The Sword of Summer
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| File:The Sword of Summer Cover.jpg Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Rick Riordan |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | John Rocco |
| Series | Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (bk 1) |
| Genre | Fantasy, Norse mythology, young-adult novel |
| Publisher | Disney Hyperion[1][2] |
Publication date | October 6, 2015[2] |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover), audiobook |
| Pages | 528 pp. |
| Preceded by | None |
| Followed by | The Hammer of Thor |
The Sword of Summer is the first novel in a trilogy of fantasy novels, the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, written by Rick Riordan and published by Disney Hyperion. Like most other works from Riordan, it is based on mythology, in this case Norse Mythology. It is narrated in the first-person by Magnus Chase, the title character, as he and his friends search for the Sword of Summer. It was released on October 6, 2015. A sequel, The Hammer of Thor, is set to be released on October 4, 2016. The novel has received positive reviews.
Plot summary
After the loss of his mother, whose death was caused by wolves and a fire in their house, 16 year-old Magnus Chase has been living on the streets of Boston for two years. One night his friend Blitzen warns him of people searching for him. Magnus finds out that they were his cousin Annabeth and his Uncle Frederick. Overhearing them discuss his uncle Randolph sending them to find him, he breaks into Randolph's house to look for answers, only to be found by Randolph himself. Randolph claims that Magnus' father was a Norse God, and takes him to the Longfellow bridge, where Magnus is able to summon the Sword of Summer, which has been lost in sea for many years. The fire giant Surt invades the bridge, but Magnus is able to defeat him, though he dies in the process.
Magnus enters Hotel Valhalla, a paradise for the honourable dead where the einherjar train to aid the god Odin against the giants and Loki. After meeting his Valkyrie, Samirah al-Abbas, a daughter of Loki, the thanes deem Magnus unworthy of being picked due to the Valkyrie Gunilla editing his video of the fight with Surt. Sam is banished from the Valkyries for picking Magnus, and the Norns issue a prophecy about keeping Fenris Wolf from being freed from the Sword of Summer, the sharpest sword in The Nine Worlds. After a fight to the death (one of Valhalla's training procedures), he finds out that he has alf seidir (elf magic) after healing himself and disarming everyone, which may stem from him being a son of Frey, the god of summer and fertility, who is also the lord of Alfheim. Deciding that he could no longer stay in Valhalla, he, Blitzen and Hearthstone (who were actually a dwarf and an elf) escape the hotel, and look for the sword and stop Surt from freeing Fenris Wolf.
Upon entering Boston again, the trio decide to look in Magnus' funeral house to see if the sword was there. After finding out that it wasn't, Magnus encounters his cousin Annabeth, who gives him her phone number. Sam then attacks them, but they make a temporary truce in order to search for the sword. A giant king, Utgard-Loki, somehow ends up as an eagle and gives them the location of the sword in exchange for the apple of immortality. Magnus and his friends barter with the sea goddess Ran for the sword and the apple. After receiving the sword, they decide to receive a new rope for binding Fenris, since the sword was destined to cut it, but end up in Folkvanger after running from the giant squirrel Ratatosk. The goddess Freya asks Magnus and Blitzen to get her dwarf earrings while in Nidavellir. She teleports them to Nidavellir, where Blitzen has a building competition with Eitri Junior, the son of Eitri, creator of Thor's Hammer in exchange for the earrings and a new rope. He surprisingly wins, but it was secretly because Sam was interfering with Junior's build. While running from Junior and some armed dwarves, Magnus finds out that his sword could talk, and after it takes out all the dwarves at once, he dubs it 'Jack'.
Being forced to jump into a chasm, Magnus and his friends end up in Jotunheim, the world of the giants. While healing Hearthstone, he feels a kind of sadness in him, which Sam explains that his parents hated him for being deaf, so he began learning the secrets of magic runestones. After saving Thor, they go on a side-quest for his missing hammer, in which Hearthstone summons an eight-legged horse to transport them. They defeat three giants (while following guest rules, in order to give them good luck) but end up finding Thor's staff instead, but he accepts it and transports them to where they are needed most. Magnus ends up in Bunker Hill, where the goddess Hel, goddess of the dishonorable dead, offers him to give up the quest and be reunited with his mother again, but he refuses. Upon reuniting with his friends, he explains how he didn't pass out from exhaustion when Jack killed all three giants because the more time he spent with them, the easier it was to use his powers as they were like a family of empty cups.
