The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1) in Better Read Than Dead Book Club

Dec 30, 2014 Gabriella rated it it was amazing

I absolutely love the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series so when I saw that Rick Riordan had another book coming out, I had to read it. This was the Better Read Than Dead book for November and I loved it. I will say that at some points it was a little slow, but things always picked back up again. I found that Norse mythology is actually a tad complicated and was grateful for the glossary in the back of the book, but you'll be fine not knowing anything so don't feel the need to shy away becau ...more

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Oct 18, 2015 Miranda Kennedy rated it really liked it

I wish that half stars were an option because this book was really more of a 3.5. The characters in this book were funny and well rounded. The reason that I would only give this book a 3.5 is that there was too much world building and not enough plot but the awesome characters definitely make it worth the read.

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Apr 06, 2015 Sahar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, ... I can continue like this for a moment ;) I'm so happy to have another series by Rick Riordan. I can't stress how much I adore the man !!!
Magnus Chase is as good as I hoped it would be and the glimpses of his other series that appear sometimes made it even better !
OMG ! How am I gonna wait practically a year to read the second book ?!!!! ...more

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Sep 24, 2014 Prima rated it really liked it

Shelves: based-on-myths-fairytales, 2015-oct

After the so so feeling I got off Heroes of Olympus, I was pretty much expecting The Sword of Summer to be the same. I was most definitely wrong. Take for example this chapter title:

Hearthstone Passes Out Even More Than Jason Grace (Though I Have No Idea Who That Is

Guys, Rick Riordan just shaded one of his own characters. What other author would do that? Is that chapter not me on The Blood of Olympus? Rick Riordan is a teenage whisperer.

A lot or reviews will tell you this books is The Light

After the so so feeling I got off Heroes of Olympus, I was pretty much expecting The Sword of Summer to be the same. I was most definitely wrong. Take for example this chapter title:

Hearthstone Passes Out Even More Than Jason Grace (Though I Have No Idea Who That Is

Guys, Rick Riordan just shaded one of his own characters. What other author would do that? Is that chapter not me on The Blood of Olympus? Rick Riordan is a teenage whisperer.

A lot or reviews will tell you this books is The Lightning Thief 2.0 and while it might've been like that at the start, it definitely picked up around the halfway mark. Yes, both books have a sort of quest outline, a snarky main character, modern mythology but The Sword of Summer was still surprisingly enjoyable for me and really educational. I learnt a lot about Norse mythology. It was very by the numbers but hey, I still love it.

Most of that love is all because of the characters. Riordan writes some great characters and worlds. It takes some skill to adapt myths and legends into something kids would read. In The Sword of Summer, we meet Magnus Chase who's a sarcastic 16 year old. I loved him purely because his first person POV and funny chapter titles brought me back, before the Heroes of Olympus series, to the PJO series. Riordan's wisely tried to make him a bit different to Percy by making him kind of a noob, by that I mean he doesn't really do fighting which I hope will be continued in the next books. It would be interesting to see a main character who doesn't fight. However, I do see why people saw him as Norse Percy because his mannerisms and speech are very similar. Honestly, for me I was just so happy with the first person POV that I didn't care!

I love how diverse the crew is. We have the badass axe wielding Samirah ab-Abbas who has a magical hijab. We also have Hearthstone, a deaf magic wielding elf who's been shunned from his society. While their differences were glossed over, I feel like this is a good thing. It just shows that they are no different from us and that we should treat them exactly the same as any other character.

It's very for authors to make a new series after they've already made a very successful one. I can comfortably say that Rick Riordan has still got it, guys :D ...more

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Oct 04, 2015 Cassie rated it it was amazing

I loved this book. It was absolutely amazing. I think it might become better then Percy Jackson? My only problem with this book was the characters.
Rick Riordan's characters are amazing, but they're all so similar. They have a tragic backstory and go on to be the hero, most of them dislike one of their parents, they all come close to dying(and some do), and they're all sarcastic as hell. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but it's so hard to differentiate them from one another. If I read a book wi ...more

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