The Sword of Summer
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40 free The Sword of Summer trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Sword of Summer opens with a twist most adventure stories save for the end: its hero dies. Magnus Chase, a homeless sixteen-year-old, is killed in the first chapters and wakes in a Viking afterlife, where he learns that the gods of Norse myth are real and that one of them is his father. This quiz follows Rick Riordan's novel from that opening fight to the final showdown on a wolf's island. Expect questions on Magnus and the friends who join his quest, the gods, giants and monsters they meet across the Nine Worlds, the talking sword at the centre of the story, and the way the book was written, published and received. It suits readers who have just finished the book, fans revisiting the Magnus Chase trilogy, and teachers or book clubs who want a quick comprehension check. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so a wrong guess still teaches you something.
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Q 01In The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase has spent two years homeless on the streets of which city?
Boston
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.
Q 02In The Sword of Summer, which Norse god of fertility and warmth is revealed as Magnus Chase's father?
Frey
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.
Q 03In The Sword of Summer, what everyday name does the talking blade Sumarbrander choose for itself?
Jack
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.
Q 04When Magnus Chase is not wielding the Sword of Summer, what does the magical blade disguise itself as?
A pendant
A pendant is the sword's resting form, and the blade can also fight on its own, attacking enemies while its owner stands back.
Q 05In The Sword of Summer, the half-troll hallmate known as X turns out to be which god in disguise?
Odin
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.
Q 06In The Sword of Summer, Samirah al-Abbas is distrusted by her peers as the daughter of which Norse god?
Loki
Loki's daughter inherited his talent for changing shape, yet she dislikes using it because every transformation makes her feel more like her father.
Q 07Which heroine of Rick Riordan's earlier Greek-myth novels appears in The Sword of Summer as Magnus Chase's cousin?
Annabeth
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.
Q 08In The Sword of Summer, which fire giant attacks a bridge and causes the death of Magnus Chase?
Surt
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.
Q 09After dying in The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase wakes in a hotel named after which Norse hall?
Valhalla
Valhalla becomes a hotel where Magnus is told he will spend eternity in training, and where checking out is supposed to be impossible.
Q 10In The Sword of Summer, which monstrous wolf must Magnus Chase stop from breaking free of its bonds?
Fenris
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.
Q 11In The Sword of Summer, Samirah al-Abbas loses which job after her selection of Magnus Chase is judged a mistake?
Valkyrie
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.
Q 12Which friend of Magnus Chase in The Sword of Summer is a deaf elf who casts rune magic?
Hearthstone
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.
Q 13Which dwarf in The Sword of Summer is hopeless at forging but a gifted designer of clothes?
Blitzen
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.
Q 21In The Sword of Summer, the thunder god Thor's talking companions Otis and Marvin are which animals?
Goats
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.
Q 22Which US publisher first released Rick Riordan's The Sword of Summer in hardcover in October 2015?
Disney Hyperion
Disney Hyperion printed 2.5 million hardcover copies for the first run, while Puffin Books handled the edition sold in the UK.
Q 23Which illustrator painted the US cover art for Rick Riordan's novel The Sword of Summer?
John Rocco
John Rocco painted the US cover, while the runes that decorate the inside pages were drawn by Michelle Gengaro-Kokmen.
Q 14Which real landmark is the site of Magnus Chase's fatal fight with a fire giant in The Sword of Summer?
Longfellow Bridge
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.
Q 15Before his death in The Sword of Summer, Magnus Chase lives with which medical condition?
Asthma
Asthma and a weak body trouble Magnus only while he is alive, because dying and reaching the afterlife gives him extreme strength and endurance.
Q 16In The Sword of Summer, long-haired Magnus Chase is said to look like which rock singer?
Kurt Cobain
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.
Q 17At Magnus Chase's welcome feast in The Sword of Summer, who delivers the prophecy about his fate?
The Norns
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.
Q 18In The Sword of Summer, which god, surviving only as a severed head, sends Magnus Chase to find the sword?
Mimir
Mimir is also the boss of Magnus's elf and dwarf guardians, who work for him in return for a drink from his well.
Q 19In The Sword of Summer, which sea goddess must Magnus Chase bargain with to recover the lost sword?
Ran
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.
Q 20In The Sword of Summer, to which underground world of the dwarves does Magnus Chase travel for a new rope?
Nidavellir
Nidavellir is gloomy and chilly because it lies entirely underground, and the heroes go there to secure a fresh binding for the great wolf.
Q 24Which prize did The Sword of Summer win in 2015 in the Middle Grade and Children's fiction category?
Goodreads Choice Award
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.
Q 25Which Norse god, father of Magnus Chase's hallmate T.J., lost a hand to the great bound wolf?
Tyr
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.
Q 26Magnus Chase's hallmate T.J. in The Sword of Summer died fighting as a soldier in which conflict?
American Civil War
The American Civil War cost T.J. his life as a Union soldier charging the battlements of Fort Wagner in South Carolina.
Q 27In The Sword of Summer, Samirah al-Abbas's fiancé Amir works at a shop Magnus Chase frequents, selling which food?
Falafel
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.
Q 28In The Sword of Summer, which item worn by Samirah al-Abbas doubles as a magical camouflage cloak?
Her hijab
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.
Q 29Samirah al-Abbas in The Sword of Summer descends from which medieval Arab traveller who wrote about Vikings?
Ibn Fadlan
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.
Q 30The fallen warriors of the afterlife hotel in The Sword of Summer train daily for which Norse doomsday?
Ragnarok
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.