The Mark of Athena- The Mark of Series Gone Bad

House of Hades, the fourth installment of Rick Riordan’s second series set in the Percy Jackson universe, Heroes of Olympus, was released yesterday. Watch as the internet explodes in the next couple of days as Riordan fangirls gush over the new book following the dramatic cliffhanger of Mark of Athena. I know I haven’t reviewed The Lost Hero or Son of Neptune, but I read those before this year, so I won’t review them. Yet.

Before even touching this one, you should definitely read the two previous novels in this series (The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune), and I would even recommend reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series before that. This is definitely not a standalone novel. Picking up right where The Son of Neptune left off, The Mark of Athena now features members from both Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter, and together they must embark on this dangerous quest and cooperate to defeat the giants and prevent oncoming doom onset by the Earth Mother Gaea. If that sounds weird to you, you haven’t even come close to the weirdness of Greek/Roman mythology.

To these Percy Jackson fans, Rick Riordan can do no wrong. While I found his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series interesting and fun (quick reads-you’ll breeze right through ‘em), they had so much in common with the Harry Potter series and- oh, you want me to list some of them? Allow me to draw some lines.

	Harry Potter	Percy Jackson
Main character	Harry Potter Black messy hair, green eyes Sometimes sarcastic humor Dreads summer (when he’s not at school) Strong-willed, down-to-Earth, brave, leader More of the brawn than the brains “The Chosen One” Missing both parents Solves “mystery” and fixes things before school ends Has supernatural abilities Hates bad family members- The Dursleys	Percy Jackson Black messy hair, green eyes Sometimes sarcastic humor Dreads school year (when he’s not at camp) Strong-willed, down-to-Earth, brave, leader More of the brawn than the brains Chosen One- at one time anyway Missing one parent Completes quest and fixes things before deadline, and before camp is over Has supernatural abilities Hates bad family members- Gabe Ugliano
Girl sidekick	Hermoine Granger Book smart Curly hair Eventually starts relationship with one of trio The straight-laced one, quick thinker	Annabeth Chase Book  smart Curly hair Eventually starts relationship with one of trio The straight-laced one, quick thinker
Boy sidekick	Ron Weasley Not so great with girls, but eventually gets a girlfriend Plucky comic relief Makes jokes to lighten mood	Grover Not so great with girls, but eventually gets a girlfriend Plucky comic relief Makes jokes to lighten mood
Twins	Fred and George Weasley Fun-loving pranksters who love mischief	Travis and Connor Stoll Fun-loving pranksters who love mischief
Movies kinda sucked?	Yes	Yes
Strong, evil bad guy	Voldemort, keeps coming back, sometimes works through other people	Kronos, keeps coming back, sometimes works through other people
School nemesis	Draco Malfow- bully	Clarisse La Rue- bully
Former good guy, current traitor	Peter Pettigrew Turned friends over to Voldemort	Luke Castellan Framed Percy and Co. and turned to dark side
Is one of trio scared of spider?	Yup- Ron Weasley	Yup- Annabeth Chase
Does someone own invisibility clothing item?	Indeed- Harry’s Invisibility Cloak from his father	Yes- Annabeth’s Yankee Cap of Invisibility from her mother

Okay, so maybe that got a little obsessive, but this was as much for my own curiosity as it was for your education. This is not to say that just because they have a few (okay, many) similarities, either of them is bad or that Rick Riordan’s series is inferior. This is merely to say that Riordan certainly borrowed some things from Rowling, maybe unconsciously or unwittingly, and they’re both fun adventure series for kids and young adults. Hell, my mom enjoyed both series.

 

This could be chalked up to the fact that every movie poster is the same these days...

This brings me to my main point—it’s good as long as it remains a fun adventure series. Mark of Athena has traded that fun, adventurous tone for romantic drama, strained friendships and over-the-top cliffhangers. Gone are the days of a trio on exciting adventures and danger as they fight to save their camp. No, now they have to save the world, and the cast has swelled to include more people to keep track of, more storylines, more drama and crushes.

I know for a fact that it’s not because I don’t enjoy romantic sub-plots; I can be a huge romantic sap if I want to be. However, when the adventure and action, which are the main points of this series, take a backseat for teenage angst, fighting over romantic partners and more time spent gazing longingly into each other’s eyes, I start to roll my eyes. What is this, Twilight? Look, someone even compiled all the staring scenes, and it's almost half an hour. Even a minute of staring is too much! 

I missed the times when romance came second to, I don’t know, saving the world??  Honestly, at one part, while they’re rushing to save the world on a deadline, Annabeth and Percy stop, take in a sunset, and spend a few paragraphs talking about how they wish they could just be together. REALLY? Wouldn’t it be a better time to yearn for that when people’s lives depend on you, as well as the fate of the world? Shouldn’t you be more focused on saving the planet than a sunset? Ugh. My eyes hurt from rolling into the back of my head so much. Just get over it, complete the quest, be heroes, then find appropriate time to make googly eyes at each other. How would you like it if Michelle and Barack Obama (that’s right, they rule together for some reason) put off making a decision on a nuclear war to share an ice cream sundae and wish they could just be a normal couple?  When did Indiana Jones say “This is a good time to make out with Marion, right when I should be stopping the Nazis from taking over the world and unleashing the horrible energy of the Arc!” Oh, right, NEVER. Because he prioritizes his time effectively. It comes with the job; save the world first, fall asleep as girl is kissing you second.

