to succeed on her quest as much as the group as a whole needs to stop the giants.

After traveling across the the U.S. with a few heart-pounding pit stops (because nothing is easy for these guys,) they head out to Rome. As they travel, more pieces of the puzzle of exactly what needs to be done and who can potentially help them fall into place. In the end, they have to find and retrieve the statue, kill the giants, and save their friend Nico (also Hazel's brother) who has been kidnapped and is near death. They face many monsters and immortals we haven't seen yet (surprised there are so many left) from both Greek and Roman origin and enlist the help of a very unlikely God. Any success they find is made bittersweet by the cliffhanger ending that divides the group in a way that makes it uncertain whether they'll ever come back together.

So much happens and it's all very fast-paced with a lot of jumping around that, as I said, gets a little confusing. I also felt like the action took center stage here just as we were getting to know everyone and I was sad that often personality development was set aside so we could watch the characters simply do things. While we do learn a little more about some of our demigods, their motivation for what they do becomes a little muted at times. I also just kept getting Piper and Hazel confused. I couldn't help it and I felt like that was a flaw from the story.

Two more books in the series though with the last one publishing later this  year, so I've almost caught up to the author :) I think it's definitely a series worth finishing. I might even go through Percy Jackson withdraw when it's all over. It's fun to have something exciting and easy-to-read in my book queue though.