Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer: Book Review

It's been a while since I've last read a book. I haven't had the luxury of time to spend all-nighters reading and catching up on my favorite published works. I think the last one I read was Ernest Kline's Ready Player One (which I'm also planning to write a review about). Also, I've been hooked to a lot of tv shows (ehem GOT and Walking Dead) that it took all my extra time. Now that the tv shows that I was watching are done with their current season, I'll be focusing more on books. Add to that my situation in my new apartment wherein I don't have internet connection yet, so all I have our books to burn time. Not that I'm complaining.

Anyways, on with the review.

I've been reading the Magnus Chase ebook on and off for the past few months and I feel a lot of guilt towards Rick Riordan. I've been a big fan of the Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus series for a long time and I should be excited about Riordan's take on Norse Mythology. I was a bit hesitant to read it at first because I didn't want to venture out of Greek and Roman Mythology but there's something good here that I didn't expect.

**SPOILER ALERT**
Alright, I don't understand people who read reviews and get upset by spoilers but here's a warning to those who do.

Plot Summary:

Magnus Chase is a sixteen-year old, homeless teenager living in the streets of Boston. (I realized that my description is exactly the same as in the Wikia so, no copyright infringement intended). He lost his mother 2 years ago when she was killed by a group of wolves and since then, he was on his own. He met two fellow homeless people, Blitz and Hearth, and they have become Magnus' new family. One day, he discovers the true identity of his father; a Norse god named Frey. Being his only living child, Magnus had a pivotal role that might affect the destiny of all the Nine Worlds. He is to retrieve his father's sword, Sumarbrander, also known as the Sword of Summer, and keep it from the hands of a fire giant named Surt. Only then can he delay Ragnarok from happening. He makes his last stand against Surt and falls to his death into the Charles River while trying to defeat the fire giant.

Magnus finds himself resurrected in Valhalla as an einherji when a valkyrie named Samirah al-Abbas deemed his sacrifice worthy of a hero's death. His arrival was not well-received by many because of Samirah's reputation as a daughter of Loki. Also, being a son of Frey, a Vanir (nature-god), Magnus' skills as a fighter were looked down upon. On the night of his arrival, the Norns (counterpart of the Greek Fates) appeared and recited a prophecy:

Wrongly chosen, wrongly slain,

A hero Valhalla cannot contain.

Nine days hence the sun must go east,

Ere Sword of Summer unbinds the beast.

Hearing this, Magnus was convinced that he did not belong in Valhalla. The Thanes debated on whether they will keep Magnus alive or kill him to prevent the prophecy from happening. Before they were able to do this, later that night, his friends Blitz and Hearth dropped from the branches of Yggdrasil (World tree) into his room and helps him escape.

They find themselves in Midgard, the human world, where they reconnected with Sam, who was banished from her Valkyrie duties on the night she brought Magnus to Valhalla. Sam explained to Magnus that Ragnarok was foretold to begin with the Sword of Summer breaking the chains of Fenris Wolf. Now that the Sword of Summer has resurfaced, Surt will be hunting them down to retrieve it and use the sword to free the Wolf. They learned that the rope chains binding the Wolf was starting to weaken and with or without the Sword of Summer, the Wolf may be freed.

Together, they embark on an adventure to stop Fenris Wolf from breaking free and delay Ragnarok from wreaking havoc throughout the Nine Worlds.


Review:

I'm fairly new to Norse Mythology so this was a refreshing book to read. I'm sure that most of us are only familiar with Odin, Thor and Loki because of the recent Marvel movies. But for those who have played the RPG game, Ragnarok, they would be more knowledgeable with Norse Myth.

It's difficult not to compare Magnus Chase to the Percy Jackson series because the latter has set the standard so high for all of Riordan's published works. The writing style was the same - casual and a little informal, coming from a teenage point of view, just like the Percy Jackson series. The beginning of the book was a little boring, that's why it took me longer to finish the book. What got me excited was when I saw that Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson series was in the book as well, her role being the cousin of Magnus. Also, the combat activities reminded me of the "Capture the flag" and "Siege" game from the Greeks and Romans respectively. The only difference is: they are allowed, no, encouraged to kill. Being that they are already dead, they will just get resurrected before dinnertime. The purpose of the combat games is to train the heroes in preparation of Ragnarok. Even though Magnus wasn't much of a fighter, he was a great healer, and that scream thing he did, Alf Seidr, was awesome.

I thought that the fight scenes were just gonna get better from then on. However, I was heavily disappointed during their adventures outside of Valhalla. Sam did most of the fighting, Blitzen the dwarf had self-realization, Hearthstone the elf became very skilled with rune magic, and Magnus, well, his sword fought for him (literally, the sword has a mind of its own) and he fainted everytime he touched the sword after the fight. He did improve after some time, being able to recover faster as the story progressed. In the end, he used his wisdom to undermine the prophecy and bind Fenris Wolf again to his island prison.

Maybe I was just used to all the fighting from the Greeks and Romans that I was expecting more from Magnus Chase, especially that the Vikings are reputed to be great in battle. (I just always relate Vikings to Norse myth). It was also interesting that the female protagonist in this story doesn't seem like she will end up with the hero (or I may be wrong, I don't know). Samirah is currently engaged with someone and Magnus didn't seem attracted to her in that way.

Anyway, the ending was great because everyone got the recognition they deserved. Also, Magnus decided to stay in Valhalla. I hope this means he's going to be a better fighter from now on. The epilogue also got me very excited. It looked like Annabeth and Magnus was going to share stories of their own crazy lives. Can't wait to read the next one!


Rating: 3.8 out of 5. Still have high expectations for the next book, but not to bad to start off with. :)