The Ship of the Dead

The third and final installment in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, this novel follows Magnus Chase, an einherji (one of Odin's immortal warriors who resides in the afterlife hall of Valhalla), as he races to stop the trickster god Loki from launching Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, and triggering Ragnarok, the apocalyptic final battle of Norse mythology.

Magnus trains with Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, on the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor. Percy's most useful advice concerns strategy: The strongest asset on any quest is a team that can improvise. After Percy and his girlfriend Annabeth Chase, Magnus's cousin, depart for New York, Magnus visits the mansion of his late Uncle Randolph, who died after betraying Magnus to Loki and falling into Helheim, the realm of the dishonored dead. Inside a mead horn on the mantel, Magnus and his friend Alex Fierro, a gender-fluid child of Loki, find a leather notebook containing cryptic notes: the Old Norse word for "mead," a reference to "Bolverk," and the phrase "Might stop L." A wolf lunges for the horn before they can retrieve it, confirming its importance.

A raven message summons Magnus back to Valhalla, where his floormates are ready to sail: Halfborn Gunderson, a twelfth-century berserker; Mallory Keen, a twentieth-century Irish woman who died disarming a car bomb; and Thomas Jefferson Jr. (T.J.), a Civil War-era Union soldier who died charging Confederate fortifications. Magnus unfolds a magical silk handkerchief from his father, Frey, the Norse god of summer, summoning a neon-yellow Viking longship they name Big Yellow. During the launch, Magnus has a vision of Loki aboard Naglfar, warning that melting glaciers will free the ship within days. Samirah al-Abbas, a Valkyrie (a chooser of the slain who serves Odin) and daughter of Loki, joins the crew alongside Alex. Sam reveals she is fasting for Ramadan and refuses to postpone it.

Nine giant wave-maidens, daughters of the sea god Aegir, drag the ship underwater into Aegir's feast hall. Magnus discovers his friends Blitzen, a dwarf, and Hearthstone, a deaf elf, imprisoned as the evening's meal. Through quick thinking, the crew avoids being eaten, but Aegir threatens to kill Magnus on his wife Ran's orders. Magnus makes a desperate gamble: He announces he will challenge Loki to a flyting, a formal Norse duel of insults, using the Mead of Kvasir, a magical brew that grants perfect eloquence. He promises Aegir a sample. Aegir spares them, but his daughters attack. Magnus's grandfather Njord, god of the sea, appears to protect them, and the crew escapes to the surface.

Njord explains that Kvasir was a perfect being created from the combined spit of all the gods, murdered by dwarves who mixed his blood with honey to create the mead. "Bolverk" was Odin's alias when he stole the mead from giants; the gods' supply is exhausted, and only a tiny portion remains. Njord sends Blitzen and Hearthstone to find the Whetstone of Bolverk and directs Magnus to Jorvik (York, England) to find the giant Hrungnir, who knows the mead's location.

In York, Hrungnir demands a tveirvigi, a double combat, before sharing information. T.J. must fight the stone giant while a ceramic warrior crafted by Alex fights the giant's clay counterpart. Alex spends the night crafting an eight-foot warrior with a duality mask inspired by her Mexican grandfather's Tlatilcan pottery traditions, which honored dual-spirited figures. T.J. blinds Hrungnir with magic sniper glasses, and Alex's warrior prevails. The dying giant reveals the mead is in Flåm, Norway. While the landing party is ashore, the crew repels multiple water horse attacks on the ship; Sam is dragged under the river by one but surfaces riding it, demonstrating the Valkyrie's innate bond with horses.

Blitzen and Hearthstone return with grim news: The whetstone is at Hearthstone's ruined childhood home in Alfheim, the realm of the elves. Hearth's abusive father, Mr. Alderman, has transformed into a dragon through the corruption of Andvari's cursed ring. Hearthstone reclaims the othala rune (inheritance) from his dead brother Andiron's grave cairn and summons Andiron's ghost to plead with their father, but the dragon refuses to surrender the ring. Blitzen saves Hearthstone by standing between friend and beast, and Magnus, hiding in a tunnel below, drives his sentient sword Jack into the dragon's heart. Andiron's ghost tells Hearth he is perfect before dissolving. Magnus accidentally tastes dragon blood, gaining the ability to understand animal speech.

On the Flåm Railway, Mallory encounters the goddess Frigg, queen of the Aesir (the main tribe of Norse gods), who reveals herself as Mallory's mother. Frigg explains she gave Mallory indestructible knives so she would die with blades in hand and reach Valhalla. She provides a walnut shell that will imprison Loki if Magnus wins the flyting. At their destination, Mallory uses the whetstone to trick nine giant guardians into killing each other, then pries open iron doors with her knives so Sam can collect the last of Kvasir's Mead. Two giants arrive in eagle form; Sam flies the mead to safety, Magnus defeats one, and Halfborn destroys the other in a berserker rage.

Sailing north into Niflheim, the frozen borderland of the Norse cosmos, the crew nearly freezes to death as the sea turns solid. Alex kisses Magnus under a shared blanket, telling him she was not going to die without doing that. They reach Skadi's fortress, Thunder Home, where the ice giantess confirms Naglfar lies nearby. That night, Sam prays during the Night of Power, the holiest night of Ramadan, and tells Magnus she feels confident that Loki's power is not the greatest power.

Magnus drinks the mead the next morning and feels nothing. Hearthstone's othala rune renders Magnus, Sam, and Alex invisible as they approach Naglfar, while the rest of the crew attacks the prow as a diversion, deploying expand-o-ducks (magical bronze mallards that balloon to enormous size), lightning runes, and rifle fire. Their invisibility breaks on the main deck. Magnus invokes the Peace of Frey, a blast of golden light that disarms every weapon on the ship, and challenges Loki to a flyting. Loki refuses, but Captain Hrym, the giant commanding Naglfar, forces acceptance by ancient custom.

Loki's insults carry literal power, physically shrinking Magnus while Loki grows. He calls Magnus a nobody, a forgotten bastard of Frey, and mocks his reliance on friends. Unable to match Loki's venom, Magnus realizes he cannot win by the trickster's rules. As a healer, he does not cut people down; he puts them back together. He changes tactics, praising each friend by name: Mallory's sacrifice and cleverness, Halfborn's courage, T.J.'s valor, Blitzen's bravery against the dragon, Hearthstone's triumph over his father's legacy, Sam's endurance through Ramadan, and Alex's artistry and fearlessness. With each tribute, Magnus grows while Loki shrinks. Sigyn, Loki's wife, silently vanishes from behind her husband. Magnus declares his friends are his othala, his true inheritance. Loki, surrounded by thousands, is utterly alone. The trickster shrivels to inches tall, and Mallory tosses the walnut, which sucks Loki inside.

The crew fights to the rail and leaps into the sea, caught by water horses Sam tamed earlier. They sail to Vigridr, the plain destined for Ragnarok, where the gods take custody of Loki and sentence him to renewed imprisonment. Magnus requests that Sigyn be allowed to remain at Loki's side, and Odin agrees. For his personal boon, Magnus asks for legal help converting Uncle Randolph's mansion into Chase Space, a shelter for homeless youth.

Chase Space opens on the Fourth of July with Blitzen and Hearthstone as caretakers. On the rooftop, Alex takes Magnus's hand, agrees to help run the shelter, and kisses him. Magnus reflects that more quests lie ahead, but for now he has his team, his family, and Alex Fierro beside him.