The Sword Of Summer is the first book in the Magnus Chase series and is written by Rick Riordan. In this book, readers are introduced to Magnus Chase, a homeless teenager who lost his mother a few years ago and hangs around with his two friends (and for Percy Jackson fans, he’s the cousin to Annabeth Chase). Magnus’s life is flipped outside down when he learns that his father is a Norse god, and that he needs to go on a mission to retrieve his dad’s weapon to save the world. To do that, he needs to die. Unlike the Heroes of Olympus and Percy Jackson series, this series covers the Norse gods instead of the Greek and Roman gods, and readers don’t necessarily need any prior knowledge of those two series (though it is recommended).
I used to think that Rick Riordan caught lightning in a bottle when he made the characters in the Percy Jackson series, from Percy and Annabeth to Grover and Tyson. I said “used to” because this book convinced me that Rick Riordan is just that good at making great characters. Magnus Chase is the best character in this mythical universe since Percy and Annabeth (he’s on their level), and the characters of Hearth, Blitz, and Sam are all amazing too. Riordan’s writing style is great in this book (as always), and the plot is exciting, but it’s the characters that carry this book. In fact, one of my favorite characters in this book is a talking sword. I think my message is pretty clear: this is an amazing book.