The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2
Published by Disney-Hyperion Books on 2016 October 04
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology
Pages: 459
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
"Magnus Chase, you nearly started Ragnarok. What are you going to do next?"
It's been six weeks since Magnus and his friends returned from defeating Fenris Wolf and the fire giants. Magnus has adjusted to life at the Hotel Valhalla—as much as a once-homeless and previously alive kid can. As a son of Frey, the god of summer, fertility, and health, Magnus doesn't exactly fit in with the rest of Odin's chosen warriors, but he has a few good peeps among his hallmates on floor nineteen, and he's been dutifully training for Ragnarok along with everyone else. His days have settled into a new kind of normal.
But Magnus should have known there's no such thing as normal in the Nine Worlds. His friends Hearthstone and Blitzen have disappeared. A new hallmate is creating chaos. According to a very nervous goat, a certain object belonging to Thor is still missing, and the thunder god's enemies will stop at nothing to gain control of it.
Time to summon Jack, the Sword of Summer, and take action. Too bad the only action Jack seems to be interested in is dates with other magical weapons. . . .
Just like his other books and the first Gods of Asgards books, I was smiling as I reached the end of this book. The Hammer of Thor is a spectacular sequel to The Sword of Summer and is further proof of Riordan’s prowess when it comes to mythology. Although it’s obvious that he recycled some stuff from his previous books, The Hammer of Thor and The Sword of Summer were still enjoyable reads that I breezed through them in a very short amount of time. I finished this book in a day while doing household chores and the usual fix of online gaming.
What made The Hammer of Thor different from the rest of his books was not the plot (as I’ve said earlier, there were some plot elements from previous books that were regurgitated in here somewhere) but rather, its cast of characters. Very diverse without making me feel like Riordan was just deliberately pushing it for the sake of ya know, fulfilling the #WeNeedMoreDiverseBooks. And I must tell you that this book introduced us to a brand new main character named Alex Fierro. To say that he/she became a new favorite character would be an understatement. Some spoilers here so read at your own risk. Alex Fierro is the shapeshifting daughter/son of Loki and an unnamed mortal man. Alex Fierro is gender fluid so there are days that he/she identifies as male and other days as otherwise. I liked the fact that she/he already owned her sexuality in this book and that she/he is very straightforward and firm about it. Well, you probably know where I’m going with this one but please, Gods of Asgards, let the Magnus-Alex Fierro ship sail and have their HEA at the end of the series.
So aside from falling in love with the Magnus-Alex ship and adoring the other quirky characters (from Thor to Heimdall to Prince Gellir and his merry band of 12 berserkers to Otis, I can’t even…), I’m also pleased that The Hammer of Thor contained the trademark Riordan humor …an assurance that everything is going great. The pop culture references were just can-you-excuse-me-while-I-laugh-my-heart-out funny?
Oh well, there are so many things to love about this book although as I’ve said, you might encounter some déjà vu issues with the plot. But as for me, it didn’t bother me that much because there are so many things about The Hammer of Thor that made up for that.
Overall, a worthy sequel and certainly a keeper. Now, off to wait for the sequel of The Hidden Oracle.