It feels like pandering...

The Hammer of Thor picks up where the Sword of Summer left us, alas, it left me rather disappointed.

First the good parts:

Rick Riordan still gives us some pretty hilarious moments (like the democratic Viking zombies, as Magnus calls them, or the banter with Jack and the other Einherjar) and there are scenes that are entertaining and suspenseful enough to keep tension. There are wacky and amusing takes on various gods and other entities as is expected and those who found Christopher Guetig disappointing, may like Kieran Culkin better, I admit, I am okay with both for the most parts, though MR Culkin sometimes was performing rather noticeably bad in a few spots...

With that said, now to the bad points:

1. There seems to be less magic and richness. The first book made some very nice efforts to give the strange, wonderful and weird feel of the different worlds and all the mythological entities. This book, it just does not give the same magical atmosphere to me. Of course it is partly due to visiting many known locations, but I found the descriptions less compelling and atmospheric overall. I think the sequels of Percy Jackson, or the Kane Chronicles were better in that regard. It may be a bit subjective, but it left less of a powerful impression, unlike the first book which created an actual wish to revisit it.

2. Characters feeling a bit less like themselves: Magnus personality seems a bit faded compared to his very outspoken attitude in the first book. He makes some jokes, he does not hold back his opinion, but whereas he stands out in the first book, he just does not seem to have the same development, the same intensity or the same liveliness here. This is tied to the later points, but it seems to be much less his story this time around and it shows...
The other chief offender is Loki. I loved his charismatic, devious, unpredictable nature in the first book, I liked how we felt torn about sympathizing with him, I do not feel that this time around at all...
And his plans seem not to be worth his trickster god fame either.

3. This one is a bit of a spoiler, but not much:

The new character, Alex Fierro, child of Loki.
I feel a bit torn here because as a gay man (still a teen when the first Percy Jackson books came out), I definitely liked the fact that Rick Riordan included homosexual / bisexual characters before. I found it refreshingly true to the original myths in the Trials of Apollo and I thought that it was very relatable and quite authentic in The Heroes of Olympus. I could relate to that, I thought it was appropriate and it did not take a more important tole than other topics like issues with step parents, or the other issues the young protagonists face.
The problem is maybe that very thing: non binary Alex Fierro is not a character who we see struggle and come to terms with their problems, not someone who we can easily relate to because we can see them figure things out for themselves.
Alex is there and the focus seems to be more how other characters have to deal with her/him.

I really think that is a bad choice.
We do not see Alex having to deal with the same kind of condescension Magnus had to go through, people praise her performance and skills (of which she, or he occasionally has many), we see a character who is confrontational, pretty much always gets to win and excel and who never has to face consequences. Especially because of the parallels to Magnus, it is pretty obvious that there is a double standard that does not make Alex very likeable.
...and whereas Nico had people react surprised but eventually supportive, helping him deal with his sexuality, Alex gets to confront people about how to treat her properly...

Sorry, but that is not any sort of positive inclusion, this is pushing things on other people, both in the story and outside. That does not help to make people tolerant and ready to accept others, this serves to dig the rifts deeper.
And this is alas not something that stands out from how these topics are handled by media in general very much.

Alex is more a political statement than a living, breathing character you can relate to.

4. Samira and her faith:

I never took too much to Samira in the first book, but she does at least get her flaws and her struggles and I actually found the point of being torn between her traditional background and her wanting to have a career and being a Valkyrie a nice plot point.
My own Muslim friends have had their struggle with that and I know that it is not easy to resolve.

But in this book, Samira it feels more like even the very norse gods whose existence is at odds with her religious upbringing cheering her on to be a religious Muslim while still getting to fit everything else in...
That just does not seem to be how these kinds of stories go...

For a thought exercise, imagine a devout christian girl in Samira's place who would have the same sorts of attitudes and behavior.
Would you expect the same kind of treatment?
I honestly doubt that there would be the same universal respect and careful avoidance of problematic issues.

I am also not quite sure who he ultimately is trying to address here. I think that young adults who read his books are more likely to be struggling with the pressures on them to not get to freely leave Islam (the problems, often even violence facing ex-muslims is I think a problem that actually might benefit from being addressed), than to be as religious as Samira is portrayed to be...


5. Buzzwords:

"It is not my job to educate you", "Cultural appropriation", and in the last book before that, "mansplaining"...

