Book Rant: Magnus Chase Trilogy

Magnus Chase has been one of the series that was sitting on my shelves and slowly gathering dust. Finally I snapped and forced myself to start the series. I have loved the Percy Jackson series and Heroes of Olympus from the first time I read them (and I have read them multiple times since). The Kane Chronicles are amazing. I own a Camp Half Blood hoodie. I would say I’m a Rick Riordan fan. I even bought the Magnus Chase books within a week of their release dates. Still, I haven’t read them. Please don’t make the same mistake as me.

I started the series with the goal of reading one book a week and overall succeeded. The first book was the fastest for me and the third took a total of nine days to read, however, I would account this to time I had available and not my desire to finish the book.

Starting from the outside- the covers are brightly colored and are some fantastic artwork by John Rocco. Not necessarily books that I would grab based on cover impressions but after reading them the covers grew on me. (And the spines look so bright on my shelves- it’s gorgeous).

The Magnus Chase series has the best aspect of any Rick Riordan book; amazing chapter titles. From “I Am Saved from Certain Death by Being Killed” to “Could You Please Stop Killing my Goat” the covers provide a laugh within themselves no matter how somer the mood of the rest of the chapter would be. And thankfully- there were a lot of chapters. These short chapters also allowed for a quicker reading pace and the feeling of accomplishment everytime you finished a chapter (and were rewarded with the newest amazing chapter title). I could very easily finish a chapter in between classes or in a short snap of time and since the chapters always found an appropriate place to break down, a plot twist or dull in the action, it was easy to read one short chapter at a time.

Looking at the general plot line the book was good, the classic new hero journey with the Norse twist. The first novel was my least favorite but I would account that only to the fact that Riordan had to introduce us to (nine) new worlds and a (bright yellow) shipful of characters. Once the characters became familiar the novels picked up pace and they became even more enjoyable. Through Magnus the series is filled with the sarcastic humor everyone (or at least I) was thinking but Magnus actually put into words. His blunt comments and perceptions of people were hilarious and caused me to laugh out loud a few too many times in a quiet room. If I had to choice two words to describe these books it would be light and hilarious.

Speaking of characters I wanted to mention how much I enjoyed the variety of characters. Riordan has always done a good job of including different races and genders in his books he outdid himself in this series. One nice addition to this series was the blend in religion. Samirah al-Abbas introduced the reader to a muslim lifestyle. She also created an interesting paradox that had not really been discussed often about demigods that follow another religion and how they justify/explain their godly parents next to the god they worship. Two other characters I need to mention are Alex (yay for genderfluid representation!) and Jack. Wow. Never before has one of my top favorite characters been a sword. But Jack deserves it.

I cannot emphasize how thankful I am to Riordan for including the pronunciation key and the guide to Norse figures. I referred to those quiet a lot; especially in the end when we would reencounter a name I had forgotten.

Overall I would give this series five stars all across the board and definitely hope to see these characters again (another series... ? Please??) Let me know what you thought of these books and if you have anything to add!