2015;
512 pages. New Author? : No. Full Title: Magnus
Chase and the Gods of Asgard: Book 1: The Sword of Summer. Book #1 (out of 3) in The Gods of Asgard series.
Genre : Fantasy; YA; Norse Mythology.
Laurels : Winner of the 2015 Goodreads
Choice Award for Middle Grade and Children’s Fiction. Overall Rating : 8½*/10.
It's been a rough life for Magnus Chase so far. He never knew his father, and his mother died
two years ago when two giant wolves with blue eyes attacked them from out of nowhere. Magnus barely escaped alive, and he's been living on the streets of Boston ever since, keeping
a low profile and learning to live the life of a homeless person.
His
mom’s two brothers live the Boston area, Uncle Frederick and Uncle Randolph,
but Magnus doesn’t like either one of them.
His cousin Annabeth, Uncle Frederick’s daughter, is about the same age
as Magnus, but there’s something positively scary about her, and Magnus hasn’t seen her in ten years or so.
His two closest friends are a pair of fellow bums called Blitz and
Hearth, but they’re more in the “misery loves company” category.
Just now Blitz is rousing Magnus from his not-very-comfortable sleep
on a cold Boston street beneath the shelter of a bridge.
Blitz has a short, chilling message: “They’re after you.” Who? Why? Hoe'd they find him? What’s the deal?
Well, today’s your 16th birthday, Magnus. You’ve just “come of age”. And there are some who would like to make this
your last day alive.
What’s To Like...
Magnus Chase - The
Sword of Summer is the first book in a trilogy by Rick Riordan featuring
Norse mythology. I’m not sure if this is
a completed series or not. Magnus
is a 16-year-old demigod, so the target audience
is presumably high school boys, but I found it entertaining and I think most
other fantasy-loving adults will as well.
The
pacing is brisk, which is a necessity for any YA novel. There are a slew of characters to meet and
greet, most of them from Norse mythology.
This could get confusing for any reader whose knowledge of Norse
gods begins and ends with Thor, but Rick Riordan introduces most or all of these (plus mythological
places and runes) with a brief explanation, and even then, if you
forget who’s who, there’s a handy glossary in the back.
The
book is written in the first-person POV (Magnus’s). The only settings are Boston and the Nordic
afterworld, including its most famous attraction, Valhalla. I liked the snarky chapter titles, and the music references, which included the Dropkick Murphys, the Wiggles,
Taylor Swift, and ZZ Top’s hit “Sharp Dressed Dwarf”.
The
Intrigue starts right away, and the Action commences shortly thereafter. There are no slow spots, as Magnus keeps getting assigned various quests: find the magic sword, get an “apple of
Idun”, recover Thor’s hammer (not that he officially admits losing it), buy some earrings for his aunt, and of course, save the world from
Ragnarok/Doomsday. Heady stuff for a
teenager.
Critters
abound: gods, demigods, elves, dwarfs, Valkyries, trolls and half-trolls, dead
and undead warriors, giants, goats, squirrels, wolves, and an eight-legged
horse. I liked the clever way of inserting cuss words in the YA novel – phrases such as "what the Helheim”, “Heimdall’s Horn", "Odin’s Eye", and "Balder’s Bling”, just to name a few. And it was neat that my favorite Norse
mythological “place”, Ginnungagap,
gets some ink, although, unsurprisingly, our heroes never venture there.
Kewlest New Word. . .
Bail (n.,
jewelry) : The top loop on a pendant that the chain slides through. (Google-image it)
Others: Kibbeh
(n.).
Excerpts...
YAAAARRRRK! The sound was much louder this time. A dozen branches above us, a large shadow
passed across the leaves.
I hefted my
sword. “We’ll fight the squirrel. We can do that, right?”
Sam looked at me
like I was mad. “Ratatosk is
invulnerable. There is no fighting
him. Our options are running, hiding, or
dying.”
“We can’t run,” I
said. “And I’ve already died twice this
week.” (loc. 3186)
Frey
shrugged. “I made my choice long
ago. I surrendered the blade for the
sake of love.”
“But on Ragnarok,
you’ll die because you don’t have it.”
He held up the
deer antler. “I will fight with this.”
“An animal horn?”
“Knowing your
fate is one thing. Accepting it is
another. I will do my duty. With this antler I will slay many giants,
even Beli, one of their great generals.
But you’re right. It won’t be
enough to bring down Surt. In the end, I
will die.” (loc. 5613)
Kindle Details...
Magnus Chase - The Sword of Summer currently sells
for $7.99,
which is also the price of the other two books in the series: The
Hammer of Thor and The Ship of the Dead. Most of Rick Riordan’s
other YA-Mythology books are in the $5.99-$7.99 price range, but if it’s a new
release, it can be as high as $12.99.
She looked like the maid of
honor at someone’s Mortal Kombat wedding. (loc. 898)
There’s not much to quibble about in Magnus Chase – The Sword of Summer. Quests are fulfilled, and everything builds nicely to a logical
ending. It’s not particularly twisty, but
I think any YA reader will be satisfied.
The epilogue is a teaser that sets up the next book in the series, which is not to say it’s a cliffhanger. MC-TSoS is a standalone novel, as well as part of
a series, and will entertain everyone from young’uns to geezers who like
“questing” tales.
8½ Stars.
There’s a unique facet about Norse mythology
that I’ve always found fascinating: coming to grips with the knowledge that your
unalterable fate is one of utter doom.
Odin, Thor, and the rest of the Aesir *know* they will lose the Doomsday battle, yet they soldier
on. Rick Riordan gives this
concept major focus in Magnus Chase – The Sword of Summer, and I for one think that was a noteworthy literary decision.
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