Riordan Retrospective: The Dark Prophecy

Welcome once again to the Riordan Retrospective.  For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan.  That means we're taking a look at Percy Jackson, its sequel series and its spin-off series.  This is less of a formal review, and more of a look back, along with my thoughts and observations.  Last time we took a look back at The Hammer of Thor, the absolute rock bottom of both the Magnus Chase series and Rick Riordan's writing career.  This time, we're returning to The Trials of Apollo for a much, much better written book.  We're taking a look back at The Dark Prophecy, The Trials of Apollo book 2.  Let's kick things off with a brief summary.

Apollo is on a quest to restore his godhood by restoring the sources of prophecy.  He and his companions Leo Valdez and Calypso have arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Apollo needs to restore the Oracle of Trophonius, but that's easier said than done.  Our trio of heroes will find danger around every corner as they try to outsmart the second member of the Triumvirate.  However, they'll also find new friends and allies in unexpected places.  Being a depowered god isn't easy, but Apollo will get by with a little help from his friends.

As per usual, there will be spoilers beyond this point, so turn back now if you don't want any of that.  

As I've mentioned before, it really feels like The Trials of Apollo was written to address the criticisms of The Heroes of Olympus.  For starters, Leo is far less annoying and overall it feels like he's been considerably toned down.  It almost redeemed him to me.  Almost, but not quite.  I also like how Leo and Calypso's relationship felt a bit more realistic.  They get into more fights and disagreements, and it was always a joy to reading about Calypso hitting Leo.  One of the big causes of friction with Calypso and Leo is that Calypso has lost her magic after leaving Ogygia.  Yeah, I'd probably be pissed too in that situation.  Though, I will say I have to take issue with Calypso's dream of going to high school.  

Seriously?  After thousands of years Calypso is finally free, the world is her oyster, and her big dream is to go to high school?  She seems to forget high school is...well, school.  There's test, grades, projects and shit.  You don't spend all day goofing around with your friends.  Also, high schools have bullies, just saying.  Something tells me that she's going to be thinking "you know, comparatively speaking, this shithole is more of a prison that Ogygia ever was." 

Yeah, Calypso clearly has an overly romanticized view of high school.  Let's put a pin in that concept, it will be important when we get to The Burning Maze.  Anyway, continuing on with the theme of minimalism, this book is set entirely in the city of Indianapolis.  Once again, Riordan tells a compelling story without it ever feeling claustrophobic.  I also really loved that we finally get some older demigods playing a role in the story.  Well, technically speaking, Hemithea is a legacy of Dionysus and a former minor goddess, but the point still stands.  Hey, Josephine is a daughter of Hecate, which is nice in itself.  Good to see the children of the minor gods getting more representation.   Emmie and Jo live in a magical building called the Waystation, a refuge for demigods and other magical beings.  The Waystation is bigger on the inside than outside, and thus we must conclude that Emmie and Jo are Time Lords, and Waystation is their TARDIS...nah, I'm just being silly. 

On a more serious note, Emmie and Jo also teach us quite a bit about how the Hunters of Artemis work.  Apparently, when Artemis said no romance, she meant it.  Gay romance is just as off-limits as straight romance in the Hunters. Well, that's the opposite of what I figured.  I always pegged the Hunters as the type to have nightly lesbian orgies, but I guess I was wrong.  It also appears that, upon leaving the Hunters, the former Hunters resuming aging at a normal rate.  Their clocks become unpaused, as it were.  I'll add that one thing I liked about Jo is that she shows the potential creativity and flexibility demigods have with their powers.  She's a daughter of Hecate, but her specialty is magical technology.  As such, she makes all kinds of lovely magical machines to rival anything a child of Hephaestus might craft. 

Also, Emmie and Jo are well written LGBT characters, unlike a certain green-haired sociopath hailing from the Magnus Chase series.  I'm just saying, it's pretty clear that Rick knows how to write gay and bisexual characters, but he's pretty clueless about transgender characters.  Also, just a thought, but Rick says that the reason his leads tend to be dudes are because he's a dude, and that's his experience.  Now consider that Apollo is a bisexual...hey, Uncle Rick?  Is there something you'd like to share with the class?  On the other hand, Rick isn't black like Carter, or a girl like Sadie, so I suppose that pokes a hole in that theory.  

Among notable monsters, this book sees the blemmyae make an appearance.  They're those creatures that look like people with faces in the center of their chests.  I found the way they were described amusing, as Apollo make them sound like monsters off of an episode of Power Rangers.  Marco Polo claimed to have encountered blemmyae on his famous journey to China.  Hmm, I wonder if Marco Polo was a demigod in the Riordanverse?  

Among the new gods to appear, Britimartis was interesting.  She used to be the Minoan goddess of the hunt, but now is the Greek goddess of nets and traps.  There are scholars who believe that Britimartis was a pre-existing goddess who got incorporated into the Greek Pantheon.  Of course, we know basically nothing about the Minoans, since we have no Minoan version of the Rosetta Stone, so who knows?  Headless Agamethus and his magic eight ball were fun too. 

Now let's talk about the second member of the Triumvirate.  We know that Nero is emperor one, and pretty much everyone called Caligula as emperor number three, but there was a lot of speculation about emperor two.  I'd floated around the idea that it might be Commodus, and it appears I was right.  I'd actually been a bit hesitant about pinning Commodus as number two.  Few would argue that Commodus wasn't an incompetent emperor, but it might be a bit of stretch to say he was as evil as Nero and Caligula.  Commodus was, basically, a spoiled trust-fund kid.  He was more interested in living it up and partying than he was in governing Rome.  He also loved to dress us as Hercules, hence his nickname The New Hercules.  To put it into perspective how ridiculous that is, imagine if the president of the Untied States insisted on giving speeches while dressed as Superman or Captain America. 

I will say that I give props to Riordan for including how Commodus died.  He was indeed drowned in a bath.  Though, in the Riordanverse, it was his lover Apollo that did him in.  That's one of the things the film Gladiator gets wrong, though to be fair, it would be hard to make that an emotionally dramatic scene.  Also, Commodus did not kill his father Marcus Aurelius, and there was no movement to make Rome a republic again.  Gladiator plays fast and loss with history, but it's still an enjoyable and well-made film.  While not completely historically accurate, it captures the feeling of what it was like to live in the Roman Empire well.  Perhaps I'll give it a proper review at some point.  Well, that aside over, back to the retrospective.

You know, it gets me thinking, what if there's a good counterpart to Triumvirate Holdings?  If the bad emperors are running around, it stands to reason that there are the good ones somewhere out there.  Maybe they could be emperors with connections to the Triumvirate?  Obvious, Marcus Aurelius for Commodus, and Claudius for Caligula.  He was Caligula's uncle, and is widely considered the smartest of the emperors.  For Nero, perhaps Augustus?  Julius Caesar wasn't emperor, but maybe he could appear too?  Titus and Tiberius might also make good candidates.  

