40 Fun Facts About The Sword of Summer

In The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase has spent two years homeless on the streets of which city?

Boston is also where Rick Riordan had just moved, though he said the setting was planned first and that living there simply made the research easier.

In The Sword of Summer, which Norse god of fertility and warmth is revealed as Magnus Chase's father?

Frey belongs to the peaceful Vanir rather than the warlike Aesir, which is why his son's gifts lean toward calm and warmth instead of combat.

In The Sword of Summer, what everyday name does the talking blade Sumarbrander choose for itself?

Jack is the name the sword picks once Magnus learns it can talk, and it nurses a grudge against its old master for trading it away to win a giantess.

When Magnus Chase is not wielding the Sword of Summer, what does the magical blade disguise itself as?

A pendant is the sword's resting form, and the blade can also fight on its own, attacking enemies while its owner stands back.

In The Sword of Summer, the half-troll hallmate known as X turns out to be which god in disguise?

Odin had been posing as X to inspect his own warriors unnoticed, and he drops the disguise just as Magnus is about to be punished for leaving the hotel.

In The Sword of Summer, Samirah al-Abbas is distrusted by her peers as the daughter of which Norse god?

Loki's daughter inherited his talent for changing shape, yet she dislikes using it because every transformation makes her feel more like her father.

Which heroine of Rick Riordan's earlier Greek-myth novels appears in The Sword of Summer as Magnus Chase's cousin?

Annabeth shares her cousin's grey eyes, and near the end the two hold a funeral for his mother and swap stories of their lives as demigods.

In The Sword of Summer, which fire giant attacks a bridge and causes the death of Magnus Chase?

Surt is wounded and goes over the side of the bridge with Magnus, who dies in the fall, so the hero is dead within the first few chapters.

After dying in The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase wakes in a hotel named after which Norse hall?

Valhalla becomes a hotel where Magnus is told he will spend eternity in training, and where checking out is supposed to be impossible.

In The Sword of Summer, which monstrous wolf must Magnus Chase stop from breaking free of its bonds?

Fenris was fated to be freed by the Sword of Summer itself, and the blade does cut the old rope before Magnus and his friends tie the beast up again.

In The Sword of Summer, Samirah al-Abbas loses which job after her selection of Magnus Chase is judged a mistake?

Valkyrie is the post she is stripped of when the hotel's council rules she picked the wrong hero, though she is reinstated by the end of the book.

Which friend of Magnus Chase in The Sword of Summer is a deaf elf who casts rune magic?

Hearthstone gained his rune magic at the price of a great sacrifice, and he and his dwarf partner had been secretly guarding Magnus on the streets for two years.

Which dwarf in The Sword of Summer is hopeless at forging but a gifted designer of clothes?

Blitzen fights in chain-mail bow ties and vests of his own making, and winning a crafting contest finally earns him respect from dwarves who had laughed at him.

Which real landmark is the site of Magnus Chase's fatal fight with a fire giant in The Sword of Summer?

Longfellow Bridge is where his uncle drives him to call the lost sword up from the water, moments before the giant arrives and starts destroying the span.

Before his death in The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase lives with which medical condition?

Asthma and a weak body trouble Magnus only while he is alive, because dying and reaching the afterlife gives him extreme strength and endurance.

In The Sword of Summer, long-haired Magnus Chase is said to look like which rock singer?

Kurt Cobain is the comparison, thanks to blond hair that reaches his chin and a scrawny frame after two years of living on the streets.

At Magnus Chase's welcome feast in The Sword of Summer, who delivers the prophecy about his fate?

The Norns, three women who see past, present and future, name his father before the whole hall and deliver a riddling prophecy with a nine-day deadline.

In The Sword of Summer, which god, surviving only as a severed head, sends Magnus Chase to find the sword?

Mimir is also the boss of Magnus's elf and dwarf guardians, who work for him in return for a drink from his well.

In The Sword of Summer, which sea goddess must Magnus Chase bargain with to recover the lost sword?

Ran hoards whatever falls into the sea in her net, and she warns that handing over the sword will set her and her husband against Magnus.

In The Sword of Summer, to which underground world of the dwarves does Magnus Chase travel for a new rope?

Nidavellir is gloomy and chilly because it lies entirely underground, and the heroes go there to secure a fresh binding for the great wolf.

