“With an epic plot, engaging (and diverse) characters, and tons of wisecracking humor, Riordan’s latest is a page-turner.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
When reading Rick Riordan’s latest I had the extraordinary sensation of déjà vu since I had just finished Rushdie’s Two Year’s Eight Months and Twenty Eight Nights.
The explosions of the fire god and the bombings throughout Boston were fairly similar to Rushdie’s invasion of evil jinns.
So too were the parallel worlds with slits between the dimensions which could open up and allow demi gods, immortals and favoured mortals to slip through. Not that Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer has any pretentions to being a piece of magical realism of the Rushdie pedigree, though magical it has to be with a dose of realism thrown in to ground children into belief. Perhaps the difference between the worlds of literary fantasy and children’s fantasy are not that far apart after all.