The Sword of Summer

By Rick Riordan

Main Characters:

The main characters in “The Sword of Summer are Magnus Chase, a sarcastic, witty, and quick thinking son of Frey that saves the world using the rope Andskoti and his sword, called Sumarbrander or, as the sword likes to call itself, Jack. There is also Samirah-Al-Abbas, a daughter of Loki and a personal Valkyrie(handmaiden of Odin) for Magnus. She is the one who brought Magnus to Valhalla( Norse heaven for fighters who died an honorable death), and she is a fearful fighter. There is also Blitzen, a dwarf in service of Mimir and a fashion designer. He is a daughter of Freya, which makes him a cousin of Magnus. There is Hearthstone, who is an elf in the service of Mimir. He is dumb(in the no talking way), and is very good at casting runes. He had a very harsh childhood, because his brother died and his brother was perfect to his parents, but since Hearthstone was dumb, they treated him like something they couldn’t wait to get rid of.

Setting:

The setting in the sword of Summer is in the nine worlds of the universe. Magnus and his crew traveled through MIdgard(where humans live), Jotunheim(the world of giants), Valhalla(the world of slain heroes that died bravely in combat), Vanaheim(where the Vanir gods live and where slain heroes that were sons or daughters of the Vanir usually go[Magnus was a special case]), and Nidavellir(dwarf land)

Details:

At the beginning, Magnus was just a homeless teenage guy with no idea about this Norse mythology, and hung out with his homeless buddies, Hearth and Blitz(Hearthstone and Blitzen in disguise sent to protect him by Mimir). Then he dies in combat with the king of fire giants, Surt, and gets taken to Valhalla by Samirah. While in Valhalla, the norns recite a prophecy that completely does not make Magnus’ day. Then, Blitzen and Hearthstone come and take him away from Valhalla. They then meet Samirah, who has been kicked out of the Valkyries.They then start looking for The Sword of Summer(Jack) and eventually find it. They have to save the world from Fenris Wolf( the most powerful being in the nine worlds) so they go to Nidavellir to retrieve the rope Andskoti from the elf Junior. Junior challenges Blitz to a competition of elf blacksmithing, and the loser has to pay for it with its head. Blitz wins, and he makes Junior give him Andskoti. They retrieve Thor’s replacement weapon for him and go to the Isle of Heather where they plan to rebound Fenris and they……………..do something, but I can’t tell you what happens

Theme:

I think the author’s message is to accomplish big things, many challenges will have to be overcome

Connections:

Text To Self:

My connection with Magnus is once my friend told me to say “My corpulence is downright brobdingnagian” and then he laughed and laughed and laughed. I don’t know what those words mean, but I think the general idea of it is I am stupid. This relates to Magnus because he was tricked into saying to an eagle(really a giant in disguise) by my troth I swear to bring you an apple of immortality. That means I will bring you an apple of immortality or I will die and go to Helheim(hell).

Opinion of Plot and Theme:

Overall, I really liked the plot of The Sword of Summer. It was very interesting, and you never knew what was going to happen next. Also, the book was very funny, with the sarcasm of Magnus and the other characters. The Sword of Summer is a book I would recommend to anyone with a reading level appropriate for it. I can't wait for the second book to come out, The Hammer of Thor.

Chris Van Allsburg Essay

The author Chris Van Allsburg is a writer of fantasy and mystery. From Zathura to Bad Day at Riverbend  most of his stories are fantasy, and they sometimes have a mysterious twist.  His stories usually have a hidden message in them, like in Probuditi, a book where a boy plays a trick on his sister, only to find his sister played a trick on him, the message is “if you play tricks on people, prepare to have tricks played on you”.  Chris Van Allsburg is an author that uses his author’s craft to always make his stories great.

The story Two Bad Ants is my favorite story by Mr. Van Allsburg. It tells a tale written from a narrator’s perspective in the world of ants.  In the beginning the queen ant tastes sugar crystals and decides they are delectable.  She orders a scouting party that goes on a journey to a human’s house and brings back one sugar crystal each for the queen.  But, two ants decide to stay behind in a  paradise of crystals. When they wake up, they have wacky misadventures.  Two Bad Ants is a story of teamwork and how not working as a team can get you in trouble.

Chris Van Allsburg’s Bad Day at Riverbend tells a story written in the world of a coloring book.  The page where Riverbend (the pages where the story is set ) is has not been colored yet, so when a horse comes in with greasy slime(crayon) on it everybody is frightened.  Sheriff Ned Hardy goes looking for the rider and finds that he is also covered in greasy slime and in a bad state.  Both these are products of a four year old’s imagination and artistic mind.  This book gives the reader a glimmer of what their crayon drawings would feel like if they were alive.

The books Two Bad Ants and Bad Day at Riverbend are two similar but very different books.  They are both written from a narrator’s perspective in worlds that the human cannot manage to see with the naked eye.  Two Bad Ants could have very well happened in real life (if you don’t keep your sugar covered you could get ants) but Bad Day at Riverbend is purely fictional (coloring book drawings aren’t alive!).  These books are very good, Mr. Van Allsburg didn’t disappoint.  

I think Chris Van Allsburg was an interesting author to study because his author’s craft and extraordinary illustrations make him an author hard not to like. The plot of his books, like Jumanji and Zathura,  have twists and turns around every corner and are fun to read.  For picture books, his stories  have lots of depth and meaning to them.  Overall, I’d rate Chris Van Allsburg an 8 out of 10 author.