OH MY GODS. Rick Riordan was at the top of his game with The Mark of Athena. It had everything I've come to know about love about his books: action, suspense, adventure, cleverness, romance. These seven demigods are all fantastic, and it was so great to see them all learning how to work together and trust each other. I was amazed how something would come up in one part of the book that seemed like and inconsequential at the time, but ended up being something quite huge later on. As always, the settings were fantastic -- I loved seeing both places I've been (like Atlanta) as well as places I could only imagine through the eyes of the demigods. I have never flown through a 600 page book so quickly! Rick left us almost literally with a cliffhanger, so now I guess I have to face the long year ahead of me as I wait for The House of Hades. 
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