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.

Let the Wind Rise by Shannon Messenger

Series: Sky Fall (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: sylphs, weather, elementals, abilities, mythology, supernatural, love

Setting: in the desert of Southern California, and on Mount Washington and in Nebraska and Oklahoma

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense, rotating between Vane and Audra

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 407 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Simon and Schuster: Simon Pulse

Summary/ product description: “Vane Weston is haunted. By the searing pull of his bond to Audra. By the lies he’s told to cover for her disappearance. By the treacherous winds that slip into his mind, trying to trap him in his worst nightmares. And as his enemies grow stronger, Vane doesn't know how much longer he can last on his own.

But Audra’s still running. From her past. From the Gales. Even from Vane, who she doesn't believe she deserves. And the farther she flees, the more danger she finds. She possesses the secret power her enemy craves, and protecting it might be more than she can handle—especially when she discovers Raiden’s newest weapon.

With the Gale Force weakened by recent attacks, and the power of four collapsing, Vane and Audra are forced to make a choice: keep trusting the failing winds, or turn to the people who've betrayed them before. But even if they survive the storms sent to destroy them, will they have anything left to hold on to?”

My Review:  Let the Wind Rise is the 3^rd and final book in the Sky Fall trilogy. I waited so long to finally read this series. I decided to series-binge it. I had copies of the first 2 books autographed and sitting on my shelf for a long time. I bought the 3rd book. I picked the perfect time of year to read this because it's set in summertime, in the desert of Southern California. If you have not read Let The Sky Fall and love paranormal romance and fantasy, then check it out. It’s very unique, since it’s about Sylphs, which are wind elementals. There’s a lot of cool Air-bender stuff, like controlling the winds and making tornadoes.

The series is told from the perspectives of two main characters, Vane and Audra. I really like Vane. He reminds me of Ethan Wate from Beautiful Creatures, or David from Steehert (The Reckoners) by Brandon Sanderson, and Percy Jackson or Magnus Chase from Rick Riordan’s series. He’s a Westerly and wasn’t aware of it for the last ten years until Audra triggered a break though and told him. Audra is pretty awesome too. She’s a tough fighter, a guardian and an Easterly. They fall in love, even though Vane is betrothed to a princess named Solana. There’s this evil sylph named Raiden who killed her parent and took over they’re castle. Vane must help Audra and the Gale Force defeat him. This series has a lot of action and humor and fantasy elements. I especially love Vane’s inner monologue and his dialogue. He is hilarious. I wish I could get a boyfriend like him. I wouldn’t want him to be lazy, but Vane’s defiantly not that lazy anymore. Audra is such a bad-a, and totally got his butt into shape.

If you have not read the series, then stop reading this review now.

In this final book, Audra is now Raiden’s prisoner, as well as Gus, a young member of the Gale Force and Vane’s new guardian. Audra bonded with Vane through a kiss at the end of the first book and through that bond she knows the Westerly language that Raiden desire to learn. Audra decides to break that bond to protect the language and it works. She forgets Westerly completely. She’s also afraid that breaking her bond will affect Vane’s love for her.

Meanwhile, Vane is planning with the Gale Force and now the leader, Os, decides he wants to teach them the power of pain, which means ruining the wind, breaking it. This is because the wind spikes that Vane wove with the power of four didn’t seem to be defeating the living storms, so Os have to break a Northerly within it to make it work. Vane is completely against this evil power of pain stuff. He wants to find a better way, or at least someone who won’t become a crazy power addict using it. So he seeks out Aston, an ex-Gale and ex-captive to Raiden and his awful torcher. Aston has experience with the power of pain and really wants Raiden dead. They also need Arella, Audra’s criminal mother, and Solana to help them. Vane, Solana, Aston, and Arella plan a rescue mission to save Audra and Gus, while Audra and Gus are trying their best to find a way to escape on their own.

And the escape is only part of the book. The rest of the book is an action-packed finally that will keep your heart racing till the very end. Will Vane be able to kill Raiden? Will Audra ever forgive her mother? Will Vane and Audra restore their bond? So many questions. Trust mean, the ending will leave you breathless. Will Vane and Audra get what they deserve? I will say I am pleased with the ending.

