Wednesday, December 07, 2016

The Hammer of Thor

The Hammer of Thor. Rick Riordan. 2016. 471 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Lesson learned: If you take a Valkyrie out for coffee, you'll get stuck with the check and a dead body.

Premise/plot: Magnus Chase and his friends are back for a second save-the-world adventure. In this one, they must find a way to retrieve Thor's Hammer and keep a dangerous sword out of the hands of Loki, a sword that would free him. It won't be easy--lives will be put on the line more than once. But they've got a new sidekick, Alex, a son-daughter of Loki. Alex is gender-fluid. From what readers are told, his/her gender isn't something that she/he decides from one minute to the next. Literally, Alex could wake up female and go to bed male. Even throughout one day--there could be a lot of fluidity. This is something that Alex embraces and champions. Alex is, as you can imagine, a bit defensive and very opinionated. Other sidekicks include Samirah al-Abbas (Loki's daughter, a devout Muslim), Hearthstone (deaf elf) and Blitzen (dwarf). There are others--his neighbors--but Sam, Hearth, Blitz, and Alex are essentially his team.

My thoughts: I liked it okay. I didn't love, love, love it. It had its moments. It did. I wish now I'd marked which passages or scenes I liked or loved. I have a feeling that would give me a better sense of how I really "feel" about this one. I think if you're in the right mood, and, if you don't mind a representation of Thor that leaves him wanting, then this one could satisfy. Riordan's THOR is night and day different from THOR from the Marvel movies. And having just rewatched all the movies, it just left me disgruntled.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

Cee Arr @ Dora Reads said...

I suppose it only stands to reason that Riordan's Thor would be different to Marvel's since their both interpretations of the Norse god - and I doubt anyone sees a Norse god the same as anyone else, the same as no-one sees any god the same as anyone else.

Alex sounds awesome - I just hope their representation is good instead of flawed.