Book Review: MAGNUS CHASE AND THE GODS OF ASGARD

Ever watched those movies and read books depicting the life of Vikings? How about the Norse gods and the Nine Worlds? And not to mention, were the rest of the gods as well-known as Odin, Thor and Loki? If you think you’re good at mythology, name other gods aside from those three.

Give up? No problem. I also started out that way. Now, try to imagine this supernatural Norse world—only that it’s modern, and in Boston, of all places. Insert a homeless, sixteen-year-old pickpocketer with a near-unbreakable love for falafel, and (drum roll) you get Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.

If you're not a fan of spoilers, I don't think you should read this blog. Or if you're curious...well, may the god of blogs and spoilers have mercy on you, puny mortal (sorry).

                

Introducing the new and improved Kurt Cobain...!

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard is narrated by Magnus Chase himself, and the story is about his agonizing death as a free pass to the afterlife equivalent of Camp Half-Blood (or Jupiter?), Hotel Valhalla. Along the way with his sidekicks Blitzen and Hearthstone Alderman, and Valkyrie Samirah al-Abbas, they break a few…dozen rules in Valhalla, put the others’ lives at stake, and at the end, save the world anyway. Just like any other Riordan book, MCGA is action-packed and notoriously funny, and is filled with quests, a few bloodthirsty monsters and tyrannical deities on the side, and—again—closely linked to the world of Percy Jackson, plus the usual prophecies. And like any other book, there’s the usual clueless hero, the badass girl, and the guy who…well, is pretty much the sidekick (or in Magnus’s case, two sidekicks). The difference: the main character is a much darker example of Percy Jackson or any Riordan hero you come across—angsty, bitter, resentful and…ding, ding, ding! Prone to a lot of cursing, which is quite unusual in Uncle Rick’s books.  Another good example is how instead of enduring torture while alive, you die all day every day…which is oddly a normal occurrence for them.

Moving on to my opinion, I am very sorry to compare this but it caught my attention way better than Percy Jackson and the rest of the Seven did, combined with the Kane Chronicles. I don’t know how, but it’s probably the reference from famous shows and—oh, Thor, yes!—the internet memes. It may be the fact that it’s less corny, or the talking sword (sorry, Riptide) and the sass and sarcasm levels breaking the charts. As much as I love the previous series, I could relate more with Magnus Chase and his crazy Norse adventures, maybe because it had a very modern feel to it. Imagine a sword who sings Top 40 songs off-key, a dwarf promoting a fashion line, a thunder god who farts every few minutes, and the doorman of Valhalla taking selfies on his, um, phablet.

For any of you who are unfamiliar with Norse mythology and those with a sense of humor, this is more than highly recommended. And if you are prone to getting easily addicted, just don’t try to purposefully die in agony in order to get into Valhalla…it won’t work. Trust me.

Student Divisions and Barriers

Hi! Sorry I was in hiatus for a year. I didn't make a follow up blog post in my first ever entry in my blog because I was busy being a High School student. It wasn't so bad after all but yeah, I had my ups and downs. And Oh! I'm now 13 years old turning 14 this year and have grown a little taller.

Anyways, I guess I just want to share with you what I wrote for our school paper. I'm one of the writers and I was assigned to write something about student division. Below, you can read my unedited version that I'm going to share with you. An edited and final version of this will be published in our school paper. So, here's my thought about this topic.

St. Mary's—a sanctuary of tightly woven bonds between divisions of students and also teachers, where negative vibes were unwelcome. I must say, it used to be one— that was before the era we live in right now. A second home for boys and girls yearning to learn more about their environment and to prepare themselves for the real world. But what about now? We have been always distracted by the so-called beauty of the new world, the era of technology and true modernity, and the image it projects towards us. The trends nowadays, and even the bad things, addictions that they call 'good,' these bonds have slowly started to loosen, separating us from society. For instance, instead of a group of chatting students in the middle of the school park, all we can see is just a lone student tapping on her phone, ignorant of what was going around her. Instead of a pair of best friends talking decently about their plans, we hear profanities and bad jokes about any matter not to be jested, nothing more. I could be considered a hypocrite for criticizing this matter and being a bad joker myself, but it's true. Each one of us is not an exception when succumbing to the pleasures of this world. Even though it wasn't obvious, we are slowly drifting away from the school's true motives. A very good example of this may refer to the highschool students. Even though I never met the school's founder himself, I am very sure Michael Costello would be quite disappointed in the change brought about in the school. The true spirit of the St. Mary's highschool division aims to prepare us for the real, independent world, where the only ones we can depend on are each other. That would mean we have to form bonds with people, adapt to the environment, learn life hacks through our journey. Our goals, our dreams are housed right in this school, and it can only be obtained not by an individual, independent being, but through patience, cooperation, perseverance and hard work. St. Mary's school was designed to be a reservoir of knowledge and a place where there are numerous opportunities. Anyone smart enough to realize that may be safe from these uprising problems, and he or she is instrumental in helping the school create bonds between students again. Then maybe, just maybe, St. Mary's will be as it was before.

Blogger Newbie

'Sup, dudes!

This is my very first time in the Blogger Life and I'm gonna live up the expectations for this one. Some of you might not know me, so allow me to give the general info:

I'm Chloe Alexandra, 12-year-old, blogger newbie, but the folks just call me Chloe. Nice to meet you. I live in Cagayan de Oro City, but where I really live, who I really am, who my folks are, that's classified. Anyways, that's all I can say for today because according to my mental rulebook: start slow (although that rule has been broken so many times, but heck, I don't care)

So again, hello to all, and I hope this crazy blogger business goes well...