REVIEW: Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

We were previously introduced to our Norse gang in the last book, The Sword of Summer and now we get to see them in a whole new adventure. We join Magnus and the gang six weeks after the previous book. Sam and Magnus meet each other in midgard with an unusual guest, Otis, the goat who we met in the previous book. He explains that the Hammer of Thor is missing and people and monsters alike are beginning to suspect that Thor does not have it and so plan to invade Midgard whilst nobody is protecting it. They go back to the Hotel Valhalla to regroup and meet the newest einherjar, a gender fluid child of Loki who goes by Alex Fierro.

Loki keeps visiting Magnus in his dreams and tells him about a wedding between Sam and the giant Thrym in five days and that Magnus will need to bring the bride price. Thinking that they are retrieving the Hammer of Thor, they are tricked by Loki and instead find the Skofnung Sword. They are reluctant to help Loki find the matching whetstone so causes Randolph Chase to wound Blitzen with the sword and the only thing to heal this wound by the sword is the whetstone itself. So the four of them are forced to hunt for the stone much to their dismay.

They later find that the stone is in possession of Hearth’s father, Alderman. Alderman wants a debt repaid that Hearth has caused him so they go and find treasure for him, it turns out this treasure is cursed but Alderman doesn’t find that out till after they get the stone from him. They heal Hearth’s wound and go to midgard to find Alex and Sam. Eventually they find out the giant Thrym, the one that Sam is meant to marry has the Hammer of Thor and would be given to Loki after they are wed. So in order to get the Hammer, they must go through with the ceremony. Sam is already promised to another though and does not want to break that trust, so Alex, her brother/sister through Loki decides she will go through with it instead.

They explain the situation to Thor, who wants his hammer back so he agrees to help them trick Thrym and retrieve his hammer. The group travel to where Loki is bound but although they find the hammer, Randolph is forced to use the Skofung Sword to free him. This was Loki’s plan after all. Loki escapes, chaos ensues including a fight to defeat the giants and the spirits within the sword itself kills Randolph. After this mission, they go back to the Hotel Valhalla and are told their next quest is to recapture Loki. But to go against Loki, he will need to be trained in other ways; Magnus contacts his friends over at Camp Half Blood, Annabeth and Percy.

As always, I find Riordan’s books to be extraordinary and honestly would recommend his books to any age. These pages are just filled with whimsy and so much history is behind it nonetheless. The Mythology of the einherjar and Valhalla is something that I had never heard of so was intrigued to find out more from these books about the Norse mythology.

4 out of 5 stars.