“Yeah, I know.”

From Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer.

Magnus Chase thought that his life as a homeless orphan was bad enough, but when he died his life got really complicated.  Life on the streets of Boston was hard for Magnus, but manageable with the help of his two homeless friends (the fashion-loving, sun-hating Blitzen and the deaf Hearthstone), but Magnus still struggles with the strange death of his mother.  When a visit from his uncle Fredrick and cousin Annabeth (the Annabeth of the Percy Jackson stories), he decides to break into his mother’s other brother’s house to look for answers on both his mother’s death and what’s going on now.  After breaking in to Randolph’s house, Magnus finds himself on a bridge trying to claim a long-lost mythical Norse sword (named Sumarbrander) and fighting against a norse god (Surt) that wants the sword.  Magnus dies in the fight, but wakes up as an Einherji (Odin’s sorta-dead warriors) in Hotel Valhalla (a training academy for Einherji until Ragnarok happens).  Magnus is assigned a room and a Valkyrie (human warrior/protector/guide) Samirah and tasked with retrieving Sumarbrander from the human world before it falls in the wrong hands.  As Magnus takes on this new life as the son of a Norse god, he quickly discovers that his life will never be the same again.

This first book in Riordan’s Norse series, is full of all the aspects that made the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology series so captivatingly fun.  Even though Norse mythology is more popular now with the help of movies, Magnus’ learning experience through the world of (a more accurate) Norse mythology.  The Sword of Summer is a crazy adventure from start to finish and it will instantly draw readers into this new world and series.