Is it just me, or does it seem like Norse mythology got
really popular all of a sudden? Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is getting a miniseries (which in all fairness has
only a couple Norse deities, no spoilers), Marvel is making its third
Thor-centric film, and now Rick Riordan is throwing angsty teens at the mercy
of Norns, Valkyries, dwarves and giants, not to mention the gods themselves.
Now, this isn’t Riordan’s first mythology rodeo, as anyone who loves the Percy
Jackson and the Olympians series can tell you. In fact, the Greek and Norse
pantheons aren’t the only divine playgrounds he’s visited in his books. But
what of the stories themselves? Is each new hero basically Percy Jackson with a
different coat of paint? It may seem so with newcomer Magnus Chase, but the
clever reimagining of the worlds of Yggdrasil and the characters joining Magnus
in this adventure offer much to enjoy.
