Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer
A long weekend was approaching and I was browsing through my library to find an adventure book to read during the free days. I looked at ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ which I had already read; I saw an advertisement of ‘Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer’ on the back cover. The summary caught my attention and I ordered it immediately from Amazon. The book is written by Rick Riordan, who also wrote the Percy Jackson series, one of his best works. He’s an American author famous for fantasy, detective fiction and mythological fiction. The book is about 10 pages short of 500 pages. It was published by Hyperion Books in the year 2015.
The book revolves around norse - mythology which is the Germanic mythology with gods like Odin, Loki, Thor, Frey, Freya and Mimir. Magnus Chase is shown as the protagonist who is an orphan with the backdrop of Boston. One day, he was sleeping when someone warns him “They’re after you”. He runs to his uncle’s house immediately and they both run away from the house. But on a bridge Magus suddenly comes face to face with a fire lord who kills him. But then, Magnus is resurrected at Valhalla with the help of a mysterious girl. It is a place where people slain in battle are received.
Magnus is told that he was a son of a Norse god. From that point his adventure began. His mission was to stop doomsday and he could either postpone it or prepone it by 7 days. On his way to delay doomsday he encounters several renowned gods, some who stood up to his expectations and some who didn’t.
People are preparing for Ragnarok, the doomsday. The judges see the way how Magnus died and fought with the lord. It turned out the weapon he fought with was the sword of summer, a weapon of great importance. A day later, Magnus ran away to the mortal world and sets on a quest to find the sword.
The characters in ths book are Magnus and his two street friends Hearth and Blitz, his hallmates, his sword (yes, it’s a character) his valkyrie Samirah al-Abbas, the valkyrie leader Gunilla, Fenris Wolf and the villain, Surt the fire lord. My favourite character is Magnus’s sword Sumarbrander, called Jack by Magnus.
Percy Jackson books are a good blend of myth and fiction and they are equally hilarious at the same time. The book has some funny parts. Like a person took paradoxes to make a magical rope, and one of them was an interesting grammar lecture. And the sword said that the taller they are, the easier it is to go up their nasal cavity. My favourite part was when Magnus’s sword went into three giantess’s nose straight and killed them. I found the story a little slow and I felt like Magnus’s sword did all the work. Despite that I found the book to be fantastic and I can read it over and over again.
After finishing this book, I suggest reading ‘Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor’. If you are looking for a similar book to read, you should go ahead and read the Percy Jackson series.
I give this book 4 out of 5.