Return to the modern world of Norse mythology in Rick Riordan’s third (and apparently final) installment of the Magnus Chase series: The Ship of the Dead!
Following up on The Hammer of Thor, The Ship of the Dead (a title I was never a fan of. The Sword of Summer and Hammer of Thor sound so elegant. This one just sounds bland) picks up right where its predecessor left off, with Loki making arrangements to set sail the Ship of Nails, or Naglfar, or Ship of the Dead, and officially begin Ragnarok, the Norse Mythological equivalent of the end of the world as we know it. Magnus Chase and his friends have to… Stop him.
The Ship of the Dead is a well-paced conclusion (I had no idea this was the last one until I looked it up after reading it) to one of my favourite Rick Riordan series. There’s always been something great about the Magnus Chase books that all of Riordan’s other books don’t have, although I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly that is.
One thing I do know separates this series from all others is the sheer diversity in its main characters. There’s an atheist son of a Norse god, a gender fluid shape-shifter, a Muslim Valkyrie, a hothead Irish woman, a Viking, the son of a slave, a fashion-crazy dwarfs and a deaf elf with learned magical abilities. Oh, and a talking, singing sword. Don’t forget Jack.
The reason I’ve listed all of them is that you get something interesting about every single character, and in this book particularly, you can see every character receiving justice for their abilities. Not only that, the fact that they can cooperate so well is also something that is a joy to read. Shoot me for thinking so, but when a book is able to express that people who are so different from each other can get along so well, and be the best of friends (or, riding the Fast and Furious mobile, family), is something that I really appreciate.
The plot of The Ship of the Dead is fairly straightforward, as I’ve already mentioned, and the book is too. There aren’t any unnecessary side adventures thrown in just to add more pages. It’s concise and always has your attention, because it’s always moving forward. In fact, despite being the last book in the series, it is the shortest.
What is most worth noting regarding the plot is that the ending is great. I like to call it the Doctor Strange treatment: When a story ends in a very different way than most others in its genre. The entire confrontation with Loki feels like something you want to hold onto forever, the undeniable peak of Magnus Chase.
One thing I’ve always had as a gripe against the Magnus Chase books is the humour. Sometimes, it would work, and other times it just felt a little too juvenile, especially considering the narrator is 16/17 years old. I’m delighted to say that this book has humour, but only good humour. I’m not sure how it strays away from the other two books that way, but I’m not complaining.
The reason I mentioned that this is apparently the final book of the series is that the ending to this book both feels, and doesn’t feel like, the culmination of a trilogy. I guess that’s just standard Riordan practice, though. Always leave a few doors open to possible future explorations.
Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead is a beautiful end to a wonderful trilogy, and is the best of the three books. Hopefully, Riordan will revisit these characters some time in the future. Now that I know that this book is the last one, I will miss Magnus Chase and his oddball group of friends.
There’s a reason Rick Riordan is still my favourite author.
On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:
Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead: MIHIR
The Geeky Critic 