Loki the trickster god is free from his chains. Now he’s readying Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, armed with a host of giants and zombies, to sail against the Norse gods and begin the final battle of Ragnarok. It’s up to Magnus Chase and his friends to stop Loki’s plans, but to do so they will have to sail across the oceans of Midgard, Jotunheim and Niflheim in a desperate race to reach Naglfar before it’s ready to sail on Midsummer’s Day.
Along the way, they will face angry sea gods, hostile giants, and an evil fire-breathing dragon who happens to be a former acquaintance. But Magnus’s biggest challenge will be facing his own inner demons. To defeat Loki, Magnus will need to use words, not force. This will require finding a magical elixir so deadly that it will either make Magnus Chase powerful enough to out-talk the silver-tongued Loki, or destroy Magnus utterly.
- Characters: 6/10
Normally I love Rick Riordan characters. I mean, the seven from Heroes of Olympus are some of my favourite ever. However, I can’t say I’m as enamoured with the characters in this book. Magnus has never been a favourite of mine to be honest. He’s a bit boring – he can’t compare with the sass of some of the other characters, like Alex. The same could be said of Samirah – I just find her a bit dull. Alex is definitely one of the best characters; adding some much needed attitude and colour to an otherwise bland cast. They’re not awful, don’t get me wrong. They just aren’t exciting. To my disappointment, two of my faves from previous Magnus Chase books: Hearthstone and Blitzen, weren’t really featured that heavily. Others, such as Mallory Keen, took up a lot of the limelight – and I don’t really like her, sorry. The one redeeming factor (other than Alex) was the very brief cameo by Percy and Annabeth. Their appearance alone adds a few extra points to the character score. I just love them that much!
- Plot: 6/10
Again, the plot just lacked the general pizazz that I’ve grown to expect from Rick Riordan books. I think part of it is that I’m beginning to grow a bit bored of the whole ‘hero has a really short amount of time to complete impossible quest’ trope. But aside from that, this novel was just too light. Honestly, I think that was my problem with it. I love Rick Riordan’s sarcastic, joking tone normally, but I feel that sense of ‘It’s all a joke’ was just taken too far in this book. I never had any real fear for the characters. The managed to gimmick their way out of every inescapable situation. Even the big finale was a bit of a let down. I mean, it was an entertaining plot. It just didn’t make me feel anything.
- Writing: 9/10
I found the writing in this book very fluid. The fact that it’s intended for younger readers doesn’t detract from the quality of the writing but it does mean that it’s easy to read. It doesn’t feel like a chore, unlike some more wordy books. I also enjoyed the joking tone with which the whole book was told. It gave it a sort of quality as if the characters themselves were recounting a funny tale to you. However, I did feel that it was occasionally too jokey.
- Enjoyment: 6/10
I would say that it took about 3/4 of the book before I actually started enjoying it. The last quarter was pretty decent and at that point I was reading because I was interested rather than out of some sense of loyalty to the author (I own pretty much every book Rick Riordan has ever published and I normally love them, so I actually feel kinda bad that I didn’t like this one as much). However, that said, this book did have its good bits and the bits I’d deem ‘bad’ weren’t really that bad.
- Overall: 6.75/10
A quest like any other – and that’s the problem. The excitement has begun to dwindle and the action even more so. It’s still a decent story but don’t be expecting any heart-racing moments of suspense or epic battles because you’ll probably be pretty disappointed.
The Proof is in the Reading 