Cover Art Review: The cover is kind of cool, but the type choice seems to conflict with the image. It almost feels like a cover from a fantasy book from a decade or more ago. Or even more like a middle grade book.

Let the Storm Break by Shannon Messenger

Series: Sky Fall (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: sylphs, weather, elementals, abilities, mythology, supernatural, love

Setting: in the desert of Southern California

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense, rotating between Vane and Audra

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 381 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover originally, now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: Simon and Schuster: Simon Pulse

Summary/ product description: “Vane Weston is haunted. By the searing pull of his bond to Audra. By the lies he’s told to cover for her disappearance. By the treacherous winds that slip into his mind, trying to trap him in his worst nightmares. And as his enemies grow stronger, Vane doesn't know how much longer he can last on his own.

But Audra’s still running. From her past. From the Gales. Even from Vane, who she doesn't believe she deserves. And the farther she flees, the more danger she finds. She possesses the secret power her enemy craves, and protecting it might be more than she can handle—especially when she discovers Raiden’s newest weapon.

With the Gale Force weakened by recent attacks, and the power of four collapsing, Vane and Audra are forced to make a choice: keep trusting the failing winds, or turn to the people who've betrayed them before. But even if they survive the storms sent to destroy them, will they have anything left to hold on to?”

My Review:  I waited so long to finally read this series. I decided to series-binge it. I had copies of the first 2 books autographed and sitting on my shelf for a long time. I bought the 3rd book. I picked the perfect time of year to read this because it's set in summertime, in the desert of Southern California. I read the first book, but decided to just do a full review of the second book.

If you have not read Let The Sky Fall and love paranormal romance and fantasy, then check it out. It’s very unique, since it’s about Sylphs, which are wind elementals. There’s a lot of cool Air-bender stuff, like controlling the winds and making tornadoes. I’m not a fan of tornadoes, but I would definitely like it if I could control them. I definitely recommend it if you like books about people who can control the elements or do magic.

I love the characters. There are not many of them, so they are very easy to keep track of. The series is told from the perspectives of two main characters, Vane and Audra. I really like Vane. He reminds me of Ethan Wate from Beautiful Creatures and Percy Jackson. He’s a Westerly and wasn’t aware of it for the last ten years until Audra triggered a break though and told him. Audra is pretty awesome too. She’s a tough fighter, a guardian and an Easterly. I like the romance between them. It’s sweet, although it’s forbidden.

Audra can now understand Westerlies though her bond and seems to suddenly have the same aversion to violence that Vane has because of his Westerly nature. Audra is searching for something. She flew off somewhere and has been gone almost a month. Vane’s worried. He keeps having nightmare caused by Raiden (the evil Northerly who wants to capture him and torture the Westerly language out of him) and because of this he’s forcing himself to stay awake.

He’s got two Gale’s guarding him Feng and Gus. Gus is closer to his age and much more laid back and has a sense of humor. Feng trains Vane in fighting with Northerlies. I really like Gus too. He reminds me of Jace from the Mortal Instruments kind of. Vane’s adoptive parents now know about the Sylph, and are very supportive but also worried. Vane’s mother especially. Os, the leader of the Gales offers to take Vane to someplace where he can sleep without Raiden invading his dream, but it turn out to be a not-so-great place. Not dangerous for him, but it also holds a prison cell for a murderer.

When he gets back, he finally meets Solana. The Gale Force (the sylph military and guardian) seems to expect him to bond with Solana, the last descendent of the royal line and a Southerly. Vane and Audra already bonded though a kiss in the last book, and Vane is madly in love, so when he meets Solana, he kind of throw a fit. Vane’s stubborn and doesn’t want the Gale’s telling him what to do and who to love.

When Audra returns, everyone must prepare for battle against Raiden. Raiden now has an even darker power up his sleeve. One that turns Gales into weapons for his own use. When the battle begins, there’s no telling who will be left standing. This action-packed sequel will knock the wind out of you leaving you breathless and your head swirling for more.

Cover Art Review: I do like the old cover. It reminds me too much of the Hush, Hush series though. The newer cover is kind of cool, but the type choice seems to conflict with the image. It almost feels like a cover from a fantasy book from a decade or more ago. Or even more like a middle grade book.