Magnus Chase is Back in Rick Riordan’s The Hammer of Thor, Coming October 4!

October 4th!  That’s the on-sale date for The Hammer of Thor, the second book in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series! The adventures of 16 year-old Magnus Chase, a homeless kid from Boston who just so happens to be the son of the Norse god Frey (and is also technically dead, after a nasty encounter with the fire demon Surt), got off to a great start in the first novel in the series, The Sword of Summer. It’s clear Rick Riordan has just as much fun writing about Norse mythology as he does the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods, and us fans have just as much eagerness to get our hands on the next book. Everyone’s going to be playing a mad mythological game of Hunt the Hammer (Thor has lost his magical weapon again), and it promises to be a wild time!
Those of us who are also fans of the Percy Jackson series can’t wait to see if Annabeth will be a major character, with Greek mythology crashing into the world of the Norse Gods. I myself did not make the connection between the Annabeth of the Percy Jackson books and this Annabeth ’til right there at the end, and I immediately wanted more so badly! Fortunately, October 4th is just around the corner.

In the meantime,you can  check into Hotel Valhalla with the newest Rick Riordan companion book, For Magnus Chase: Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds (An Official Rick Riordan Companion Book): Your Introduction to Deities, Mythical Beings, & Fantastic Creatures
This handy guidebook, presented as if it were written for the “guests” of Hotel Valhalla (aka the heroic dead, who can check in but won’t check out ’til Ragnarok), is lots of fun to read while waiting these last few days for The Hammer of Thor. It tells the backstories of the gods and magical creatures, often from their own point of view, and you’ll recognize lots of old friends (and enemies) from The Sword of Summer. There’s “My Dad’s Mom,” by Stanley, Son of Sleipnir, the diary entries of a novice Valkyrie, and Marvin the Goat’s take on being dinner every night (short answer–he is so DONE with roasting. Thor is not an imaginative cook).

It’s a great refresher course, too. You’ll be reminded of who everyone is so that you can plunge into The Hammer of Thor without any confusion or backtracking. Best of all, you’ll be able to start right away, because the first few pages of Thor are right here!
Which is actually kind of frustrating, because then you want to keep on reading, and can’t.
Yet.
In the spirit of Rick Riordan, who’s never one to shy away from a bad pun, here’s one of my very own:
Why is the Norse God of Thunder the best hitchhiker ever?
Because nothing sticks out like a Thor thumb.
Preorder the B&N Exclusive Edition of Rick Riordan’s The Hammer of Thor now!