Magnus and his friends arrive at the island where Fenris Wolf was located, as well as Gunilla and his hallmates, Thomas Jefferson Junior, Mallory Keen, Halfborn Gunderson and X the half-troll, who were sent to hunt down Magnus. At the same time so does Surt and three other fire giants. Jack then cuts the ropes of Fenris and ties the new one around him. Magnus cuts Jack into the dimension of the World Tree, which sucks Surt back to where he came. After Gunilla dies, he passes out from healing Halfborn and in his dream encounters his father Frey, whom he embraces. Frey gives him the ashes of his mother to scatter, and he wakes up to be judged by the thanes. X then reveals himself to be Odin all along, and frees Hearthstone and Blitzen from Mirmir's service, as well as allowing Sam to work for him. Magnus is offered to either return to the mortal world or live in Folkvanger, the other paradise for the honorable dead, but Magnus declines both, saying that working for Odin was a reward enough. After attending the dead Valkyrie's funeral, Magnus tells Annabeth everything that has been happening to him. In the epilogue, it is revealed that Randolph was working with Loki in order to start Ragnarok, the day that the giants fought the einherjar, in exchange for his dead wife and children.
Main characters
Magnus Chase
Magnus Chase is the son of Frey, god of summer and abundance, which has given him power over alf seidir, possible because Frey was the lord of the elves. He is able to heal himself and others at a high speed, and he could also disarm everyone with an energy blast. When living on the streets, he befriended Blitzen and Hearthstone. His cousin is Annabeth, who ties the Camp Half-blood chronicles with the Magnus Chase series. He has a sarcastic sense of humour, and feels responsible for those in danger. He is also shown to be quick-witted, shown when bartering with Ran. Magnus is described to have long, messy dirty blonde hair parted in the middle that hung to his jawline, and grey eyes that had a scary emptiness to them. Originally he was scrawny, but this changed when he became an einherji, which gave his arms more definition and even gave him abs. He is described to be unnaturally pale.
Blitzen
Blitzen, despite being fairly good at building, has always been obsessed with fashion. His father died after checking on Fenris Wolf. While under Mirmir's service to stop Ragnarok, he met Hearthstone in Midgard (the human world) and they became friends. During the competition with Junior, he made the Expando-Duck, a chainmail vest and a bulletproof tie. When Odin released him of Mirmir's service, he decides to open a fashion shop, Blitzen's Best, on Newbury street, one of the products being a chainmail vest. He always wears fashionable suits and clothes, and has trimmed black hair and dark skin, as well as being 5 feet tall since he was a dwarf.
Hearthstone
After the death of his brother, his parents had pinned the blame on him, claiming that he was the one that was supposed to die. During his isolated life as a deaf and mute elf, he began learning the secrets of runestones, but at a cost of two choices: he could either not learn magic and no longer be deaf and mute and may stay with his parents, or he would continue his isolated life to continue magic. During the quest, he has shown multiple usefulness, like when protecting them from Fenris with a staff and some runes, and when he summoned the eight-legged horse. He is described to have spiky white blonde hair, and wears a black leather jacket and black jeans, as well as a candy striped scarf.
Samirah al-Abbas
Sam's mother married Loki when she found him being taken care of at the hospital. Sam dislikes her father very much, especially since he was the god of lies, describing as a "liar, a murderer, a thief". During middle school children bullied her since she was Muslim, but when a giant attacked she defeated it and stopped people from being killed. Odin noticed this and offered her to be a Valkyrie, which she accepted. It was Odin that told her to pick Magnus to be in Valhalla. Her abilities include shape-shifting, fighting with an ax and flying (when she was a Valkyrie).
Reception
| This section possibly contains original research. (June 2016) |
The Sword of Summer was praised for its characters and action, with Common Sense Media stating that it was an "Exciting Norse mythology adventure with Percy-like hero." On Goodreads, it holds a rating of 4.3/5. Despite its generally good ratings, though, some critics express concern that it was too related to other books from Rick Riordan, as well as it having a predictable plot. It won the Goodreads choice awards for middle grade readers.