The Sword of Summer

The Sword of Summer (2015) is the first book in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard modern fantasy series for young readers. The book takes place in the same universe as Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (2005-2009) and is followed by The Hammer of Thor. The Sword of Summer won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Middle Grade and Children’s (2015) and has appeared on both the New York Times and Amazon best-seller lists. Before beginning his career as an author, Riordan taught mythology at the middle-school level. A lifelong love for Norse myth led him to pen The Sword of Summer. This guide follows the Disney Hyperion 2015 edition of the book.

Plot Summary

The Sword of Summer follows 16-year-old Magnus Chase along his journey from homeless kid on the streets of Boston to hero among the honorable dead of the Norse afterlife, Valhalla. When Magnus discovers that his cousin Annabeth is searching for him because their Uncle Randolph just told her Magnus was still alive, Magnus decides to pay Randolph a visit for the first time in 10 years. At Randolph’s townhouse, Magnus confronts his uncle, who begs Magnus to come with him because Magnus is in danger and needs to find something his father left him. Magnus’s father is a Norse god, and the item Magnus retrieves is Sumarbrander (the Sword of Summer).

Before Magnus can figure out what to do with the weapon or why he needs it, Surt (king of the fire giants) attacks, leaving a trail of destruction across Boston. To protect everyone around him, a mortally wounded Magnus tackles the giant. Both fall into the Charles River, where Magnus’s spirit is retrieved by Samirah al-Abbas (“Sam”), a Valkyrie. She brings him to Valhalla, where Magnus’s death is deemed unworthy and he is prophesied to save the world. As his Valkyrie and a daughter of Loki, Sam takes the blame for Magnus’s unworthy death and is kicked out of the Valkyries, leaving Magnus to find his way through Valhalla alone.

When two of Magnus’s friends from Boston arrive in Valhalla, Magnus realizes the two years since his mother’s death have been fraught with dangers he never knew about. His friends are truly an elf and a dwarf who’ve been assigned to keep Magnus safe because he’s needed to stop Surt from freeing Fenris Wolf and ushering in Ragnarok—typically called Ragnarök, and essentially signifying the end of the known world in Norse mythology. Unable to sit by while evil forces work to end the world, Magnus and his friends escape Valhalla and join forces with Sam to find the sword and delay doomsday.

With only a week until Ragnarok, Magnus and his friends consult various beings from Norse myth for aid. They retrieve the sword, making enemies of a goddess in the process, and are forced to flee into the World Tree when the Valkyries track them down. As they travel across the worlds, Magnus finds his inner strength and grows into his role as a hero. The bond he forms with his friends helps him deal with the pain of his mother’s death and the uncertainty of his future.

On the day Surt means to start Ragnarok, Magnus, Sam, and Magnus’s protectors journey to Fenris Wolf’s island. There, they find the wolf barely bound. Fenris relays how he whispered across the worlds, influencing everyone from his own children to Odin himself. A battle ensues between giants, Valkyries, and einherjar (Valhalla warriors), leaving several dead or injured. Magnus tries to fight Fenris, but the wolf is too fast and deadly to battle. When one of his friends takes a fatal blow but is saved by his own invention, Magnus realizes he’s fighting Fenris all wrong. Using the sword, he calls upon his summer magic to bind the wolf and delay Ragnarok. Trying to heal a friend, Magnus falls unconscious and wakes in the presence of Frey, his godly father.

Magnus and Frey bond over the loss of Magnus’s mother, and Frey sends Magnus back to his friends. The group returns to Valhalla, where Odin reveals himself as an einherji—a great hero who died in bravery—in disguise. He congratulates the group on a job well done. Magnus goes to reconnect with his cousin, and the Epilogue sets up the sequel, showing Randolph in unwilling service to Loki.