Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead by: Rick Riordan

 

The Ship of the Dead is an interesting title for the end of Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard as the actual ship is simply a setting for a majority of the novel.  A more proper title could have been something along the lines of “The Capture of Loki” as that is actually where a lot of the book is headed.  This is also a book which is incredibly focused in on the importance of character relationships and ensuring the world ends at the proper time.  Much of this novel has the characters preoccupied with preparing for a duel so they can gain passage to where Ragnarök is meant to eventually occur, but of course this is not the time, while it is the place.  The plot of The Ship of the Dead, like many of the other works of Rick Riordan, follows a fairly similar plotline.  It’s not really more interesting or different from the other plots, though there are a few interesting aspects.  The foldable ship, nicknamed the Big Banana for it’s yellow shade and the development of the other residents on floor nineteen, something that really hadn’t actually been done in the previous two books.

 

Mallory Keen is perhaps far too much of just being defined by sarcasm, though her connections to the IRA and her own death is also an interesting reflection on everyone from floor nineteen somehow being a revolutionary, bar Magnus and Alex.  Riordan does some interesting things in setting up these revolutionary situations where both the good and evil people are put as those warriors who will fight Ragnarok on the side of good.  TJ is perhaps the most interesting as his death as a freed black man in the Civil War fighting with the Union, and it is stated that there are Confederate soldiers who live at Hotel Valhalla.  It makes for an interesting commentary on bravery as Loki posits near the end of the book that there is no such thing as good and evil, just capable and incapable.  This is something that Riordan seems to be against, as there is commentary on those fighting for the Confederates not being good people and evil, but it’s also an attempt to setup morality away from the standard Christian view of good vs. evil.  Norse mythology was a system of beliefs which had been Christianized, including themes of a new world being ruled by only one God above all other gods and Loki, due to the snake theme occasionally, is often conflated with Satan.  A lot of The Ship of the Dead can be described as attempting to refute the Christianization of ancient religions and expanding the modern view of religions from a secular standpoint.

 

Samirah is actually where a lot of this exploration also happens: the book takes place during Ramadan.  This is something that it is stated that she doesn’t have to observe on her quest, but she goes above and beyond to actually fast throughout the novel and it is treated as admirable.  Her relationship with Amir is also actually coming across really well in this book, as they kind of reach an understanding and the romance is actually there.  There’s also some stuff where Amir has to come to terms with Sam’s double life which is also confirms that their relationship is on equal footing, going against the traditional arranged marriage, and it does help that you actually see where their lifelong friendship actually came from.  There is also the relationship and understanding between Magnus and Alex which actually comes to something more than just romantic tension.  Magnus does have a moment where he has a crisis of identity, which is quickly overcome as he gives an inspiring speech at the climax of the book essentially so that everything comes to a good ending.  Alex is also just that right level of sarcasm to not come across as over the top or annoying, though Alex’s character arc in helping Sam overcome Loki’s influence and both of them working together as siblings.  The only real problem in this book is kind of that the climax is a bit of an anti-climax in places, though Loki as a villain is great and using trickery to beat a trickster god obviously works, it just kind of comes to a stop.

 

Overall, The Ship of the Dead is most definitely an interesting conclusion and it does end up flying by with the spectacular character work which is par for the course for Riordan’s work.  The Norse Mythology aspects of this and the entire trilogy simply makes The Kane Chronicles look like a dry run for Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.  It brings a story to a satisfactory and incredibly fulfilling close and genuinely makes me sad that these characters’ stories are over.  9/10.