I won’t lie. The minute I picked up the first Percy Jackson book, I was hooked. How could I avoid it?  I’m an English nerd and this series relies on a distinct knowledge of Greek mythology!  I blew through the first series in a matter of weeks, loving every bit of the play of old tales and placing these ancient characters in the modern era.

And when the series ended, I grieved as any book lover does, knowing that their characters are laid to literary rest.

Salvation came in the announcement that there would be yet another Percy Jackson series!

Hooray! What would Riordan do? How was he going to keep the series fresh? I could barely wait…..

The answer….add in Roman mythology….

Really? That was his great idea. Maybe it was a little cool to explore the difference between the two cultures’ gods but the premise that there were split personalities of the gods running around, even for me, a myth lover, rang hollow.

But I trudge through the first mediocre book, that didn’t have Percy in it, as Riodan introduced three new main characters.

I thought he might redeem himself with the second book, which reintroduced Percy and at least two other new main characters……

And still happily bought the third book in the series, The Mark of Athena.

Less than a hundred pages through the muddle plot, however, I found myself mixes up story lines and plots as more characters eek their way into this already populated story line. I’m lost and I really don’t want to have to start a notebook of characters to keep them straight  that sort of thing does a lovely job of pulling the reader out of the written world.

Hopefully the plot twist are enough to keep this weary girl interested.