Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3: The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan

My name is Magnus, and my friends and I must stop Loki from starting Ragnorak and destroying the world. We're sailing across the seas in an obnoxiously yellow ship, and we've managed to survive a battle with giants and retrieved the whetstone after killing Hearth's father. I have no idea how the whetstone will help stop Loki, but I know everything hinges on winning a flyting against him. Loki is a trickster, and no one has ever defeated him in the contest of insults. We first need to get past the guardians of Kvasir's Mead, and find Loki on the Ship of the Dead, and survive the other monsters and gods that are sure to pop up. The gods and goddesses are moody and hold grudges, so I'm never sure when I might anger them. Oh well, it won't really matter if we all die during Ragnorak.

If you've read other books by Riordan, you'll know how amazing it is that we've managed to survive all the disasters planned by Norse, Greek, and Roman gods and goddesses. This series is a bit different from Riordan's other series in that Magnus's close friends are more unique; an elf, a dwarf, a berzerker, and a sword. That's right, Magnus's sword called Jack is an emotional, talking romantic. In addition, Hearth is deaf, and all of his comments are in italicized sign language. Sam is observing Ramadan, so she is fasting during the adventure. Alex's character wakes up each morning as a boy or girl; you're never quite sure until she/he starts talking. Magnus has feelings for Alex, but he doesn't know how to act toward him/her. As usual, the plot blends action, mystery, and humor to create a very entertaining story. Each step of the journey is sure to end with a fight or some type of trickery. The flyting made me very curious to get to the climax. After all the godly intervention and fighting, the defeat of Loki would come down to a battle of insults? It was either going to be very interesting or a huge letdown. Actually, it was well done and fit Magnus's character.