For a series I first learned of in 8th grade, as an adult I still come back to Riordan time and again. Magnus Chase, our protagonist, is 16 for the entirety of the series since einherji (the honored dead of Norse mythology) don't age. As is a Norse mainstay, Magnus and his group of friends on Floor 19 of Hotel Valhalla do everything they can to delay Ragnarok.
Magnus himself is a return to the smarmy inner dialog and matching chapter titles fans like myself loved in PJO and the Kane Chronicles. Samirah a fellow demigod and a valkyrie, is devoutly Muslim and I gotta say, I learned quite a lot about how that works over the course of the series. Though Samirah herself ranks pretty down there on characters I enjoy. Her sister/brother, Alex, is another character through which I learned much about a facet of life I haven't had much exposure to: transgender, non-binary, genderfluid people. Alex lets us know in her debut but that he's not a teacher/posterboy/every TG person ever and by the end I found her to be my second favorite character behind Magnus.
The plot itself is enjoyable. Stop Fenris Wolf and then stop Loki while learning a ton about Norse mythology along the way. Sucks that Hotel Valhalla very much lacks that "I want to go there!" vibe that Brooklyn House, Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood (in that order, for me) do.
I actually read the third book under the impression that MCGA was going to be a five-book series thanks to some errant rumor, so when Magnus, Alex, Samirah, Halfborn, TJ, Blitz and Hearth get recognized by the gods at the end of the Book 3 the emotional payoff didn't hit me till later.
If you think Riordan's books are sorta formulaic, I can't really counter that, but I 100% loved all of these in spite of that. My only other minuses really have to do with how little we see of life at Hotel Valhalla, but the main demographic, children much younger than myself, will fall in love.
Literature Riordan delivers yet again (Spoiler Warning)
For a series I first learned of in 8th grade, as an adult I still come back to Riordan time and again. Magnus Chase, our protagonist, is 16 for the entirety of the series since einherji (the honored dead of Norse mythology) don't age. As is a Norse mainstay, Magnus and his group of friends on Floor 19 of Hotel Valhalla do everything they can to delay Ragnarok.
Magnus himself is a return to the smarmy inner dialog and matching chapter titles fans like myself loved in PJO and the Kane Chronicles. Samirah a fellow demigod and a valkyrie, is devoutly Muslim and I gotta say, I learned quite a lot about how that works over the course of the series. Though Samirah herself ranks pretty down there on characters I enjoy. Her sister/brother, Alex, is another character through which I learned much about a facet of life I haven't had much exposure to: transgender, non-binary, genderfluid people. Alex lets us know in her debut but that he's not a teacher/posterboy/every TG person ever and by the end I found her to be my second favorite character behind Magnus.
The plot itself is enjoyable. Stop Fenris Wolf and then stop Loki while learning a ton about Norse mythology along the way. Sucks that Hotel Valhalla very much lacks that "I want to go there!" vibe that Brooklyn House, Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood (in that order, for me) do.
I actually read the third book under the impression that MCGA was going to be a five-book series thanks to some errant rumor, so when Magnus, Alex, Samirah, Halfborn, TJ, Blitz and Hearth get recognized by the gods at the end of the Book 3 the emotional payoff didn't hit me till later.
If you think Riordan's books are sorta formulaic, I can't really counter that, but I 100% loved all of these in spite of that. My only other minuses really have to do with how little we see of life at Hotel Valhalla, but the main demographic, children much younger than myself, will fall in love.