Book Review: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Do you love mythology? Speak fluent sarcasm? Adore absolute dorkiness? Then Rick Riordan’s new book, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer, is the book for you! Magnus leaps off the first page as he takes you on a quest to get his birthright and stop a fire giant from destroying all nine worlds.

While this book is based on Norse mythology, you don’t need to know the mythology to follow along. Thankfully, Magnus doesn’t know a lot either so we get an explanation of how everything works. And if you forget something, just go look it up in the glossary in the back of the book.

Magnus Chase is a lot like Riordan’s other works such as the Percy Jackson series in the sense that it is about a boy who learns that he is the son of a god and has to go on a quest. This time it is with Norse mythology instead of Greek and there is no camp half-blood. While I hate to say it, I’ve only seen the movies so I can’t give you a compare and contrast of the differences. But if you liked Percy Jackson, then Magnus Chase should hold your attention the same, if not more, than Percy did.

Even if every character in this book was dull as dull could be, Magnus’s wit and sarcasm alone would make the book a worthwhile read. Thankfully, this isn’t the case. Magnus’s sidekicks are equally entertaining and we get a chance to learn their background and who they are. Sadly, several of the characters you meet in the beginning are forgotten until the end. One can only hope they get to shine a little more in the coming books.

There was little about the story I didn’t like, but some may find several of Magnus’s lines a little cheesy and a few of the situations a bit ridiculous. For instance, there is a scene early in the book where two of the sidekicks come rushing up at a villain with plastic toys (a plastic bow with heart shaped squeaky arrows and a sign that reads ‘make way for the ducklings’). While I honestly liked this scene and got a chuckle out of the randomness of it, others may disagree with me. Personally, I’m a little surprise that these sidekicks, who were tasked with protecting Magnus, didn’t have hidden weapons on hand just in case of such an event.

Slight cheesiness aside, Magnus Chase will entertain you throughout the whole book and leave you rather upset that the second installment isn’t out yet. However, the Kindle edition is on Amazon to pre-order.