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.