The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Fantasy adventure with mythology

Subjects: adventure, fantasy, gods, magic, mythology, Norse mythology, paranormal, summer, supernatural, Valkyries, gods and goddesses, Massachusetts, humor

Setting: Boston, Massachusetts, and the world of Norse Mythology, Valhalla, and the Nine Worlds

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Magnus Chase

Age/Grade Level: Teen, maybe younger, middle school and up?

Length: 459 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $19.99

Publisher: Hyperion

Summary/ product description: “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:  The Hammer of Thor is the hilarious and fun sequel to the Sword of Summer in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase series. Like all of Rick’s YA and MG books, it takes mythology and puts it in modern day and add funny twists. In this sequel, Thor’s hammer was stolen, likely by giants since they’re the ones who’ve done it in the past, and Thor’s wants Magnus and his friends to get it back.

Magnus is the demi-god son of the Norse god Frey and cousin of Annabeth, daughter of Athena, from the Percy Jackson series. His friends are Samirah, a muslim girl who moonlights as a Valkyrie, retrieving souls of fallen heroes. There’s Blitzen, a drawf with a great fashion sense and Hearthstone, a deaf elf with an affinity for rune-stone magic. There’s the einherji, the fallen heroes that live on the same floor as Magnus: T.J, Halfborn, and Mallory. They gain a new ally who’s an einherji too named Alex. Alex is a child of Loki like Samirah, but Alex is a gender-fluid argr, and usually a girl, but sometimes has very male days. Alex shape-shifts into animal often, but doesn’t have control of when she’s male or female. It’s very confusing.

They go on a journey through the nine worlds. They have to find a special sword and the stone that sharpens the blade. They travel from Midgard to Alfheim, Jotunheim, and Asgard. It’s a dangerous quest full of perils like angry elves, bowling giants, and gods who take selfies with a phablet using a sword as a selfie-stick. It’s a fun thrill-ride and never boring, but it took me a while to get through this book. It’s not fast-paced because you have to really work to picture some of the silly stuff that happens, and sometimes it get wordy. I really enjoyed it, but I was pretty busy and it took me two weeks to finish this.

If you have read and enjoyed Loki’s Wolves, Odin’s Ravens, and Thor’s Serpent by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr, then I highly recommend this book. Also fans of the Thor movies, or anything myth-related. Norse Mythology is hot and different from the Greek stuff. This book is fun and you will learn about Norse Mythology, even if Rick has twisted it a little.

Cover Art Review: Great illustration! Very typical of Rick Riordan books.

Flying by Carrie Jones

Series: Flying (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/Comedy

Subjects: aliens, alien hunters, cheerleaders

Setting: New Hampshire and Maine

POV/Tense: 1^st person, present tense: Mana

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 249 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Macmillan: Tor

Summary/ product description: “New York Times bestselling author Carrie Jones introduces sassy alien-hunting cheerleader Mana in Flying, the launch of a sparkling new YA SF series.

People have always treated seventeen-year-old Mana as someone in need of protection. She's used to being coddled, being an only child, but it's hard to imagine anything could ever happen in her small-town, normal life. As her mother's babying gets more stifling than ever, she's looking forward to cheering at the big game and getting out of the house for a while.

But that night, Mana's life goes haywire.

First, the hot guy she's been crushing on at school randomly flips out and starts spitting acid during the game. Then they get into a knockdown, drag-out fight in the locker room, during which Mana finds herself leaping around like a kangaroo on steroids. As a flyer on the cheerleading squad, she's always been a good jumper, but this is a bit much. By the time she gets home and finds her house trashed and an alien in the garage, Mana starts to wonder if her mother had her reasons for being overprotective.

It turns out, Mana's frumpy, timid mom is actually an alien hunter, and now she's missing--taking a piece of technology with her that everyone wants their hands on, both human and alien. Now her supposed partner, a guy that Mana has never met or heard of (and who seems way too young and way too arrogant to be hunting aliens), has shown up, ordering Mana to come with him. Now, on her own for the first time, Mana will have to find a way to save her mother--and maybe the world--and hope she's up to the challenge.”

My Review:  Flying is a crazy, hilarious sci-fi thrill ride. At times the humor may seem a little over the top, but that’s the fun of it. It’s sci-fi comedy. This is the first book of a new series by Carrie Jones, author of the Need series, which was also fun and creative. Much like that series, this one is set in New England, New Hampshire and Maine.

