Mythology – Erin Penn's Second Base

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Rick Riordan has done more than just the Percy Jackson with the Greek gods of Olympus (reviewed here in 2024). There are Kane Chronicles with the Egyptian gods (reviewed here in 2025), Magnus Chase and the Norse gods (reviewed here today in 2026), and The Heroes series featuring the Roman legion and their gods (something for 2027 maybe?). Plus a ton of support material.

Now onto the Norse, and Anabelle’s dead cousin, Magnus.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Sword of Summer

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by an uncle he barely knows—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

MY REVIEW for The Sword of Summer

Magnus Chase is cousin to Annabeth Chase (yes, that Annabeth, daughter of Athena and mental powerhouse to Percy’s hurricane of loyalty). Seems like Greek gods aren’t the only ones to play the field on Midgard and the Chases have a much stronger link to the Norse pantheon than the Greek. The plus for Magnus is unlike the Greek clean-up squad for demigods, which usually start hunting the kids between 11 and 13, Magnus got a normal life until he turned 16. If by normal, the definition is your mother is killed by wolves with glowing eyes leaving you homeless at age 13 – sure.

Magnus is 16 and then he dies. A fire giant kills him in Boston; dying in battle gets him taken to Valhalla. Then things get interesting.

Magnus’ upbringing is very different from Percy (with a loving parent) or the Kanes (again, raised by loving parents or grandparents). He is a street rat; life has been hard, and then he died. Yes, he had a loving parent for his formative years, but three years on the street means he values things differently, sees interactions between people differently. He knows everyone has an angle.

The story isn’t as funny as Percy, but has strong action and forward movement which the dual narrative of the Kane Chronicles struggled with. Middlegrade silliness still exists in some of the twists on the gods, but the great one-liners and flat-out laughs of Percy are less prevalent. Still, strong action, great interpretation of mythology into something new without ignoring the old, and amazing characters. From Sam, Samirah al-Abbas, of mid-Eastern descent, a Valkyrie; to Jack the talking sword; to Hearthstone, homeless elf and rune mage – each character is unique, has a solid backstory, and have goals that work together and against the other characters.

Not the best of the Rick Riordan series but then Percy Jackson is a very high bar to hurdle. Magnus Chase book 1 is still very good.

Read through the local library.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Hammer of Thor

Thor’s hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon–the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn’t just lost. It has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can’t retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn. Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for the hammer’s return is the gods’ worst enemy, Loki–and the price he wants is very high.

MY REVIEW for The Hammer of Thor

I enjoyed this second Magnus Chase book much more than the first. Establishing a main character where dying was a step up, dragged some of the fun feels down in The Sword of Summer. The Hammer of Thor brings the connection of friendship, the snark of teenagers, and the complications of questing back to the high levels I expect of a Rick Riordan book.

Thor’s hammer is still missing, and Sam – our friendly Muslim Valkyrie – has finally tracked down a lead. From a wright’s cursed barrow to Heimdall’s bright rainbow bridge, our hero Magnus with his close friends Hearth and Bliz trace clues and quests. In the previous book we visited the dwarf underground homeworld where everything is handcrafted. This time we meet Hearthstone’s homeworld of Alfheim, a land of perpetual sunshine and even the poorest person (at least how elves define personhood) is rich. More Asgardian gods show their faces and more giants gather near Midgard borders.

New companions join them on this journey when Sam brings another child of Loki to Valhalla. Alex is crafty and killing it from the very first field exercise. Alex is also as gender bending as his/her parent.

Seeing the sibling similarities and differences between Sam and Alex is fascinating; you don’t doubt they are both Loki’s children, but also completely different people. They are as different as Hearth and Bliz’s homeworlds held in the singular worldtree.

The lore deepens. I adore how Mr. Riordan takes existing mythology and crafts a story around it. A wonderful adventurous story.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Ship of the Dead

Magnus Chase, a once-homeless teen, is a resident of the Hotel Valhalla and one of Odin’s chosen warriors. As the son of Frey, the god of summer, fertility, and health, Magnus isn’t naturally inclined to fighting. But he has strong and steadfast friends, including Hearthstone the elf, Blitzen the dwarf, and Samirah the Valkyrie, and together they have achieved brave deeds, such as defeating Fenris Wolf and battling giants for Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Now Magnus faces his most dangerous trial yet. His cousin, Annabeth, recruits her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, to give Magnus some pointers, but will his training be enough? Loki is free from his chains. He’s readying Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, complete with a host of giants and zombies, to sail against the Asgardian gods and begin the final battle of Ragnarok. It’s up to Magnus and his friends to stop him, but to do so they will have to sail across the oceans of Midgard, Jotunheim, and Niflheim in a desperate race to reach Naglfar before it’s ready to sail. Along the way, they will face angry sea gods, hostile giants, and an evil fire-breathing dragon. Magnus’s biggest challenge will be facing his own inner demons. Does he have what it takes to outwit the wily trickster god?

MY REVIEW for The Ship of the Dead

Magnus Chase book 3: The Ship of the Dead delivers the ending of this middle grade trilogy.

While never as humorous as Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase builds onto a universe already as deep and wide as an ocean, creating ships (banana yellow), gods (with beautiful feet), and icebergs melting along the edge of Ragnarök. Loki does Loki; Odin does motivational speaking, and Alex brings the chaos (s/he was a great addition to the series).

Great action, great mythology, great characters.