In The Sword of Summer, the thunder god Thor's talking companions Otis and Marvin are which animals?

Goats called Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr in the myths, the pair go by Otis and Marvin here, and Otis returns in the sequel to hand Magnus his next quest.

Which US publisher first released Rick Riordan's The Sword of Summer in hardcover in October 2015?

Disney Hyperion printed 2.5 million hardcover copies for the first run, while Puffin Books handled the edition sold in the UK.

Which illustrator painted the US cover art for Rick Riordan's novel The Sword of Summer?

John Rocco painted the US cover, while the runes that decorate the inside pages were drawn by Michelle Gengaro-Kokmen.

Which prize did The Sword of Summer win in 2015 in the Middle Grade and Children's fiction category?

The Goodreads Choice Award arrived in the book's release year, when it also debuted at number one on the New York Times middle-grade hardcover list.

Which Norse god, father of Magnus Chase's hallmate T.J., lost a hand to the great bound wolf?

Tyr is the god of courage and trial by combat, so his children, T.J. included, feel compelled to accept every challenge thrown at them.

Magnus Chase's hallmate T.J. in The Sword of Summer died fighting as a soldier in which conflict?

The American Civil War cost T.J. his life as a Union soldier charging the battlements of Fort Wagner in South Carolina.

In The Sword of Summer, Samirah al-Abbas's fiancé Amir works at a shop Magnus Chase frequents, selling which food?

Falafel is the family trade, since Amir's father owns the shop, and although the engagement was arranged, Samirah says she fell for him at twelve.

In The Sword of Summer, which item worn by Samirah al-Abbas doubles as a magical camouflage cloak?

Her hijab is green and can hide her from view, and as a practising Muslim she wears it while also carrying an axe into battle.

Samirah al-Abbas in The Sword of Summer descends from which medieval Arab traveller who wrote about Vikings?

Ibn Fadlan left Baghdad in the 10th century on an embassy for the caliph and recorded an eyewitness account of the Volga Vikings, including a ship burial.

The fallen warriors of the afterlife hotel in The Sword of Summer train daily for which Norse doomsday?

Ragnarok is the last battle the hotel's guests are kept for, and letting the bound wolf loose is how the villains of the novel hope to bring it on early.

In The Sword of Summer, which uncle tells Magnus Chase that his father is a Norse god?

Randolph is a former Harvard history professor, and the epilogue shows him being punished by a hidden master for failing to stop his nephew.

Which power does Magnus Chase discover he inherited from his divine father in The Sword of Summer?

Healing comes with a side effect: when Magnus mends someone who is badly hurt, he often ends up reading that person's memories.

In The Sword of Summer, dwarves such as Magnus Chase's friend slowly turn to stone when exposed to what?

Sunlight petrifies dwarves little by little, which made two years of guarding a homeless teenager on open city streets a risky posting for one.

In The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase's father once gave his blade to which servant for wooing a giantess?

Skirnir won the giantess for his master and kept the sword as payment, which is why its first owner is fated to face the final battle unarmed.

In Norse myth and The Sword of Summer, what is the name of the dwarf-made rope that first bound the great wolf?

Gleipnir was the gods' third try, made by dwarves after the wolf tore apart two iron chains, and the heroes of the novel must fetch a replacement for it.

On which island of Norse myth, reached by Magnus Chase in The Sword of Summer, is the great wolf bound?

Lyngvi means a place overgrown with heather, and in the novel a mortal can reach the island on only one day of the year.

From which landmark did Rick Riordan announce the Magnus Chase series title in a 2014 webcast?

The Empire State Building webcast of September 2014 gave the series its name, after the author had first revealed on an earlier book tour that a Norse saga was coming.

The title of The Sword of Summer was first revealed on the final page of which Rick Riordan novel?

The Blood of Olympus came out in October 2014 and used its last page to tease the Norse story, which followed almost exactly a year later.

In The Sword of Summer, which goddess, half beautiful woman and half corpse, tempts Magnus Chase in a dream?

Hel offers to reunite Magnus with his dead mother if he gives up the sword, a bargain he struggles to turn down.

In The Sword of Summer, what Norse name is given to honoured dead warriors like Magnus Chase in the afterlife hotel?

Einherjar literally means an army of one, and in the myths these chosen dead feast every night on a beast that comes back to life.