We also get some excellent worldbuilding in this book.  We know that Chinese Mythology is real, as Apollo mentions nearly hitting a Chinese dragon with his sun chariot one time.  Then we meet Olujime from Nigeria.  He's clearly got a connection to the Yoruba orishas, meaning Yoruba Mythology is true.  Specifically, he's got some kind of connection to Shango, orisha of thunder.  Orisha's are basically the same things as gods, just a matter of semantics.  Shango is associated with black and red, as is Jaime.  Shango's symbol is the double headed axe, which Jamie fights with.  Jaime also has lighting powers, and as mentioned, Shango is god of thunder.  Shango is also believed to possibly be an inspiration for the American folk hero John Henry.  Oh course, John Henry was real in the Riordanverse, but he was a son of Thor.  Yet another mark against Magnus Chase, but I digress.   

It's a damn shame that Rick isn't going to be tackling non-Western mythologies.  He's clearly got a passion and knowledge in them, much as he'd like to deny that.  Of course, just look at how many books he's written as it is.  My theory on why the Rick Riordan Presents imprint came about is that Rick is getting worn out from all the writing, and knows it was this or hiring ghost writers to keep up with demand.  The fact that it gave him an opportunity to virtue signal about promoting minority writers just happened to be a nice bonus.  Like I said, just speculation on my part. 

The scene where Apollo loses his memories when going to the Oracle of Trophonius was fun.  Rick should have his characters get high more often. Also, note that he destroys Trophonius, rather than restoring him.  I can't help but wonder if that's going to have significance in the future books of the trilogy.    Also, yay, Thalia is back.  I was a bit disappointed that she didn't play a bigger role, but I'll take what I can get.  It would have been nice if Artemis had appeared to, but maybe in the future books.  In other small, but by no means insignificant appearances, Grover is back!  He's back at last!  Of course, we'll talk more about him when we get to The Burning Maze.  

Now then, let's analyze the cover.  The see Apollo riding on a griffin along with...well, I'm not entirely sure.  My impulse is to say Calypso, but the Hunters of Artemis jacket is throwing me for a loop.  We also see war ostriches wearing Imperial German pickelhaube.  I just knew I was in for a good time when I saw this book cover.  Robbie Daymond continues doing excellent work as narrator of the audiobook version.  

Well, that should do it for this retrospective.  I know I've said it before, but I'm glad to have all of you along for the ride with me.  It was nice to do one of a book I enjoyed.  I bring this up because next time we're heading back to Magnus Chase for another bad book beat down.  Join me again next time when we take a look back at The Ship of the Dead.  I will see you all next time.  

Riordan Retrospective: The Hammer of Thor

Welcome once again to the Riordan Retrospective.  For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan.  That means we're taking a look at Percy Jackson, its sequel series and its spin-off series.  This is less of a formal review, and more of a look back, along with my thoughts and observations.  Last time we took a look back at the companion book Camp Half-Blood Confidential.  This time, we return to Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard for the moment you've all been waiting for.  We're taking at The Hammer of Thor, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 2.  Let's kick things off with a brief summary. 

Magnus Chase, son of the Norse god Frey, has been adjusting fairly well to his afterlife in Valhalla.  Ah, but things rarely stay calm for long.  Thor's hammer is missing again, and if Magnus and the gang don't it back, it could mean the start of Ragnarok.  To do this, Magnus will need the help of a green-haired genderfluid sociopath named Alex Fierro.  There's action and adventure as Magnus develops Stockholm Syndrome and begins a budding romance that has all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship.  He's also got a massive Oedipus Complex going on.  Seriously dude, how many times are you going to compare Alex to your dead mom?  Along the way, he'll team up with his trusty sidekick Sam, who had degenerated into a token Muslim with no personality beyond her religion and being a walking oxymoron.  Also, Blitz and Hearth are there too.  So, get ready to get woke as Helheim, as Norse Mythology meets an overbearing political screed in a massive brain fart that Rick Riordan decided to turn into a book...for some reason. 

Yeah, as you can tell by my unusually bitter and sarcastic summary, I really, really hate this book.  I didn't think it was possible.  I never thought I'd see the day that Rick Riordan wrote a book that I loathed with every atom of my body.  Ah, but how the madman proved me wrong.  This is the moment I've been hint at for a while now.  Where do I even begin with this one?  

Well, let's start with the big one: Alex Fierro.  Imagine a scenario a bit like the movie Weird Science, but instead of creating a hot girl, something goes horribly wrong and the computer brings Tumblr to life.  That, in a nutshell, is Alex.  Riordan said he wanted to use Alex so that transgender kids would feel represented.  You might claim this is well intentioned, but as is often quoted, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Moreover, unless those transgender kids happen to jerks and sociopaths, they probably won't see themselves reflected in Alex.  The very first thing she says to Magnus, when he gets confused about her being trans, is "it's not my job to educate you!"  She says this, and yet she always flips out whenever someone gets her gender wrong.  Okay, so if it isn't your job to educate them, how are they supposed to know any of this?!  

Alex is clearly cast from the same mold as Thalia and Zia, but Riordan left out a critical component.  Thalia and Zia worked because they actually had sympathetic qualities and got called out when they went too far.  Alex, by contrast, lacks any sympathetic qualities and never gets called out for being a dick to everyone she encounters.  Riordan seems to have fallen into the trap of thinking that, because Alex is spunky and irreverent, she's a strong character.  He also seemed to be under the impression that, if he made the other characters love Alex, it would translate into the readers loving Alex.  Suffice it to say that this turned out to be very, very wrong.  He did this before with Jason and Piper, but it's even worse here.  

It almost feels like Alex is an example of black propaganda.  Black propaganda is where you pretend to be in favor of position A, but you're actually in favor of position B, and you're trying to make people who support position A look bad.  Also, let's talk about when Magnus first meets Alex and pontificates about homeless transgender kids.  The way the dialogue is written makes it sound like he's become possessed by a gender studies major.  Seriously, you expect me to believe a kid whose been living on the streets of Boston for the past two years would talk like that?  As for Alex being genderfluid, I find that suspect as well. It is hinted that this is due to her shape shifting abilities.  However, if that is the case, it makes for piss-poor representation.  Shocking as I’m sure you’ll find it, most people who identify as genderfluid are not shapeshifters.  I'm also baffled at how many LGBTQ awards this book won because of Alex.  Representation doesn't mean jack when the one transgender character has no empathy for other people, and is a total sociopath.    

Okay, enough about Alex, let's get on to the second major problem: Sam.  As I've previously stated, she had a lot of red flags that I really should have taken more seriously.  Whereas in Sword of Summer she was ambiguously Muslim, by Hammer of Thor, Sam is unabashedly Muslim.  So, she's a Muslim demigod...um, what?!  Yeah, Riordan bullshits about how Sam doesn't believe the gods are actual gods, but it just doesn't hold water.  How does she reconcile the fact that the afterlife is different than what Islam says?  For that matter, why would God have created the Norse gods at all?  Frankly, Sam's not being a skeptic or keeping an open-mind, she's in complete denial.  As Carter and Sadie Kane will tell you, denial ain't just a river in Egypt.  Riordan should have stuck to what Chiron said back in The Lightning Thief; the matter of capital-G God should have been kept out of the books.  Also, Magnus should not be calling himself an atheist!  He has rock-solid proof that there is an afterlife and gods.  I don't know what I'd be calling myself in his situation, but I sure wouldn't be calling myself an atheist anymore. 

