Naturally, if you have not read up to Mark of Athena, do not read this post! Avoid spoilers, my friends.
P.S. I posted this a while ago and it didn't publish. #epicfail
Plot: Being a Rick Riordan book, we expect certain things from the plot. Tons of action, witty lines, and a heaping of Greek mythology to accompany it all. And he certainly delivers. While most of us were excited for the major epicness probably contained in Tartarus, this was the part I found lacking the most. We didn't get very many fight scenes, more conquering the evils with our brain power. So for that, I am taking off half a star. IT'S TARTARUS, YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE PEOPLE OUT WITH WORDS. Above ground, Frank and Piper just killed it with the destruction of villains. Congrats dudes.
Characters: So much development I can't even (except for the minor cases of Percy and Piper). Hazel has some new powers that allow her to do some absolutely epic things with the mist, Frank has finally regained some self confidence, our little Leo has grown up and found a love interest, Jason is beginning to realize his mortality (?), Annabeth has finally made me ship Percabeth. It's just a party of character development all around. Except for Percy, who has by now done just about all the growth we could expect from a character, and Piper. Piper is just a lost hope.
Writing: With seven POVs, stuff should probably get hectic. But, NOPE, none of that happening around here. This book was packed with lots of funny lines (even Jason had one. That's like pigs flying) and action sequences to balance it out. However, it just drove in a straight line, never going up or down, and I'm not sure what to expect from the Blood of Olympus.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
And now...
we wait.