The Ship of the Dead

The Magnus Chase trilogy concludes as the trickster god Loki, now free from his chains, assembles a crew of giants and zombies to crew Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, built from the untrimmed nails of the dead. If Loki sets sail at Midsummer, the final battle of Ragnarok will begin and extinguish all the Nine Worlds. Magnus Chase, son of Frey, is tasked with stopping him and returning Loki to his bonds, but brute force won't be enough: to defeat the silver-tongued god, Magnus must beat him at a flyting, a ritual battle of insults and words. With a crew of einherjar and the Valkyrie Samirah aboard a magical boat from his father, Magnus sails across hostile northern seas, joined by the gender-fluid Alex Fierro and his loyal friends Blitzen and Hearthstone. Their voyage demands a deadly magical elixir that will either make Magnus powerful enough to out-talk Loki or destroy him entirely. The book also pays off Riordan's crossover universe: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, Magnus's cousin, appear to help prepare him for the perilous waters. Balancing slapstick Norse mythology, heartfelt friendship, and questions of identity and self-worth, the finale brings the ensemble's arcs to a close and resolves the looming threat of Ragnarok with wit rather than violence, a fitting and satisfying end to Magnus's story.