The entire universe seemed to bend over backwards to accommodate Sam and her beliefs.  For example, there was the meeting with Heimdall.  I'm not sure I'm ever going to forgive Riordan for what he did to Heimdall.  In Norse Mythology, Heimdall is a noble and honorable god who guards the Bifrost bridge that links Asgard and Midgard.  He knows that one day Ragnork will come, and yet he doesn't run from his duty.  So, how does Riordan portray Heimdall?  Why, as an overgrown teenager who is addicted to his cellphone, of course.  Then, to add insult to injury, Riordan has Heimdall tell Sam that he doesn't believe he and the Aesir are actually gods, and he's with her.  It was at this point that I was very tempted to throw by head back and scream at the sky in frustration.  That scene further underscores the world bending over to accommodate Sam and her beliefs. 

Heimdall demonstrates a major flaw in the series: the gods as Riordan has written them, are too quirky for their own good.  Well, there are a few exceptions such as Frey and Vidar, but overall they're just too damn silly.  It is true that Rick has often given the gods little quirks and moments of silliness, but he always balanced it out with moments of seriousness and gravitas.  

Also, the pop cultural references.  My gods, this book is practically a time capsule of the mid-2010s.  It's like Riordan was unintentionally writing a period piece.  Rick said he purposefully avoided too many pop culture references in the Percy Jackson books so that they would have a timeless feel to them.  When he started using references in The Kane Chronicle and Heroes of Olympus, he did so sparingly.  He also referenced things that have been around for a while, such as Doctor Who and Marvel and DC Comics, so they would age well.  Here, it's like he's having a contest to see how many references he can cram in. 

Ironically, in his bid to be progressive, Riordan has promoted the most conservative aspects of Islam.  For example, he had Sam wearing a hijab.  Contrary to what the media might have to believe, over half of all the Muslim women in America don't wear the hijab.  There's also a certain irony of a supposedly strong female hero running around in a medieval chastity helmet.  Does this mean we're going to get a Mormon demigod who wears the special Mormon underwear?  Or maybe a Scientologist demigod who constantly quotes from Dianetics?  Yeah, don't hold your breath; Riordan wouldn't be able to score any political brownie points if he did that.  Sam talks about how the hijab is her choice.  However, this ignores the fact that, for Muslims women in most other parts of the world, hijab is most certainly not a choice.  These women will often face major social and legal repercussions if they dare appear in public with their hijab.  Way to kick them while they're down, Rick.

Also, Sam is in an arranged marriage...to her cousin.  Did Rick Riordan seriously just promote incest in the name of so-called diversity?  Oh, but it gets worse.  Sam takes an oath that she will not touch another man until she marries Amir.  Oh, and did I mention that she invokes Allah while making this oath in the presence of a pagan deity?  I can't be the only one who found the whole thing downright creepy and utterly cringeworthy.  Also, Sam and Amir must be chaperoned by a male guardian/authority figure whenever they're together.  What the actual Helheim, Rick!  Are you seriously promoting male guardianship culture?!  There are women in the Muslim world risking their lives to fight that shit!  Rick Riordan is spitting in the faces of Muslims Reformers and Ex-Muslims everywhere, and he doesn't even have the decency to call it rain!  

Riordan has said that Percy and Annabeth aren't getting engaged because they're too young.  Yeah, serious double standard there.  Apparently, teenagers getting engaged is okay if they're Muslim.  Also, here's another fact you probably didn't know, over sixty percent of all religiously motived hate crimes in America are committed against Jews.  Bizarrely enough, it took a while before we finally got a Jewish demigod.  Islam is not like Judaism.  You can be culturally Jewish even if you're an atheist; there's no such thing as a cultural Muslim.  Muslim denotes religion.  

Now, some people say Riordan made Sam to fight racism against Muslim.  Oh, really now, and just what kind of racism is that?  Is it against White Muslims from Chechnya?  Black Muslims from Nigeria?  Asian Muslims from Malaysia?  Brown Muslims from Bangladesh?  Or maybe Iranian Muslims who are so fair-haired and light-skinned that they look like white people?  Islam is a religion, not a race.  Also, Middle Eastern does not automatically mean Muslim.  Riordan ought to know this, give that Zia is a non-Muslim Middle Easterner.  

Well, enough about Sam for now, let's move on to other matters.  So there a scene where Magnus complains about Hotel Valhalla engaging in cultural appropriation...Mr. Riordan, did you seriously just have Magnus say that?!  Okay, one, cultural appropriation is...well, basically the history of how culture works.  Cultures have always mixed, matched and borrowed from each other.  It is exceedingly rare to find anything that doesn't owe some aspect of its existence to another culture.  Oh, and this is my favorite part, Rick Riordan wouldn't have a career if it weren't for cultural appropriation!  Tell me, Rick, are you Greek, Roman or Egyptian?  If not, then why did you write books about those mythologies?  Are you perhaps throwing around terms without knowing what they mean in a desperate attempt to prove you're down with the kids?  Is this why The Kane Chronicles has been treated like a red-haired stepchild as of late? Then again, Kane Chronicles is getting a movie, and Magnus Chase is not.  Be thankful for small mercies, I suppose. 

Moving on, the trip of Alfheim was very disappointing.  I had this problem a bit with Nidavellir in Sword of Summer, it just didn't feel magical enough.  Alfheim was exactly like a bog standard rich people suburb.  At times, I had to remind myself that those scenes were in the land of the light elves.  One of the big appeals of the Riordanverse, to me, is how it blends the mythical with the modern.  I love how it shows that there can be magic and adventure in America, and you don't have to go to some distant land for all that.  However, whenever Carter and Sadie go to the Duat, or Percy and company go to Mount Olympus, it's all properly mystical and otherworldly.  The Nine Worlds lean far too much on the mundane side of the equation.  

Magnus talks about how black homeless people are bullied by the police and...wait a minute.  In Sword of Summer, Magnus mentions a Latino policeman giving him and the other homeless people trouble so...did Rick Riordan accidentally admit that Latinos can be racist too?  Also, it's kind of hypocritical for Rick to be preaching about how money isn't everything.  He might not be a millionaire, but he's certainly not hurting for money either.  The really sad part is that Alfheim, and Hearth's abusive family, could have worked if Rick had put actual effort into writing it, rather than making it a caricature of the 1%.  

Let's see, I feel like I'm forgetting something.  What could it be?  Oh, yeah!  The gods of Asgard, allegedly, they were in this book too.  In Sword of Summer, I liked how Loki had a somewhat nuanced portrayal.  Well, that's all been thrown out the window come this book.  Loki was so mustache-twirlingly evil he came across as less a figure from Norse Mythology, and more like a villain on a Saturday Morning Cartoon.  There is way more too Loki than just his role in Ragnarok.  True, Loki did kill Balder.  However, the gods bound his son Fenris wolf, banish his daughter Hel to Helheim, turned his son Vali into a wolf that killed his other son Nari.  Then they killed Vali and used his intestines to bind Loki.  I guess what trying to say is, Loki has some damn good reasons to be pissed at the gods.  You could see him as representing consequences, for it was by harming his children that the gods made Loki their enemy.  

Moreover, Odin knew the prophecies of Ragnarok.  He knew that by doing these things he was guaranteeing that Loki would fight against him at Ragnarok, but he did them anyway.  Though, you could argue that Odin knew that he was as much a slave to destiny as Loki, so what would be the point of fighting it?  

