The Mark of Athena

The Mark of Athena is a 2012 middle-grade fantasy by Rick Riordan and the third book in The Heroes of Olympus, a sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It was published on 2 October 2012 and is preceded by The Son of Neptune and followed by The House of Hades. The novel narrates in the third person and draws its material from Greek and Roman classical mythology.

Six months after the events of The Lost Hero, Leo Valdez has built a flying trireme named the Argo II, first to reach Camp Jupiter and later for the quest to Greece and Rome, which is intended to stop Gaea awakening. Leo, Jason Grace, Piper McLean and Annabeth Chase arrive at Camp Jupiter with Coach Hedge to meet Percy Jackson, and the reception is not friendly, since the Romans read the ship as a Greek weapon.

Annabeth's private problem runs alongside the diplomatic one. The command from Athena to follow the mark and avenge her gives the book its title and puts an individual obligation next to the group quest. Reviews were positive about the humour, characters and mixture of elements, while some criticism concerned pace and the number of viewpoints.