So what is the solution? Limit the relationship drama. I didn’t read this series for it to turn into fricking Grey’s Anatomy (do they actually do any hospital stuff?? I’ve never actually seen the show) with mythology.

 

Because discussing your relationship over brain surgery is always the best option...

Rating: 5 out 10 stars

You’d like this series if you liked Harry Potter, and you might also like… uh… the Hunger Games series I guess? Or if you’re into Greek Mythology, those stories by themselves are quite entertaining.

Society Girls: More of that Brit Chick Lit

This week here at Brumbles Publications (if you can call a blog that even), we’re gonna switch it up! So far, I have reviewed dystopian fiction, young adult, an autobiography, science fiction, humor, and fantasy. Which, granted, isn’t too diverse, but hey, it’s better than reading the same genre every week. This week we’re reviewing chick lit!! Hooray! Something light and fluffy and not hard to concentrate on during finals week! And even better than that, it’s British chick lit.

Let me start off by saying one of the best, funniest, most entertaining and well-written chick lit books I’ve ever read is Playing James by Sarah Mason. (Holly Colshannon is a reporter for the Bristol Gazette and is assigned a piece that entails she follows Detective James Sabine around. Holly is clumsy, hilarious, outgoing and pretty impetuous. She is such a funny character, and naturally, chaotic and hilarious mishaps occur all around her, usually because of her doing.) I’m not reviewing that book because I read it a while ago and I just think you should read it, if you like a little Brit Chick Lit every once in a while.

The Colshannon adventures continue with Holly’s sister, Clemmie. Clemmie was an art appraiser until her boyfriend got her fired, so she took a year off to travel. Now she’s back in Cornwall to recover when Holly drags her into the missing case of Emma McKellan, who was a writer for the Bristol Gazette until she disappeared just days before her wedding. It’s like mystery lite, but with more eccentric characters and no murder. Of course, no book could top Playing James, so it’s tough to read a book by the same author and expect the same thing. But I’ll try.

Clemmie is a lot like her sister in the sense that she’s clumsy, headstrong, happy-go-lucky and funny, but she’s less successful career-wise and she has a very eclectic sense of style. To me, she was the slightly odder  but no less lovable one of the pair. Just because she wasn’t Holly didn’t mean she wasn’t endearing. Holly, on the other hand, was more subdued than in the first book. Perhaps it was because we were seeing Holly from another character’s point of view and we couldn’t hear the running monologue in her head or get her perspective on events. Or, maybe it was because Holly had to be toned down a little to make Clemmie shine. Either way, you get the effect that this isn’t another book about Holly, but Clemmie was the focal character. It is her book after all.

I loved the main plot of locating Emma because there was just as much hectic chaos and interesting turns of events. The rest of her large and eccentric family is more present in this book, and as I am from a large family, I can relate to that aspect. Except for the animals. We did not have a zoo in my house at any time. The romantic aspect of the book was predictable, but that is to be expected. I mean, come on, that’s the point of chick lit. People wouldn’t read it if it weren’t predictable. I mean, could you imagine a chick lit (not a drama book, there’s a difference) where one of them dies in the end or middle? 

Oh wait, that does exist! Introducing,Nicholas Sparks: killing off characters in Chick Lit since 1995. 

So if you’re looking for something to read on the beach, or in your room, or on a bus, or pretty much anywhere, but you just want to be along for the ride in a funny British rom com book, I would bring Playing James and Society Girls. I can guarantee you will laugh. Unless you have no sense of humor, in which case, get off my blog and go buy one. 

Bossypants: A Review

      Upon the shocking revelation that I will be reviewing books (Whoa! Your like totes the first person ever to review books online or in general!!! OMGZ lolololol you shuld b an editor!) Yes, that was poor grammar and spelling ON PURPOSE.

            Here goes nothing!

            Anyone who has any sense of humor or has any respect for American sketch comedy has heard of Tina Fey. If you haven’t, and I highly doubt that, I would suggest holing up in your room, locking the door, popping some popcorn and watching several straight hours of the best of SNL. The nineties edition. And then watching all 7 seasons of 30 Rock, because that show is amazing. She says in her book that they didn’t have many viewers, and that honestly shocked me. I love that show, and I can’t imagine why more people didn’t watch it! Probably off watching The Big Bang Theory. Losers. (Now, it’s not like The Big Bang Theory hasn’t made me laugh, but just because it’s about three scientists and an engineer does NOT make it a smart comedy. Plenty of people have written about this, and I do not have the energy to get into an argument about this. You can read some other people's extensive rants about it here and here.  

            But I digress. The point is that if you love comedy or have a sense of humor, you would love Tina Fey’s book! She’s funny, fresh, funky, fantastic and all other words beginning with “f”! Okay, not all words, but you get my point. The book chronicles important moments (i.e. hilarious things that happened to her and not so much the sentimental ones) from her childhood to current day, but not so much that you have to take a break.

            If you like reading and learning about how it is that she went from awkward child in Pennsylvania to an awkward adult in New York, and along the way worked in sketch comedy and became a writer for SNL. I adore SNL, so I was extremely curious how one goes from just an average person to someone working for a major network, especially on a big hit show like SNL.

            I know a lot of you are thinking that you already don’t have enough time to read, let alone waste your time actually reading nonfiction, but I can assure you, it’s still entertainment, and you get to pick up little funny Fey tidbits along the way!

            Just buy it, alright? Or get it from your local library! Because everyone knows I hate paying for stuff, so I prefer the library.

Next week: I review the third Percy Jackson Heroes of Olympus, Mark of Athena. See ya then!