Well, back to Political Pontificating with Uncle Rick, also staring Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.  The Floor 19 gang were even more criminally underutilized than in the last book.  That's especially bad, given that they're all way more interesting than Alex and Sam!  Also, ugh, why oh why did she have to be named Sam?  Why Rick, why?!  I guess this is how people named Gabriel feel about Smelly Gabe.  In other underutilized characters, we get a cool cameo from Vidar at the end.  Sadly, he never returns.  I forgot to mention this last time, but it's made to seem like the gods are missing from Asgard and need to be gathered and reassembled.  This plot threat never goes anywhere, and is apparently a red herring.  Well, that or Rick just didn't care. 

As I've previously stated, Surt would have made a much better villain than Loki.  He's fated to kill Frey, Magnus' father, and would have made a fitting antagonist for Magnus.  He's been working on a flaming sword since the dawn of time.  When he completes the sword, it will be one of the things that will signal the start of Ragnarok.  

There's another mark against Magnus Chase as a series, going back to what I said about the gods being too silly.  In the past, even with Riordan having his fun and being silly, you could tell he had a deep respect and appreciation for the Greek, Egyptian and Roman myths.  That is totally absent here.  It feels like he's almost gleeful about the way he's pissing and shitting all over Norse Mythology.  

Well, guess I ought to analyze the cover.  We see Magnus standing before an oversized version of the titular hammer.  On either side are the faces of Thor and Loki. 

The audiobook version is one of the more redeeming aspects of The Hammer of Thor.  They've changed narrators with Kieran Culkin taking over as narrator.  Overall, he does a pretty good job, and doesn't sound too noticeably different from Christopher Guetig.  

What else can I say?  The Hammer of Thor sucks and I hated it.  This was the peak of the storm, but I'm not done tearing Magnus Chase to shreds yet.  We've still got to get through The Ship of the Dead and Nine From the Nine Worlds.  For now, however, we're going to return to The Trials of Apollo to discuss a book a actually did enjoy.  

Join me next time when we take a look back at The Dark Prophecy.  I will see you all then.  

Riordan Retrospective: Camp Half-Blood Confidential

Welcome once again to the Riordan Retrospective.  For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan.  That means we're taking a look at Percy Jackson, its sequel series and its spin-off series.  This is less of a formal review, and more of a look back, along with my thoughts and observations.  Last time, we began our look back at the Trials of Apollo with a look back at The Hidden Oracle.  This time, we're continuing with Trials of Apollo, but also taking a slight detour...you'll see in a minute.  Anyway, we're taking a look back at the companion book Camp Half-Blood Confidential. 

As per usual, there will be spoilers beyond this point, so turn back now if you don't want any of that.  

Now, let's clarify something before we go forwards.  A lot of people were worried that this book would be the Greek version of Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds.  I can assure you that this is not the case.  Frankly, I wish it had been the Norse version of this book

The in-universe story is that Camp Half-Blood Confidential was made because the campers were sick of the old orientation film Apollo made back in the 1950s.  It's just as corny and cheesy as it sounds, and throughout the book we see little scenes from it, along with Percy's commentary.  Camp Half-Blood Confidential is dived into a series of vignettes where various characters tell us about the history of Camp Half-Blood.  We also get descriptions of the various sights at Camp Half-Blood courtesy of Pete the Palikos.  

We start off strong with Chiron telling us about when the camp was first founded back in Ancient Greece.  He'd never fit in much with the other centaurs, being far more civilized any them.  When he started training heroes, however, he finally felt like he had his own tribe, and a place where he truly belonged.  We also learn that the magical boundaries, and the camp moving with the Heart of the West, were things the gods granted after Chiron asked them for help with the constant monster attacks of the early camp.  Also, apparently the campers used to all sleep in the Big House, but they kept getting into fights, so the cabins were made.  

This vignette provides great insight into Chiron's mind.  In many ways, he is a surrogate father to many of the campers, and apparently the feeling is mutual.  The campers are his family, the children he could never have, and he loves them all very much.  They're also literally his family, because Chiron was a son of Kronos just like the elder Olympians.  That means he's Percy's uncle and Annabeth's great-uncle.  It must make it hard when campers die.  Chiron must know, deep down, that every generation he trains is yet more campers to be sacrificed on the altar of war.  Kind of makes you want to give him a hug. 

We also learn that the first six heroes he ever taught were Perseus, Jason, Achilles, Atalanta, Asclepius and Aeneas.  Yeah, Achilles and Aeneas probably shouldn't have been there, since the Trojan War happened towards the later end of Greek Mythology, well after most of the other heroes had lived and died.  On the other hand, mythology is hardly ever consistent.  Or maybe Chiron is misremembering how things went?  And yes, Aeneas was a Roman demigod, but the Trojan War hadn't happened yet, so the Greek-Roman rivalry hadn't happened yet either.  I like to think that the chitons those first campers wore were orange, just like modern day Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. 

We also get a brief list of famous demigods who have attended Camp Half-Blood over the years. From this, we learn that Arthurian Legend is true in the Riordanverse, because apparently King Arthur, Merlin and Queen Guinevere were all demigods who went to Camp Half-Blood.  Interestingly, Merlin is often said to have been the son of an incubus and a mortal woman.  A misremembering of his true origins, perhaps?  In other famous Camp Half-Blood alumni, there's Joan of Arc and Frank Lloyd Wright.  Well, Joan of Arc is said to have had visions from God, most frequently attributed as the Christian god, but I guess you never know.  Kind of makes me wonder how many other saints were actually demigods in the Riordanverse.  It has interesting implications, to say the least.  Frank Lloyd Wright, being a famous architect, is all but confirmed to have been a son of Athena.  

In our next vignette we learn that Annabeth lost her damn mind and jumped on the tiny house craze.  I legitimately do not understand people who would willingly live in an undersized house for any appreciable amount of time.  The ones with kids are even crazier.  Anyway, apparently finding space for all the new cabins is getting to be a bit of a problem.  So, in an uncharacteristic act of stupidity, Annabeth makes tiny cabins.  No, no, no!  I refuse to believe that Annabeth wouldn't realize that the children of the minor gods would find that insulting.  Then, the problem is solved by putting four of them together to make a cabin, which kind of defeats the purpose.  

The new cabins can have everything about them changed with a simple touch.  I get the feeling that Riordan did this because he was running out of ideas for cabins.  Though we do know, per word of Rick, that Tyche Cabin looks like a miniature Las Vegas casino.  It feels as though Rick can't think of any challenges for Annabeth, so he makes her acted stupid to compensate.  He seems to be forgetting that he was able to give her plenty of challenges in the Roman catacombs in The Mark of Athena. Well, that was a bust, on to the next vignette.

We are treated to another history lesson on courtesy of Miranda Gardiner.  This time, we learn why the camp grows strawberries.  You know, I've always wondered why the camp even needed to raise money.  Shouldn't the gods provide everything the camp needs?  Then again, it wouldn't be out-of-character for the gods to be neglectful.  Anyway, we the camp first came to America...actually, let's talk about that first.  As you will recall, I've noted multiple discrepancies with when the gods moved to America.  Later in the book there is an interview with Percy, Annabeth and Nico.  Annabeth herself notes this, and says she'll have to ask Chiron about it later. I guess Riordan was admitting that he'd been inconsistent and screwed up the dates.

