Death has been pretty good to Magnus Chase, son of Norse god Frey. After a victory against Fenris Wolf, preventing Ragnarok (for now), Magnus has started to settle into his (after)life in Valhalla. But nothing is quiet for long when gods are involved: Thor's hammer is missing again (shh); two of Magnus' best friends have disappeared; Valkyrie Samirah, a daughter of Loki, is being forced into marriage with a giant king; and Loki himself might be behind it all. It's a good thing Magnus has allies en if they include a talking sword with a penchant for Top 40 songs. Riordan combines Norse mythology with a number of social issues: gender fluidity (Alex, a child of Loki, was born male but predominately identifies as female), disability (elf Hearthstone is deaf, and several characters know ASL), and race and religion (Samirah balances her Muslim faith with her Valkyrie duties). There's some crossover with characters from Riordan's other series, and the ending promises more overlap in future installments. A surefire hit.

Magnus Chase tries to prevent his Valkyrie friend Sam's forced marriage to the giant Thrym. But Thrym's "wedding gift" is Thor's missing hammer Mjolnir, which the gods need back to keep giants from invading the human realm. Loki plans to use the wedding to engineer his own escape. Riordan introduces a character with gender fluidity, a welcome addition to his usual effective myths-and-humor formula.