"The Mark of Athena"- The Highlights of the Book (So Far)

I am around pg. 95 in the Mark of Athena and so far, the book is extremely interesting and many unexpected things have happened just in the first couple of chapters. Rick Riordan is extremely good at plot twists and changing the story line at the most hyped-up times. For example, after the Greek and the Roman camps unite to destroy Gaea, the most unexpected thing happens- Leo, who somehow became demented for a little while, used the Argo II and shot at the Roman camp. The Roman think that the Greeks came to attack them right now and they are now fighting. Since the Greeks were outnumbered, they retreated and Percy, Annabeth, and a couple others board the ship a leave. They later realize that Leo has been possessed and someone made him attack the camp.

At first, I thought that after the Greeks and Romans unite, no one within the camp would cause the alliance to break apart. But, of course, what I didn't expect happened. I even thought that they would just team up and kill one cyclops, Gaea's children, at a time. I believed that the only other problem that would occur is the prophecy of the Mark of Athena, which wasn't well described in the book, but was mentioned. Apparently, once a son of Athena went to Rome and came back mentally ill. I really don't have an explanation about what the Mark of Athena is, but since Annabeth is the daughter of Athena, I think that something bad will happen to Annabeth.

Another interesting point is that when Leo and Hazel go to find celestial bronze and lime, they encounter Nemesis, the Greek and Roman Goddess of Revenge. Nemesis started saying that she would be the only God that could help them on their quest, because Hera, their former "mentor" is being chased by the Gods for failing to unite the Roman and Greek demigods and causing them to get migraines, since it is hard to be both the Greek and Roman version of themselves. So after Nemesis asks them if they need help, she says that Nico, Hazel's brother, is going to die in six days if they don't find him and save him and she also talks about something bad that is going to happen to Leo.

This lead to suspense for the readers and it made me very intrigued, because I wanted to keep reading to find out more about their obscured fates and also about the Mark of Athena. Again, Rick Riordan is so good at plot twists that he just forces the reader to keep reading and reading his books. He leaves the reader with limited amount of information and then he literally make the reader keep thing about what the obscured thing is. For example, I just kept thinking and thinking about what the Mark of Athena is and about Nico's and Leo's fate. Overall, I think that the two main point from this reading that Rick Riordan leaves the reader thinking about is what the Mark of Athena is and the fates of Nico and Leo.

Please comment on this blog post and maybe even discuss about what these two things are about and if you already know, don't ruin it for those still reading.