Back to Miranda's story, everyone had different ideas about how to raise money.  The Ares kids wanted to open the butcher’s shop, the Athena kids wanted to grow olives, and the Poseidon kids wanted to open a seafood restaurant.  We also learn that modern times weren't the only time Zeus tried to avoid having kids, as it was mentioned that this is why no Zeus kids were at the meeting.  Ultimately, it was the Demeter kids who had the idea to grow strawberries, and the rest is history.  Miranda couldn't get anyone to listen to her story, but I liked it, if nothing else.

We get a fun vignette where Valentina Diaz discovers a box of clothing from Ancient Greece.  Contrary to popular belief, most clothing in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome was not white.  Most of it was very vibrant and colorful, as this vignette demonstrates.  We then get a vignette with Malcolm Pace, where we learn that his last name is Pace.  Hmm, Athena sure seems to like men whose last names end in -ace.  Anyway, Malcolm has been told by Athena, via a dream, that the campers should revive the Panathena, a series of games and festivals held in honor of Athena.  You can think of them like the Olympics or the Hera Games, but for Athena.  Also, the Hera Games were the female version of the Olympics that were held in Hera's honor.  The Olympics were held in Zeus' honor, and only men could participate in them.  Really great to see more Ancient Greek history and culture being brought to the series. 

Then we get a vignette about Nyssa Barrera and her friends talking about the wreckage of a racecar in Bunker 9.  It belonged to James Dean, who was a son of Aphrodite in the Riordanverse.  He fell in love with a Hephaestus girl who loved working on cars, but then he dumped her when he hooked up with an Ares girl.  In other words, it was the Aphrodite-Hephaestus-Ares love triangle with the genders reversed.  The Hephaestus girl was so mad and heartbroken that she cursed James' racecar, and thus that was the real reason James Dean died from a car accident in the Riordanverse.  Nyssa doesn't know why the wreckage is still there.  Maybe Hephaestus kept it as a trophy because he was proud of what his daughter did?

This one in particular had a strong impact on me.  Hephaestus has always been one of my favorite Olympians, because I find him to be one of the most relatable and sympathetic of the bunch.  Here, however, we see a darker side of Hephaestus.  Maybe he's not so different from the other Olympians after all.  

We also finally discover how Connor and Travis got the note Percy and Annabeth sent from Tartarus out the offering fire.  Apparently, Hermes gave them a special pair of celestial bronze barbecue tongs, that could only be used once, not long before it happened.  Hermes has always been one of the friendlier gods towards Percy and the gang.  It's nice to see that, in his own small ways, he's got their backs.  

We get an interview, courtesy of Thalia and Nico, with Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Chase.  From this interview, the finally learn why climbing wall has lava on it.  Apparently, it was the result of a Parents Day that went horribly wrong, but everyone decided to keep it.  Said Parents Day took place in 1901, and was so bad, because three monsters tried to sneak into camp, that Parents Day was permanently canceled.  Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Chase have never actually seen the camp, but they don't mind.  They're happy to know that Percy and Annabeth have a place to be safe.  It was also a bit funny when Mrs. Jackson, cheerily but somewhat passive-aggressively, reminds Percy to write to her.  As I've said before, what Mrs. Jackson lacks in physical strength, she makes up for in emotional strength and willpower.  It further adds to my theory that she was like Annabeth when she was younger.  Silk hiding steel indeed.  It was also nice to get to see more of what it's like for the parents of demigods. 

We also get that interview with Percy, Annabeth and Nico that I mentioned earlier.  From this, we see that Percy and Nico are getting along quite well, and that Nico seems reasonably happy.  There a couple other vignettes, one staring Ellis Wakefield and one staring Rachel and Apollo, but I'll leave those as a little something for you guys to discover if you read this book, and I certainly hope that you do.  I loved how this book gave the minor characters love and attention, in sharp contrast to how The Heroes of Olympus gave them the shaft.  I'm also very pleased that Jason, Piper and Leo didn't show up, and thus the minor characters didn't get overshadowed by The Seven again. 

The end of the book also contains a sneak peek at The Dark Prophecy, but we'll get to that retrospective soon enough.  Jesse Bernstein once again returns as the narrator of the audiobook version.  He is a welcome presence, and it goes without saying that I enjoyed the audiobook very much. 

Camp Half-Blood Confidential is a great companion book.  It helps to expand the worldbuilding of the Riordanverse, gives welcome insight into the history of Camp Half-Blood, and gives the minor characters a chance to shine.  Rick should really make a version of this for the Camp Jupiter characters.    

Well, I think that should do it for now.  We'll be returning to the regular alteration of one Trials of Apollo book followed by one Magnus Chase book.  As such, join me again next time when we take a look back at The Hammer of Thor.  I will see you all then. 

Riordan Retrospective: The Hidden Oracle

Welcome once again to the Riordan Retrospective.  For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan.  That means we're taking a look at Percy Jackson, its sequel series and its spin-off series.  This is less of a formal review, and more of a look back, along with my thoughts and observations.  Last time we began our look back at Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard with a look back at The Sword of Summer.  This time we're beginning our look back at The Trials of Apollo.  We're taking a look back at The Hidden Oracle, The Trials of Apollo book 1.  As per usual, let's kick things off with a brief summary.  

Apollo is the Greek god of the sun, music, poetry, medicine and archery among other things.  At least, he was anyway.  Lately he's been feeling down in the dumps, and not just because he's just landed in a dumpster.  Zeus has stripped Apollo of his godly powers and forced him to live as the lowly Lester Papadopoulos.  The sources of prophecy have gone dark, and if Apollo wants his godhood back, he's going to have to restore them.  First his first mission, he's heading to Camp Half-Blood to seek the help of a powerful demigod.  A child of the elder Olympians, a demigod destined to do great things.  A demigod named...Meg McCaffery, daughter of Demeter!

As per usual, spoilers ahoy are to be found beyond this point.  Turn back now if you don't want any of that.

Even before the end of The Blood of Olympus, I think we all knew that a third Camp Half-Blood series was on the way.  The sources of prophecy going dark was too big of a plot thread to leave dangling.  It's a bit early to say, because the series is still incomplete as of this writing, but it is shaping up to be one of Riordan's best series yet.  I really hope I don't come to regret saying that, but I'm going to keep a cautiously optimistic attitude.  In many ways, The Trials of Apollo feels as though it was written to address the criticisms of The Heroes of Olympus.  It has a very back-to-basics feel to it.  Apollo and Meg are the main focus of the book.  While there are other characters, they are complimentary, rather than being the over-bloated roster that The Heroes of Olympus had.  Also notable is the limited scope of the book; it takes place almost entirely at Camp Half-Blood.  Camp Half-Blood has always played an important role, but this is the first book set almost exclusively at the camp.

Apollo's characterization...took some getting used to, but it still seemed a bit off.  Back in The Titan's Curse, he was the Mr. Cool Dude with maybe a dash of surfer dude.  Come this book, he's become a total queen.  Apollo gets a bit of a undeserved reputation for being a puff by modern audiences, because of the whole god music and poetry thing.  Well, that and his many male lovers, but there were plenty of other gods who had same-sex lovers, and I don't mean just Zeus.  In ancient times, however, Apollo was considered one of the manliest of the gods.  I should also note that this is the first time we've ever had a book from a god's point-of-view.

