Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

My name is Magnus Chase. I’m orphaned and living rough on the streets of Boston. And things are about to get much worse. My day started out normally enough. I was sleeping under a bridge when some guy kicked me awake and said, ‘They’re after you.’ Next thing I know, I’m reunited with my obnoxious uncle, who casually informs me that my long-lost father is a Norse god. Nothing normal about that. And it turns out the gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Apparently, if I can’t find the sword my father lost two thousand years ago, there will be doom. Doomsday, to be precise. A fire giant attacking the city? Immortal warriors hacking each other to pieces? Unkillable wolves with glowing eyes? It’s all coming up. But first I’m going to die. This is the story of how my life goes downhill from there…

Having read only half of the Percy Jackson series, I didn’t think I would enjoy or understand much. But I was completely wrong because this series starts off fresh and introduces you to the characters and the world all over again and its very easy to pick up. I know I have only read this first book in the series, but I’m enjoying reading this series more than the Percy Jackson series.

Magnus Chase is one of the best main characters that I have read this year. He isn’t your typical hero, he doesn’t want to be a hero or try to be a hero. He is an honest teenager who is trying to live his life the best he can. Magnus speaks like a typical boy and the way he thinks and acts is true to the character and his age.

One way in which I think this series is better than the Percy Jackson series is that it has a wide ensemble of characters. With this being the first book I thought it was going to be more of a slow introduction to the series, but instead it seemed every God, Demi God, hero and villain were thrown into this book. It felt with each chapter there was a new character introduced to the story, and I really enjoyed reading about these new characters. Some were only in the story for a few pages, and some where in for quite a bit longer, but all were fully developed and helped the story along.

Another thing I really liked about this book was that the story didn’t become boring or dull. There was non stop action throughout but that wasn’t at the expense of underdeveloped characters or story. I found the introduction to Magnus exciting, interesting and very funny. I think this was the reason why I really enjoyed this book so much because it started off brilliantly and it carried on until the very last page.

Just like the Percy Jackson books there is tonnes of useful and interesting facts littered throughout this book. With this book there was loads of Norse mythology, and I really enjoyed reading about it. One of the things I liked about the Percy Jackson series was that the facts and information were spread throughout the story which made it easier to process all the facts. I am happy to say that its the same way in this Sword of Summer, there is no info dumps or paragraphs after paragraphs of information. It is all easy to read as well as enjoyable. All this is down to Rick Riordan’s writing and how he manages to craft an amazing story with so much useful detail.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to continue reading this series, with a character like Magnus I can see this series getting more and more exciting as it goes on. If you enjoyed the Percy Jackson series, then I am almost certain that you will fall head over heels in love with this series. It has Rick Riordan’s trademark writing, and interesting characters with an exciting story.

I rate this book 4/5 stars