Rating: 4/5 
 ***Minor spoilers*** 
 Magnus Chase hasn't had the best time lately. After his mother was attacked by wolves and she sacrificed herself to let him get away, he's been living on the streets. Before his mother died, she warned him not to talk to his Uncle Randolph. Unforunately for Magnus, Randolph finds him and brings him right into the hands of the fire lord Surt - and then Magnus dies. Before everything goes back, he seems to be lifted by some sort of angel... and then he wakes up, perfectly fine. Magnus is dead, but he's in Valhalla, where noble warriors who died with a weapon in their hand end up. However, those in Valhalla don't consider Magnus worthy, and they remove the Valkyrie responsible for bringing him there from the order of the Valkyries. With the help of those living on the same floor as him, he escapes to attempt to recover the Sword of Summer to stop Ragnarok, accompanied by Sam, his Valkyrie, as well as his friends from the street who turned out to be a drawf and an elf, Blitz and Hearth. 
 I was quite excited to read this book because it had been a while since I read any of Riordan's books (Percy Jackson is probably due for a reread). I went in not expecting it to be as enjoyable as Percy Jackson, because of the nostalgia factor and that I'd grown older since reading PJ. To be honest, the thing I was most excited for was learning about the Norse mythology, because I love learning about different mythologies, and Riordan's books make it fun. 
 I didn't find Magnus to be as interesting of a main character as Percy. (I can't help but compare this book to the PJ series.) I just feel like Percy was more of a warrior than Magnus. To be fair, Magnus's father is Frey, who isn't exactly known for his warrior skills. I did, however, get a bit tired of reading about how the sword was doing everything without Magnus wielding it himself. The way it worked was quite interesting, though. There was a little comment about it that I found amusing about Magnus needing a way to disguise the sword, and contemplating turning it into a pen before he's like "that would be silly." There are a lot of little PJ references throughout the book, and perhaps some Kane Chronicles references that I didn't recognize. 
 I liked the unique set of characters in this book. The main team consisted of a human (Magnus), a Valkyrie (Sam), a dwarf (Blitz) and an elf (Hearth). They each brought unique abilities to the team which I enjoyed. The only thing which was a bit overwhelming was all the different names for things introduced, including realm names, animal names, god names, and other names which included mostly an obscene amount of consonants strung together randomly. 
 Overall, this book was enjoyable, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did The Lightning Thief. I liked the main team in this book, even if Magnus wasn't as great as I wanted him to be. There were several Percy Jackson series references which were amusing, including references to the pen-sword, Jason Grace, and a few appearances from Annabeth. If you enjoyed Riordan's other work, or even if you haven't read anything from Riordan before (what are you doing? Go read Percy Jackson!) definitely check this out.