On a related note, this series finally addresses the fact that most of the gods are bisexual.  Not only that, but apparently the gods can have demigod children with same-sex lovers.  Now I know that a lot of readers objected to when Apollo pauses to explain his sexuality to the readers.  It didn't bother me, but I can understand why it rubbed some people the wrong way.  All I'm saying is, it was downright nuanced compared to the complete and utter shitshow that is Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.  Funnily enough, turns out Apollo met Frey and Jack in a bar in Stockholm once, albeit he doesn't remember their names.

Apollo's human name does have some significance.  Papadopoulos is the most common last name in Greece.  In other words, Apollo has been turned into a no-name nobody.  Papadopoulos means son of a priest in Greek, which is kind of funny, since getting called a son of a priest in Greece is an insult.  The children of Greek Orthodox priests, who unlike Roman Catholic priest can get married and have families, have a reputation for being wild and unruly.

Percy's characterization also struck me as a bit off.  On the one hand, I can understand that he'd be pretty pissed about having to be dragged on yet another tour of duty for the gods.  On the other hand, it all really goes against his previous characterization.  Percy might not always have enjoyed having to save the world on a constant basis, but he never backed down nor tried to runway from his responsibility as the world's defender.  You can make the argument that, at the beginning of the book, he didn't know how urgent things were.  By the end of the book, however, that just does not hold water.  He knows the world is danger and goes "piss off, I have homework to do."  Back in The Son of Neptune, Percy had the choice runaway to the sea, but he pressed on even knowing how hard it would be.  The way he's written in The Hidden Oracle, you'd get the impression that Riordan had grown somewhat resentful of his greatest creation.  On the third hand, I'll admit that Percy's reaction seems ways more realistic than Jason does in The Burning Maze.  More on that when we get to it.

Also, why does the University of New Rome charge tuition, and why do they have a special test to take to get in.  What could their test possible test for that a mortal test wouldn't?  It does make sense that New Rome would have an economy, but Percy talks as though the admission fee is pretty bad, explaining why he's aiming to have a scholarship.  Though, I will say, I'm glad that Percy finally came to his senses and joined his school's swim team.  He's also got a baby sister on the way.  Doing the math, would have been conceived around the time Hera/Juno put Percy into a coma.  Does that mean Mrs. Jackson and Paul had her because they thought they'd lost Percy?  Did Mrs. Jackson want at least one kid who wouldn't constantly be going on dangerous quests all the time?  Percy never really mentioned that his mom and Paul were thinking about having a kid, so you never know.

Now let's talk about Meg.  Demeter and her children have always kind of been the butt of jokes in the Riordanverse.  As such, it was bit of a pleasant surprise that a daughter of Demeter turned out to be one of our protagonists.  It is through Meg that the long-standing theory that children of Demeter have the power to make plants grow was confirmed.  On a darker note, Meg is an excellent example of a child in abusive parental relationship.  Nero wasn't mean to her all of the time, and that's reflective of a lot of abusive parents.  Abusive parents often have their moments of kindness, and because of this, abused children will often rationalize the behavior of their parents.  Percy says as much at the end of the book.

I suppose I ought to talk about Nero.  I'd been wondering when Riordan was going to incorporate the emperors of Rome.  Nero and the other members of the Triumvirate make for an interesting contrast to previous villains.  They might not be powerful deities, like Kronos and Gaea, but that doesn't mean they're any less deadly.  Arguably, they're an even bigger threat, as they rely on their wits and cunning rather than brute force.  As it turns out, Luke and Octavian were funded by the Triumvirate.  Unfortunately, there is a minor plot hole.  Roman emperors were indeed deified after their deaths as part of the Imperial Cult.  However, bad emperors, such as Nero and Caligula, were denied the Imperial Cult after their death.  I'm hoping future books will explain this discrepancy.

Also, when Nero is about to burn the trapped campers, and the Grove of Dodona, Apollo says "Don't trust him Meg, he burned Christians!"  Um, Apollo, quick question, why do you care about that?  It sure seems weird that a pagan deity would care about Christians being killed.  Especially given that Christians are a big part of the reason that the Greek and Roman gods are no longer worshiped, except for a handful of Neo-Pagans.  I also found it rather annoying that Apollo constantly referred to Nero as a nackbeard.  It was a pretty obvious attempt by Riordan to prove that he's hip and down with the kids, and it failed miserably.  Rick, it is a trite but true staying that you don't have to be cool to rule our world.  Just be yourself.

Nero almost did something Kronos and Gaea could have only dreamed of: destroying Camp Half-Blood itself.  You knew that hearth in the center of the cabin grounds?  Turns out that's the heart of camp, and if it is destroyed then the camp dies and stops moving from nation to nation.  The land around it would have been useless for centuries, and Chiron and the campers would have no home.  A chilling thought indeed.  Still, where was Hestia?  She's the one who tends the hearth, and is goddess of the hearth, so shouldn't she have been able to defend it?

After a long absence, Rachel is finally back, and she's gone a bit nuts from losing her prophecy powers.  Hey, she did give up boys and dating to be the Oracle of Delphi, she does have a bit of case to be pissed at Apollo.  I'm hoping she shows up again in future books of the series.

The way Rhea was portrayed was kind of lazy.  Riordan already used all his hippie jokes with Iris, so having Rhea be a hippie too just smacks of lazy writing.  On the flip side, I loved getting to meet the new campers.  Of particular note are Chiara Benvenuti, a daughter of Tyche from Italy, and Paolo Montes, a son of Hebe from Brazil.  They are nods to the Italian fandom and the Brazilian fandom respectively.  It is certainly nice to see that the international Percy Jackson fandom is getting recognition.  Though, wouldn't it make more sense for Chiara to be a Camp Jupiter camper?  Granted, the Ancient Greeks did have colonies in Southern Italy.  Also, why can't Chiron speak Portuguese?  Shouldn't he have magical omniglot powers?  If not, you'd think he would have mastered most languages if only out of shear boredom from having lived for so long.  It is nice to see some more children of the minor gods get a bit more time in the spotlight. 

During this book we discover that, though Chiron tries his best to discourage it, maiming isn’t unheard of at Camp Half-Blood.  Paolo can attest to that, but never fear, the Apollo campers are masters at reattaching severed limbs.  Yeah, Harley from Hephaestus Cabin sure seems to get a bit too much pleasure out of hurting his fellow campers.  Chiron might want to keep an eye on him.  We also learn that Mr. D still hasn't come back.  I've said it before, but I'm surprised at how much I miss him and Clarisse, who has apparently gone off to college.  Travis has also left for college, and Connor is learning to be responsible and keep his younger siblings in line.  This is further proof that the Stoll brothers are indeed not twins.

So, Nico and Will are officially a couple now.  As I've previously stated, it was unexpected, but it worked out in the end.  It looks like Nico might be getting some happiness for the first time in a while.  And hey, at least they've got more to their personalities than being gay, and they aren't jerks, unlike Alex Fierro.  On a less than pleasant note, this book sees the return of Leo Valdez. You know, it's kind of fitting that his last name is Valdez, because he's a complete disaster of a character.  Just as I feared, the return of Leo also meant we had to hear the other characters gushing about what a great guy he is.  Although, we did get to see Percy and Calypso meeting each other again, so I guess it wasn't a total waste.

