Arrr, ye be warned thar be spoilers below.
Party interactions are important. In book 1, Riordan uses a Harry-Hermione-Ron configuration, but with Harry and Hermione as the couple. Grover is simply Percy's best friend, and there's absolutely no tension there, nor between Grover and Annabeth. This makes the Ron character even more of a third wheel. In book 2, Riordan swaps out Grover for Tyson as the Ron character, and Tyson works because there's actually tension between him and Percy (who doesn't want to admit Tyson is his brother) and Annabeth (who is uncomfortable adventuring with a monster). Book 3 begins with Percy-Thalia-Annabeth, which is the BEST combination in the whole series. This is like having Harry-Harriet-Hermione, only Harriet and Hermione are slightly hung up on a charming and talented young Slytherin who has left the school to be Voldemort's apprentice. Sadly, we only get this combination for a single chapter, and I can't help but feel cheated. There's nothing wrong with Zoe and Bianca as characters, but Zoe completely lacks Annabeth's history with Luke and Percy, so Zoe's only tension with Percy is "ew, boys are icky". ARRRGHH. Percy-Thalia-Annabeth makes a great book, Percy-Thalia-Zoe is merely a good one.
Silena playing the part of Patroclus to Clarisse's Achilles was a great touch. Making Silena the traitor just doesn't work. We don't know enough about her to care that she's the traitor, there aren't any clues that she might be the traitor, and it's absolutely inconceivable that she would continue to feed information to Kronos after Beckendorf dies. It would be trivial to make Annabeth unknowingly be the "traitor" by making a gift from Luke be cursed, and for her to be injured protecting Percy after Percy has revealed his weak spot to her.
Okay, I'm done. I just wish every author had someone to point out these things before the books get printed. Not getting more Percy-Thalia-Annabeth chapters is the one thing that really hurts.
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