Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

          My favorite book this year was Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer, the first book in the series by Rick Riordan.  The book has the genres of fantasy, mythology, and action, because of the elements of magic, being based off of Norse mythology, and that battles are taking place throughout the book.  In the story, Magnus Chase is a sixteen year old homeless boy, living in Boston, Massachusetts with no parents.  His mother is dead and he has never met his father.  One day, Magnus and his friends Blitz and Hearth come across Surt, the Norse god of fire.  Surt battles Magnus on a bridge, and Magnus ends up dying during the battle.  Magnus then is brought to Valhalla by Samirah al-Abbas, the hotel for dead heroes, where he comes back to life.  This is when Magnus learns that he is the son of a Norse god.  From there, Magnus and a few of his new friends from Valhalla join together to embark on a journey to try to prevent Surt from releasing an evil, immortal wolf from containment.  Also, they must try to retrieve the powerful Sword of Summer.
          Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and a few of those reasons was its constant action, the twists and turns, along with the humor within the book.  There are always some sort of battles going on, keeping you excited.  There is also many surprises that I did not see coming.  Whenever you read a Rick Riordan book, you can expect to have a good laugh.  Riordan always makes sure that even the chapter titles are funny, such as "Phil the Potato Meets His Doom."  I recommended this book to anyone who enjoys magic and action, and people that have read Rick Riordan's other mythology series.
                                                                                                                   -Aidan M.