With the main villains of the series being Roman emperors, and going off of later books, it looks like Roman Mythology is going to be much more at the forefront of The Trials of Apollo.  One of my issues with The Heroes of Olympus was that, even though it introduced Roman Mythology to the Riordanverse, it felt like it got a bit sidelined in favor of more Greek Mythology.  As such, I'm glad to see that The Trials of Apollo is working to correct that, and to incorporate more Roman History as well.  I'm hoping that more Greek History will also be incorporated in future books.

As per usual, there is an excellent audiobook version that I'm going to plug.  It is narrated by Robbie Daymond.  Maybe he isn't quite as iconic as Jesse Bernstien, but he's better than the narrators of The Heroes of Olympus.  Though that is not to say that they were terrible, or anything of that sort.

Now let's analyze the cover.  We see Apollo crouching in the alleyway in New York City, not too far from the dumpster he landed in.  In the background is a golden glowing image of his former godly glory.  Note how the alleyway is far drabber than Apollo's godly self.

I hope I didn't sound overly negative or nitpicky.  The Hidden Oracle was a breath of fresh air after The Blood of Olympus, and I enjoyed it very much.

Well that should do it for now.  I know I said we'd alternate between Trails of Apollo and Magnus Chase, but we have one more Trails of Apollo book to look at before we return to Magnus Chase.  As such, join me again next time when we take a look back at Camp Half-Blood Confidential.  I hope to see you all next time.

Riordan Retrospective: The Sword of Summer

Welcome once again to the Riordan Retrospective.  For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan.  That means we're taking a look at Percy Jackson, its sequel series and its spin-off series.  This is less of a formal review, and more of a look back, along with my thoughts and observations.  Last time we hit another major milestone by finishing our look back at The Heroes of Olympus with a look back at The Blood of Olympus.  This time, we're officially starting our look back at Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.  We're taking a look back at The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 1.  As usual, we'll kick things off with a brief summary. 

To begin with, Magnus Chase is dead.  Well, he's alive for the first five chapters of the book, but after that he's dead as a door nail.  Ah, but death is not the end, for Magnus soon finds himself being whisked away to the Hotel Valhalla to live and train as an einherjar, one of Odin's chosen warriors.  As it turns out, Norse Mythology is very much real, and the gods are very active in modern day Boston, Massachusetts.  Magnus is going to have to team up with his friends Blitz the dwarf and Hearthstone the elf, along with a valkyrie named Samira.  The chain that binds Fenris Wolf are beginning to loosen, and it's up to Magnus and his friends to rebind him.  To do that they'll need to find Sumarbrander, the missing Sword of Summer that once belong to Magnus' father: the Norse god Frey.

As per usual we've got spoiler of plenty beyond this point.  Turn back now if you don't want any part in that.  Everyone who wants out gone?  Good, then let's begin.

I think we all knew it was only a matter of time before Riordan created a series based on Norse Mythology.  I called that all the way back when The Kane Chronicles was announced.  Apparently, Riordan had plans for a Norse series even before he wrote Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  As you might have gathered from my hints in previous retrospectives, I'm not a big fan of this series.  I'll elaborate on why that is when we hit the other Magnus Chase books, but for now I'm going to do my best to focus on The Sword of Summer.  I'd say that it is probably the best book of the series, if only because of the lack of preachiness.  In hindsight, there were a lot of series red flags about what was to come.  At the time, though, it felt like a welcome return to form after the lackluster finale of The Heroes of Olympus.

Let's start by taking a look at our protagonist.  Magnus is something of a subversion of a typical Riordan protagonist.  While he's not completely without combat skills, he relies much more on his wits and cunning to get out of situations.  It appears that is a Chase family trait, which brings me to my second point.  Whereas The Kane Chronicles mostly tried to keep itself separate from the action of the Camp Half-Blood gang, the Magnus Chase series has much stronger ties to the rest of the Riordanverse.  Annabeth is Magnus' cousin, and he's that Bostonian cousin she mentioned back in The Blood of Olympus.

Magnus is also notable in the he is a child of Frey, a fairly common type of Norse demigod.  However, that in itself isn't quite as subversive as it might appear.  During the Viking Age, Frey was considered the third most important god in the entire Norse Pantheon; only Odin and Thor were more highly revered by the Norse people.  As such, Magnus is the son of a major deity like Percy and Jason.  Amusingly, there a scene at the beginning where a rare child of Odin arrives in Valhalla after accomplishing a great deed, and then is never mentioned again, not even in the other books.

It's also mentioned by Magnus that the Chase family are descended from the kings of Sweden.  That's interesting because, even centuries after Christianization, the Swedish royal family claimed to be descended from Odin.  Does that mean Magnus and Annabeth are legacies of Odin?  Speaking of which, I call bullshit on Magnus having sailing powers just because he's a grandson of Njord, the Norse god of the sea.  Percy, Thalia, Nico, Jason and Hazel don't have any time powers despite being grandchildren of Kronos/Saturn.  Annabeth and Frank don't have lighting powers or wind powers despite being grandchildren of Zeus/Jupiter.  It just seems really out of the left field, as though Riordan was afraid Magnus didn't have enough powers.

Now let's talk about Blitz and Harthstone.  Blitz might seem like another example of tokenism, especially in light of the later books, but I can assure you he is not.  If you go back to the original Norse myths, you'll find that dwarves are actually described as being dark-skinned, and Blitz's physical appearance is meant in invoke that.  Also, we know that he's into fashion, something the other dwarves consider unusual, and he never seems to express much interest in women.  I wonder if Riordan was trying to tell us something?  No, probably not.  As ham-fisted as Magnus Chase is about social issues, if Blitz was gay the books would never stop reminding us.  That's why I don't buy into those theories about Blitz and Hearth being a couple.

Hearthstone is also not a token, though he is deaf.  The way magic works in Norse Mythology is that it requires a sacrifice, and The Sword of Summer accurately reflects this point.  Odin sacrificed an eye to Mimir and hung on the world tree Yggdrasil to gain the secret of runes.  Hearth could have gained hearing and speech, but he would never be able to wield magic.  Fittingly enough, he and Blitz work for Mimir.  He's also immune to Fenris' silver tongue, but would he?  Deaf people can still feel vibrations, so how exactly does Fenris magic work...hmm, maybe I'm overthinking it.

The Floor 19 gang were all criminally underutilized.  We've got TJ, a son of Tyr, who died fighting in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the American Civil War.  For those who don't know, it was a very famous all black regiment of the Union army.  Yeah, turns out Greek and Roman demigods weren't the only children of the gods fighting in the American Civil War.  His name is is short for Thomas Jefferson Junior...uh, what?  Besides the fact that Tyr is his dad, doing the math on when TJ died, he would have been born well after Thomas Jefferson died.  So, how does that name work?  Well, naming issues aside, I enjoyed TJ as a character.

We've also got Halfborn Gunderson, he died during the Viking raid on East Anglia during the Viking Age.  That means he's one of the few characters in the series who can legitimately be said to be a Viking.  He's also notable in that both of his parents were bog standard mortals.  Yeah, Valhalla isn't exclusive to demigods, mortals who die bravely in battle can be admitted to Valhalla as well.  Rounding out the group is Mallory Keen, who died defusing a car bomb in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.  Jumping ahead, by The Ship of the Dead we learn that her mother is Frigg.  Yeah, apparently Frigg doesn't let being a goddess of marriage slow her down from having demigod children, unlike Hera.  A little weird that she'd gotten involve in The Troubles, given that it was a pissing contest, which killed a lot of people, between Catholics and Protestants.  Yeah, there was a nationalist element to it, but it was primarily a religious conflict.  Her physical appearance bears more than a passing resemblance to Rachel Elizabeth Dare, though I always pictured Merida from Brave in my mind.  I know, Scottish not Northern Irish, but still.

