Showing posts with label mythology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mythology. Show all posts
October 29, 2015

Review: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan
507 pages
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Norse Mythology
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: I bought it!
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Rating:
Goodreads Summary: Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

My Review

I am a huge Rick Riordan fan. Percy Jackson is a character that will always stay with me. I absolutely love his witty, funny, and adventurous novels, and The Sword of Summer turned out to be exactly that.

What somewhat started out as the usual quest type novel, turned into yet another unique and fun young adult book by Riordan that just so happens to feature the Norse gods this time around. Even though it was formulaic like the Percy Jackson books, it still had some very unique and funny surprises. It was way more unique that I thought it would be.

Even though I shouldn't have, I may have compared Magnus to Percy, but even though I did, it really didn't matter. Sure they are both funny and cute, but they are both different in wonderful ways. I loved that Magnus was his own person and was different enough from Riordan's other characters to keep it fresh. All of the minor characters in The Sword of Summer also stood out on their own, and I loved their endearing demeanors and brave souls.

I was not disappointed by the start of this new series by Riordan. I appreciated it and look forward to reading the rest of the books. I think all of Riordan's fans will like this new series, and it doesn't hurt that the main character (as we found out in the previous series and by his name) is related to Annabeth, which will hopefully mean our beloved Percy and Annabeth may make appearances in this new series. One can hope.

The Bottom Line: The Sword of Summer is yet another wonderfully adventurous novel by Riordan. I think his fans will approve even if his books are similar, because they are just that entertaining.

11 comments
November 13, 2012

Review: Mark of Athena by: Rick Riordan


Mark of Athena by: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Hyperion Books for children
608 pages
Genre: Fantasy/Mythology/Young Adult

Summary: Percy has his memory back and is finally reunited with Annabeth. These two demigods along with five others, Jason Grace, Hazel Levesqu, Frank Zhang, Piper McLean, and Leo Valdezgo, must go on a quest to save Hazel’s brother Nico di Angelo from the clutches of the Giants. Annabeth must also branch away on her own quest to learn more about the Mark of Athena and the legendary treasure to which it leads. Greek and Roman demigods must fight together if they have any hope of stopping Gaia.

Review: Riordan brings us another exciting adventure, even if it can somewhat become repetitive, in a world where demigods exist and monsters must be fought.

I am a huge Percy Jackson fan and I couldn't wait for this next installment in the series to be published. I will say with absolute certainty that fans of this series will not be let down. Once again Riordan managed to pull me so far into the book that I sometimes thought I was also a demigod in a fight against time.

 My favorite part of the book is getting the story from Percy’s point of view.  Although it can be refreshing to get different characters perspectives on what is going on I will always prefer Percy Jackson’s point of view and his quirky personality. I do however believe that it was necessary to show view points from some of the other characters for the reader to really be able to follow what was going on.  Occasionally the characters would split up and go on different smaller missions, switching the point of view gives the reader more insight into what the other characters are doing and thinking instead of just Percy all the time. On the other hand, it sometimes got overly frustrating with it always switching around.

I want to give props to Riordan for really having the characters grow in his books, especially Percy and Annabeth who readers have followed since they were 11 and are now in their late teen years.  In this book in particular Riordan showed us how much these characters are growing, which is essential not only because of their age but because of the many different obstacles, dramas, death, and fighting that accompany their quests, and of course  how the whole have to worry about saving the world thing may change someone. Don’t get me wrong they can still be a little whiny, but I want to remind you that these are books are written for young adults. The amount of relationship talk in this book can get a little overwhelming, but it isn't enough to drive you away from reading it.

It may seem repetitive at times when this book, the third one in the Heroes of Olympus series, still continues to have the same quest plot which includes the demigods facing many small challenges, usually outsmarting smaller Gods, and continue on to their bigger quest that gets resolved only to the extent that the main big baddie of the series doesn’t get defeated, but I enjoy these plot lines and what would a quest be without them? Plus, Riordan throws us enough tiny curve balls along the way that you probably won’t even notice any repetitiveness.

With a huge cliff-hanger at the end of this one I guarantee you will be like me, counting down till the next book comes out. I say read this book as soon as humanly possible. If you haven’t read any books in this series yet then I suggest you start cracking.

Rating: 5/5
2 comments
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