Title: Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Norse mythology, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 3rd – 11th February 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Puffin Books
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: My ears still rang from the weird music.
My name is Magnus Chase. These days, I’m one of Odin’s immortal warriors, but that doesn’t stop people trying to kill me all the time.
Loki the trickster god is free from his chains. He’s put together a crew of giants and zombies to sail Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, in a battle against the Norse gods. If he succeeds, the final battle of Ragnarok will extinguish all the worlds.
With help from Percy Jackson and my cousin Annabeth, and with friends by my side, I have to sail across the oceans to reach Naglfar before Midsummer’s Day. The only problems are the angry sea gods, hostile giants and evil fire-breathing dragon in the way.
But even if we survive the journey I’ll need more than just Jack, my talking sword, to beat Loki. I must find a magical elixir so deadly that it will either make me powerful enough to defeat Loki and put him back in chains for good… or destroy me entirely.
This is a great ending to a really good, fun series. I love that Riordan deals with outsiders in all of his series. But, in particular, I love that this series ends with a gender fluid person finding their happily ever after. Plus, it does explain a lot about the different “outsiders”, not just through Alex and their gender identity, but also with a great Muslim character who is devout, sweet and quite capable of kicking everyone’s butt.
Sam’s participation in Ramadan is a great storyline. There is so much fear and superstition against Muslims, so featuring a pretty major practice for this religion in a very well-loved character was brilliant. I actually wished more children’s books would feature people of different faiths, religions and identities. It’s definitely something I could have done more with as a child. And it’s a great way to help the next generation become far more accepting of differences.
Although this is the final, epic battle of the series. It really wasn’t the epic battle that I was expecting. I was expecting something with a lot of gunfire, violence and just plain, old insanity. It wasn’t like that. It was a much more entertaining, funny and unique way to stop the end of the world. All in the company of a giant boat coloured like a banana… something that had me laughing out loud repeatedly throughout this story.
The Ship of the Dead might be the conclusion to the Magnus Chase series, it’s not the end of this greater adventure that Riordan has been taking us all on. Actually, the end chapter of this dovetails perfectly into The Trials of Apollo and, luckily… that is sitting on my shelf. Just waiting to be picked up.