Technically there was X the Half-Troll, but he turned out to be Odin in disguise.  It's a bit disappointing that we never got to see any other trolls after that.  When I first read this book, I loved how Odin was like a motivation speaker, and how he was much friendlier and more personal to the einherjar than Zeus is to the demigods of Camp Half-Blood.  I liked it, but his enthusiasm sure got old very quickly in the subsequent books.

Samira was a character who should have been much more of a red flag in hindsight.  I tried to be patient, I tried to have faith that Rick had an actual plan for her, but my faith was sorely misplaced.  I'm really trying to restrain myself on this on, as I'll go into real detail when we get to The Hammer of Thor.  She wears the hijab, doesn't eat pork and mentions taking her grandparents to mosque.  I assumed the hijab was for sentimental reasons and the grandparents thing was against her will, and that he'd actual handle the arraigned marriage thing well...man, I was naive.  So, apparently, she dreams of being a pilot...Rick, serious question, did you not see how people could use that to make off-color jokes?  Anyway, she's a daughter of Loki, and is distrusted because of that by the other valkyries.  Yeah, the social commentary there is a bit on the nose.  It's mentioned her grandparents give her a lot of flak for being illegitimate, and would probably blow a gasket if they knew she was a child of a pagan deity.  Fun fact, even centuries after Christianization, calling someone a child of Loki in Scandinavia was a polite way of saying they were born out of wedlock.

Speaking of Loki, let's talk about him.  Unfortunately, Magnus Chase falls into a trap that a lot of Norse Mythology based series do: it made Loki that villain.  Magnus even calls him the Norse Satan, which is just plain wrong.  Loki is a much more complex and nuanced character than that.  As Neil Gaiman says in his excellent book that I will eventually review, Norse Mythology, you resented Loki even when you were thankful for him, and you were thankful for him even when you resented him.  Loki helped the gods on numerous occasions, even if he could be a pain in the ass.  He also kind of had reason to be made at the gods, considering what they did to his kids.  In many ways, you could say Loki was victim of fate.

I really liked how Loki was portrayed in this book.  He seems to acknowledge that he's just doing what fate dictates, and that it's nothing personal.  That times he seems almost apologetic, and it seems that he was going to walk the path of redemption, and that we'd get that nuanced and complex characterization.  Well, skipping ahead a bit, we most certain did not get any of that, but more on that in The Hammer of Thor.  If Riordan needed a villain why not use Surt?  Him completing his fire sword is the whole reason Ragnarok starts in Norse Mythology, and he was yet another underutilized character.  Seriously, he shows up to kill Magnus, makes another brief appearance, and then totally disappears from the series.  Why underutilize such a great villain?  Especially given how Surt was built up as such a big threat.  I'm bringing to suspect "Riordan just didn't care" to be the answer to a lot of questions in this series.

Speaking of missed opportunities, let's talk Gunilla.  She's a daughter of Thor and captain of valkyries.  She's sort of like a more honorable version of Clarisse, and seemed like she was going to be something of a mentor to the Floor 19 gang.  Unfortunately, she is killed during the battle with Fenris.  I should mention that when einherjar die outside of Valhalla they fade into the mist of ginnungagap, the primordial void.  So that means she's gone for good and we're never getting her back!  Damn it Rick, she was so much better than Alex and Sam!  I'm getting a bit ahead, but imagine if Magnus got together with Gunilla rather than that troglodyte Alex.  It would have inverted the usual dynamic of the boy being the muscle and the girl being the brains.  Oh well, more missed opportunities.

On that note, the einherjar are always killing each other in Valhalla, but it's okay because they revive later.  Wouldn't it still hurt, don't they still feel pain?  Yeah, sign me up for Folkvangr please.  At least there it's a constant party with no battles or serious injuries.  I felt like the book's depiction of Freya fell into a problem many portrayals of her do: it only focused on one aspect of her to the detriment of the others, in this case, her love goddess aspect.  Freya was equal parts love goddess, war goddess, and fertility goddess, that's what makes her such a well-rounded goddess.  Let's also not forget that she was a master sorceress.  Yeah, caricaturing the gods is yet another mark against this series.

Well, let's try to say something positive about this series.  I liked how the book emphasized that the Norse weren't just unsophisticated brutes, and that they had a complex culture.  I also appreciate that it pointed out that Viking refers to the raiders and pillages, and Norse is the technical term for the people.  It wasn't always consistent about this, but it's something if nothing else.  One thing I noticed is that the Norse gods are much more geographically limited than the Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods.  The Norse gods seem to be limited to New England.  It is mentioned that, in the Riordanverse, the hypothesis that the Norse made it to New England is true, so maybe that has something to do with it.  They actually had people who believed in and worshiped them living on American soil, so they were bound to that part of America, sort of like in American Gods.  It is mentioned that Leif Erikson was a son of Skirnir.  I also liked that Snorri Sturluson is one of the thanes of Valhalla.  He's the one who preserved many of the Norse myths even though he was a Christian...or maybe that's just what the Mist wants you to think.

We also get hints that Jesus might exist in the Riordanverse.  It's mentioned that Thor challenged Jesus to a contest, but Jesus was a no-show.  That's actually based on an account that occurred during the Christianization of Iceland.  An old woman who still followed the Norse gods told a Christian priest that Thor could kick Jesus' ass and would challenge him to a contest.  Naturally, in Valhalla they use BCE and CE rather than BC and AD for dates.

I'm also going to put in a good word for the audiobook version.  It is narrated by Christopher Guetig, who does an excellent job.

Yeah, this retrospective has really been the calm before the storm.  When we get to The Hammer of Thor, I am not holding anything back anymore.  For now, however, let's take a look at the cover.

We see Magnus standing in front of the world tree Yggdrasil with Jack the sword fooling above his hand.  Fenris wolf stands in front of him looking fierce and blue...for some reason.

Now for a fun piece of trivia.  The beloved PBS series Arthur has a parody of Percy Jackson and the Olympians in-show called Loki Benediktssen and the Teenage Aesir.  What's particularly funny is that Loki Benediktssen looks exactly like an Arthurfied version of Magnus, and his main villain is Fenris wolf, and he has to get a necklace of tears from Freya.  He also teams up with Vidar, who later shows up in The Hammer of Thor, and Vidar's not a god most people would know off the top of their heads.  It also pretty obvious the writers were at least somewhat familiar with the Percy Jackson books, so it didn’t wind up as a shallow parody.  I tip my hat to the writers.  Keep in mind, the episode featuring him came out two years before Magnus Chase was published.  It's mentioned the characters Fern and Ladonna are fans of the series.  Coincidence or something more, I leave it for you to decide.

Well, that should do it for now.  Like I've previously said, we'll be alternating between Magnus Chase and Trails of Apollo books until we run out of Magnus Chase books.  As such, we're starting our look back at The Trails of Apollo next time.  Join me again next time when we take a look back at The Hidden Oracle.  I will see you all next time.