This is for the Youth Bingo Square.
Rick Riordan is a pretty big deal in my house. My younger child (aged 11) has been reading through all of his books in a continuous, never-ending, are-you-really-doing-this-again loop for the last three years. Of the series written by Riordan, the Magnus Chase books are probably my second favorite.
The Sword of Summer introduces Magnus, a homeless teenager living in Boston. He has been homeless for two years, since the death of his mother to glowing blue wolves. Magnus has reason to distrust his family, and so he lives on the streets, watched over by two other young men living on the streets, Blitz and Hearth. On Magnus’ 16th birthday, he dies.
…………………………..
But of course the book doesn’t end there- we’re only a few chapters in! Magnus finds himself at the check in desk of Valhalla, the temporary home of Odin’s warriors before Ragnarok destroys the worlds. Magnus’ father wasn’t really a deadbeat, just a distant Norse deity. Because Magnus died bravely in battle with a fire giant, he has been chosen by a Valkyrie (named Samirah) to join the afterlife as a warrior for the side of the gods in the coming war. Throughout The Sword of Summer Magnus has to come to terms with his death, his afterlife, and his parentage while trying to enact a plan that will ensure Fenris Wolf remains bound, preventing an early Ragnarok.
The Hammer of Thor picks up shortly after the events of The Sword of Summer– Magnus and his friends Blitzen (a dwarf) and Hearthstone (an elf) are working with Samirah (an observant Muslim teenager who is also a Valkyrie and a daughter of the villain Loki) to return the lost Hammer of Thor. As with other of Riordan’s series, the Gods of Asgard are self-absorbed, minimally helpful and often extremely frustrating annoyances rather than perfect beings. A new character, Alex Fierro, is introduced in this book. Alex is, like Magnus, a homeless teenager in Boston. Alex is gender fluid and another child of Loki. Alex and Samirah are tested as Loki repeatedly tries to manipulate them.
The Ship of the Dead finds Magnus and company on a final quest to stop Loki from bringing around an early Ragnarok. They are joined on this quest by Magnus’ hotel hall-mates. Each character has a separate chapter to focus on their own pre-death history and how it informs their present afterlife.
Magnus is Riordan’s most sarcastic character. Through Magnus, Riordan describes what it might be like for a kid living on the street. Magnus reflects several times on how his own experiences, though miserable, were not as bad as some of the kids he knew who were kicked out of their parents home for their sexual orientation or identity, and how some of the kids turn to drugs or crime to try to lessen their own misery. I appreciated that a book that is intended as a fantasy novel included Muslim characters that are described as devout and as someone to aspire to be like, but also describes the abuse that they take from bigots. I appreciate that the book includes discussion of a gender fluid character and how Magnus tries to understand it in a caring, empathetic way. Even the characters that are initially dismissive-seeming come to explain that gender-fluid or transgender people have been described in different cultures throughout hundreds of years. And I appreciate that Magnus is very obviously into Alex, no matter if Alex identifies as a he or she when they meet.
Overall, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard is a fun series- but the Greek god Apollo cast to earth as Lester Pappadopoulos is my favorite of the Riordan series out now.