The Hammer of Thor Tour!

Rick Riordan recently went on a tour for his new book, Hammer of Thor. I was fortunate enough to be get my hands on some tickets to see him at his final stop on the tour. In order to get tickets, I had to pre-order the book way back in July. I have been looking forward to this event since then. It was very fun and interesting hearing Rick Riordan talk. He's revealed some of his new books coming out, talked about the tragedy that was the Percy Jackson movies, and talked about his inspiration to be a writer. As well as that, he talked about his trip to Norway and the inspiration it had to help with the Magnus Chase books. Rick Riordan seemed really nice and funny, and it was very obvious that he loved his dog. In his presentation, he included several pictures of her. I had a great experience going to see him, and I even got a Hotel Valhalla t-shirt. I thought it would be a good thing to share, given all of my posts about the author this past week.

The Kane Chronicles!

Since I've been posting about Rick Riordan's books the past few days, I might as well continue the trend. Recently, I've been trying to reread all of this author's amazing books, and I just finished the Kane Chronicles. These books focus on Egyptian mythology and they're absolutely fascinating. This series has two main characters, siblings named Carter and Sadie Kane. They grew up in different homes and couldn't be more different! After spending one Christmas with their father, everything is different; Carter and Sadie realize they're living in a world with Egyptians Gods. Not only that, but the world is ending soon! And like every other book ever written, it's up to them to stop it. These books are really interesting and I learned quite a bit about Egyptian mythology. My favorite Egyptian Goddess is Bast, the Cat Goddess. As well as any other book written by Rick Riordan, I highly recommend this series.

The Kane Chronicles!

Since I've been posting about Rick Riordan's books the past few days, I might as well continue the trend. Recently, I've been trying to reread all of this author's amazing books, and I just finished the Kane Chronicles. These books focus on Egyptian mythology and they're absolutely fascinating. This series has two main characters, siblings named Carter and Sadie Kane. They grew up in different homes and couldn't be more different! After spending one Christmas with their father, everything is different; Carter and Sadie realize they're living in a world with Egyptians Gods. Not only that, but the world is ending soon! And like every other book ever written, it's up to them to stop it. These books are really interesting and I learned quite a bit about Egyptian mythology. My favorite Egyptian Goddess is Bast, the Cat Goddess. As well as any other book written by Rick Riordan, I highly recommend this series.

The Hammer of Thor! (And is Thor really that great?!)

Okay, now that I have officially introduced the first book in this series, I can talk about the second. (See my previous post to find the review of the first one). Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor is the second book in the Gods of Asgard series. This book is still relatively new (meaning it came out less than a week ago) so I'm going to keep the details about it very basic. The second book of the series is just as great as the first, I couldn't put it down (besides when I had to do pesky things like eat and sleep). The basic plot of this book is: Thor lost his hammer and can't get it back, he can't find it himself (he's too busy watching TV) so it's up to Magnus and his friends to find it. In the Marvel movies that have Thor in them, they show him as a strong leader who's strong, brave and fully competent and worthy of Mjolnir, Thor's hammer. In Rick Riordan's books, Thor is a lazy character who is lazy, incompetent, and loses his hammer! I  also have to say, I really love the diversity in Riordan's books. In these books some of the main characters are very diverse in their identities, some of these diverse aspects include a Muslim and a Deaf person. As an ASL (American Sign Language) student, I really enjoy and appreciate Rick Riordan adding a Deaf character in the book. Sometimes Riordan will describe how the character signs a word, and from what I can tell, it is the real sign he's signing.

The Sword of Summer (a.k.a. Jack)!

Rick Riordan's second book in the Gods of Asgard series just came out, but before I get in that, I should probably talk about the first one. Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer is the first book in the Gods of Asgard series written by Rick Riordan. In the past, Rick has written about Greek mythology, Roman, and even Greek; now, he's expanding his horizons with Norse mythology. The first thing that probably pops into mind is Thor, the movie with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston in it. There is a completely different take on Thor in this new book, and Thor isn't even a big character! The Sword of Summer is about Magnus, a 16 year old kid who's completely normal until he's killed in the first 50 pages of the book. Yeah, not the typical plot of a story; then again, when is Rick Riordan ever typical? Magnus has to make sure a super scary Norse wolf named Fenris doesn't escape. To help him on his journey, Magnus encounters an alf named Hearthstone, a dwarf named Blitzen, and a Valkyrie named Samirah-Al-Abba. Oh, and a talking sword named Sumarbrander, the Sword of Summer. But that's way too long, so the sword goes by Jack. These books are very intriguing and absolutely hilarious. I would highly recommend these books to anyone who enjoys Norse mythology or any other type of action packed book.

Maze Runner!

Have you heard of the Maze Runner series? Probably, it's gotten a lot more popular since the first book in the series has been made into a movie (with the other two in the series to follow). Since the Maze Runner series has gotten a lot more popular, I figured it would be good to tell about my opinion of it. Here's the basic idea of the first book: One day, a kid wakes up with no idea where or who he is. He learns that all of the kids around him were the same way and they have learned to survive while surrounded by a massive maze. But Thomas (the main character), is different than the rest of the kids and things change when he shows up. *Que dramatic music*

 The plot line of the first book is fantastic, it's super interesting and keeps your attention. The first book, in my opinion, is the best of the series. The second book in the series, Scorch Trails, was great as well, though maybe not as great as the first one, they add different elements to keep the story interesting. But, unfortunately, I feel the books decreased in quality as more were made (like the Hunger Games series), and the last book was not the greatest. Though it still has the characters you learn to love in it and it still follows the path introduced throughout the first two books, it was not as exciting as the other two books, yet it was still a good book. There is also a prequel (the Kill Order) before the first book takes place if you still can't get enough of the fictional world created by James Dashner. If these sound interesting to you, you should check them out. Below are the trailers to the first two books in this series.

Witch and Wizard!

What the heck, let's review another James Patterson series while we're at it. James Patterson writes a wide variety of books from kids to adults from sci-fi to mystery to fantasy. This series is a fantasy series. Witch and Wizard are about siblings who discover they're magical during a mass genocide of magical people. They are locked up, they get help, they escape, they get locked up again, they escape and are on the run, and they learn to use their powers along the way and discovery they are some of the most powerful magical kids in the world. This series consists of four books: Witch and Wizard, the Gift, the Fire, and the Kiss. The first three books were pretty good, but the fourth one wasn't the greatest. (And no, it's not because it's called the Kiss, the story wasn't as good in that one as the others in my opinion). If these books sound good to you, check them out!