(checked out for the local library – remember to support your local library system)

You likely have heard about Rick Riordan and his Percy Jackson series (I even reviewed Percy Jackson and the Olympians series back in November 2024). But what you may not know is Mr. Riordan has written several other series set in other mythologies. Today I’m going to review the core books of the Kane Chronicles (books 1-3). I have loved Egyptian mythology since watching The Secrets of Isis as a child (on television 1975-1976 plus reruns thereafter – come, on, of course I watched the first regular superhero-type show to star a female lead), so I jumped on reading this middle-grade series once I knew it existed.

The Kane Chronicles
Book 1: The Red Pyramid
Book 2: The Throne of Fire
Book 3: The Serpent’s Shadow

All books checked out and read through my local library system. These are extremely popular and are likely in your local library too.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE RED PYRAMID

The bestselling author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians takes on ancient Egypt in the first book of a trilogy that offers a modern-day portal into a rich fantastical world of ancient myth.

Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a “research experiment” at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them–Set–has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe — a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

MY REVIEW for THE RED PYRAMID

The Kane Chronicles is no Percy Jackson and the Olympiads, and that is just fine.

What is the same:
Children between the ages of 10 and 14 doing their best to survive in a world where parents (apparently – but, not really) have made bad choices.
Parent bad choices are based on tradition and history and complications of relationships – where sometimes the choices they faced were bad or worse. The parents choose the horrible ones that would at least let their children grow up.
A historical mythology is taken, obviously well-researched, and adjusted by worldbuilding to a rare tightly woven tapestry.

What is different:
Egyptian mythology (instead of Greek) with its layers of dynasties and changes over the millenniums; and Mr. Riordan integrates the fabric of multiple dynasties into a coherent whole.
Sibling dynamics instead of friendship dynamics.
More female power roles. – Not to say Annabeth isn’t a powerhouse on her own, but in the end she is the Main Character’s (Percy Jackson’s) girlfriend. Sadie, sharing the title of “The Kane Chronicles,” is even more important to the story, standing equal to her brother. Their “chaperone” isn’t a satyr (male), centaur (male), or camp head-god (male), but female (cat-goddess). Their strongest ally in the enemy camp is also female.
Parent bonds are with the Father instead of the Mother.

Overall, the pacing is slower than the breakneck speed of Percy, but I appreciated the time to breathe between attacks. (The monsters are JUST as fascinating.) The humor is dialed back a notch, but then both Carter’s and Sadie’s upbringing were more restrictive than Percy’s. Meanwhile the world-hopping wonder we previously experienced in Percy is cranked up to eleven here, with the entire globe a playground for the Egyptian magicians. I look forward to what other connections Mr. Riordan make between Egyptian architecture linking locations around the sphere we call Earth, or Geb’s rolling landscape.

Not the same, because that would be boring. But not too different either.

Bonus diversity points – (1) stronger women characters; (2) the melanin and cultural differences of the world stage play a stronger role than the more USA-centric focus of Percy.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE THRONE OF FIRE

Ever since the gods of ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister, Sadie, have been in trouble.

As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command, but the devious gods haven’t given them time to master their skills at Brooklyn House, a training ground for young magicians.

And now their most threatening enemy yet—the Chaos snake, Apophis—is rising. If they don’t prevent him from breaking free in a few days’ time, the world will end. In other words, it’s a typical week for the Kane family.

To have any chance of battling the forces of Chaos, the Kanes must revive the sun god, Ra. But that would be a feat more difficult than any magician has ever accomplished. First they have to search the world for the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells. Oh, and did we mention that no one knows where Ra is, exactly?

Narrated by two different wisecracking voices, featuring a large cast of new and unforgettable characters, and with adventures spanning the globe, this second installment of the Kane Chronicles is nothing short of a thrill ride.

MY REVIEW for THE THRONE OF FIRE

I continue to love the worldbuilding of all the places Egyptian relics have been moved or copied throughout the world. If I had the money, I would LOVE to do a trip to hit everything in the Kane Chronicles in America and around the world.

This is a fun world-spanning adventure. The tension is diffused often, keeping the “scary” down to middle-grade levels (in fact, it could be much higher without a problem) – for example the “ticking” clock keeps fast forwarding, stopping, and going backward. A thriller ticking clock should be clear and as you go through a book, tightening from days to hours to seconds. This book begs this mechanism from the first moment of the countdown to the end of the world, but never really delivers on it.

Other than that, great character, great adventures, great battles, creative magic use, worldbuilding galore. Perfect in every way (aside from the thriller not being allowed its timebomb tension).

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE SERPENT’S SHADOW

He’s b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sadie Kane can’t seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down.

Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all.

Unfortunately, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos.

The Kanes’ only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent’s own shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for a millennia. To find the answer they need, the Kanes must rely on the murderous ghost of a powerful magician who might be able to lead them to the serpent’s shadow . . . or might lead them to their deaths in the depths of the underworld.

Nothing less than the mortal world is at stake when the Kane family fulfills its destiny in this thrilling conclusion to the Kane Chronicles.

MY REVIEW for THE SERPENT’S SHADOW

The exciting conclusion of the Kane Chronicles delivers in The Serpent’s Shadow. Complicated teenage love, stealing the shadow of chaos, and the sun being swallowed all add layers to the exploits of our favorite Egyptian magicians. This is what middle-grade books should be like. Real children problem-solving to the edge of reality and beyond.

While not as fun as the Percy Jackson storyline, the Kane Chronicles have their own hieroglyphic charm. Times two, because of the sister-brother team.

(Also enjoy the Easter Eggs as House Aphrodite participate in the school dance.)

Tag: Mythology

Book Review (SERIES): Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Book Review (SERIES): The Kane Chronicles