Mana is a cheerleader. She’s the flyer because she’s short and her friends September and Lyle are bases. Mana has a crush on a drummer named Dakota, but during a basket ball game a guy attacks Dakota. It turns out that Dakota is an alien and a jerk. The guy beating his up is named China and he’s an alien hunter. China’s a bit cocky and weird and claims that Mana’s mother is an alien hunter and his partner. Mana thinks he means partner in love, even though he’s only in his 20’s. That’s not what he meant, of course.

Mana’s mom is missing and she supposedly has a chip with some important information of it. Enemy aliens are likely holding her hostage if she’s not dead already. Mana and China end up letting Lyle in on this too and they go on an adventure-investigation. They go to a facility in Maine that China works at and met an alien Fae named Pierce. Mana also discovers that she herself has abilities and start to doubt whether she herself is human.

That last 50 pages are so crazy and full of twists. This book may have took me a while to read because I was so busy with back-to-school stuff, but once it gets going it is really fast paces. I recommend it to fans of Daniel X by James Patterson, Taken by Kimberly Derting and Rush by Eve Silver.

Cover Art Review: Very funky. Fits the book perfectly.

Nothing Bad is Going to Happen by Kathleen Hale

Series: No One Else Can Have You (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Realistic Fiction/Mystery

Subjects: humor, comedy, murder, mystery, small towns, winter

Setting: Friendship, Wisconsin (which is north of the Wisconsin Dells) before Halloween

POV/Tense: 1st person present tense. Kippy’s POV.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 260 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Geeze Louise, for such a small town, there sure are a lot of murders in Friendship, Wisconsin.

After helping to catch the man who murdered her best friend, Kippy Bushman was looking forward to life returning to normal. Well, at least as normal as it could get in a town like hers. But then the unthinkable happens: Kippy finds her boyfriend, Davey, in his house, barely breathing and surrounded by pills and empty beer bottles.

The sheriff is quick to rule the incident an attempted suicide, but Kippy refuses to believe it. She and Davey are completely in love; there’s no way he’d ever hurt himself. Right?

Kippy swears she saw someone else at Davey’s house that night and is convinced that person tried to murder him. Without any real evidence, though, no one—not even Kippy’s own father—believes her. So she has no choice but to team up with her former nemesis, Bible-thumping Libby, to try to catch this new killer. But in a town where everyone has their own secrets and a next-door neighbor could be a serial killer, who’s left to trust?”

My Review: Nothing Bad is Going to Happen is the hilarious sequel to No One Else Can Have You. I don’t think there will be a 3^rd book, but ya never know. Anyways, despite what other reviewers think, this book was pretty awesome. Maybe they were just being jerks, don’tcha know?

Kippy Bushman was almost murdered and has a leg cast to prove it. She caught her best friend’s killer, but the Sheriff took the credit for it, and made her look like a crazy person. The killer was a friend named Ralph who’s totally a sociopath and now locked up in Green Bay Correctional Facility. He keeps sending her creepy letters and calling her.

When Kippy find her boyfriend passed out on the night they planned to have sex, she calls 911. She think she saw a shadow figure and that no way could Davey commit suicide, but they rule it as attempted suicide because the bottles of alcohol and empty pill bottle. Kippy enlists Libby, a girl who used to be mean to her, but who’s now her only ally, to help her find evidence of Davey’s attempted murder. Filled with mystery, crazy twists and hilarious laughs, it’s the perfect sequel.

This book series is set in (Wisconsin) the hat of the state I live in (Illinois), I place I love dearly and the state that I visited the most. I’ve seen more of Wisconsin than Illinois. And I’m familiar with Wisconsinisms and their love of the Packers and cheese and all that. Friendship, Wisconsin is a real town near Baraboo, which I camped at Devil’s Lake State Park last year. The real Friendship, of course, is nothing like the one in the books.

The humor in this book is my favorite part. Sometimes it’s very dirty and full of swearing and things that make me cringe just thinking of because it sound erotic, but I cracked up reading this so many times that I sure that if I had read this in public, people would be staring at me. I think the characters came along better in this sequel. Kippy seems less strange and more smart than she did in the first book. Libby’s nice to her now and really helpful. Rose, the anger management counselor, is now dating Kippy’s dad Dom. Rosa is so hilarious. She’s Polish and speaks in broken English and calls Kippy by the most hilarious pet names, like Mud Dumpling, and says things like “Soup is on.” I’m like 20% Polish myself and I find her hilarious.

I recommend this series to people who love watching comedies, or reading books by Heather Keeble or Gretchen McNeil.

Cover Art Review: I love the donuts! They’re so cute….until you read the book and realize why they’re on the cover.