If those words were just used in jest, it would be actually funny, but please, please do think of what you actually are saying here!

Cultural appropriation, if taken seriously, would pretty much lay waste to every book Rick Riordan has written.
If you write about the mythologies of other cultures, other religions, how can you take such a ludicrous concept as cultural appropriation seriously?
Are you aware what we would have to excise from our daily lives if we wanted to make a stance against cultural appropriation?
Starting with the very letters we use, which are not of American, not of British, not of German, French or Spanish origin?
Think about how many things have passed from one culture to another and then reconsider the idea of one culture "owning" something and you will realize how silly it soon gets.

And how shall we see someone, who both insists on everyone around her adapting to her wishes regarding how she is to be treated while at the same time saying something like "it is not my job to educate you".
You can say that if someone demands explanations from you which you neither have the time, nor the inclination to give, but if you refuse, then how can you at the same time demand from them to inform themselves and change their behavior accordingly?
I am gay, and when I want people around me to change their attitude, then the very thing I will do and have to do is try to educate them!
That attitude seems lazy and entitled. People have fought for their tolerance, their equality under the law, chiefly by educating and informing the majority of people that discrimination and prejudice are wrong. We owe a lot to all the brave people who stood up and did educate others, even when it cost them much more than a bit of patience and time.
I cannot accept that attitude, it just seems like a slap in the face of the people who fought so hard for us nowadays getting to grow up without having to be afraid of being persecuted by the law or being without recourse when someone attacks you for what you are.


I honestly am not sure if I will pick up the next book...

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47 people found this helpful

good story bad story performance by narrator

Story was great. Narrator was horrible only had one tone for all voices and moved along too quickly

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39 people found this helpful

Kieran Culkin should never narrate another book

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Kieran Culkin

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Kieran Culkin?

Jesse Bernstein

Was The Hammer of Thor worth the listening time?

No, had to buy the hardcover because the narrator read too fast and has no imagination

Any additional comments?

Rick Roeden should have the book Reproduced with the new narrator.

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37 people found this helpful

Worse narrator ever!!!

Ok first off if you make all the voices to all the characters the same then you ruin the book completely. Plus he reads to fast. I had to rewind a lot to understand what was said. What happened to the first guy from book 1 he was awesome. Even though the story was great the narrator really ruin the book for me.

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33 people found this helpful

The first Rick Riordan book I returned

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25 people found this helpful

Narrator sucks

It seems as if the narrator did no research on the subject. His voice was flat and unexpressive. Story was good.

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19 people found this helpful

After 30 mins I quit listening.

What would have made The Hammer of Thor better?

This reader was awful. Was he getting paid on how fast he read the book? I got to the part where Magnus put jack away after the fight at the church and quit the book.

What could Rick Riordan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Have the first person do the narration.

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18 people found this helpful

Not at all Rick's Best

Would you try another book from Rick Riordan and/or Kieran Culkin?

I would recommend, and have, any other book series by Rick Riordan. Sadly this book did not do it for me. To me this book felt like a Percy Jackson story just without Percy. I understand that it is in the same universe, but it was if Rick took one of his old books, changed some names, added in too many pop culture references, shoehorned in many current liberal opinions and then knew we would buy it because of his past sells. His heart just wasn't in this book, and I fear he was trying too hard to 'connect' with his teen audience.

What could Rick Riordan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Broken his old mold. I wish he would have kept the beats (i.e. Main protagenist narative) of the Percy Jackson books but didn't write the same old story. We have already read the book where something bad has happened, the God's are idiots, the Demi Gods must save the day, they need to overcome 3-4 hard things in different locations, the end leads into the next book, and "WHAM, new book written where is the paycheck?"

Give us a story where their Demi Gods are actually impressed, and respect, their Gods. Give us a story where the Demi Gods aren't sent on a quest ever other month. Basically, like I said, break the mold, and give us something fresh but with a familiar ring.

What aspect of Kieran Culkin’s performance would you have changed?

I have to say that this narrator was my least favorite of Rick's Books. One thing I would have changed was some of his pronunciations. Mainly, Bifrost. I don't care if you use the Disney Marvel's Thor pronunciation of By-Frost, or the actual dictionary pronunciation of Biv-frost, but don't come up with your own. I know i'm being nit picky but it drove me crazy.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It did continue the storyline, and at the end {Spoiler Warning} it did let us know that Percy and Annabeth would be joining the next book. That helped me want to at least read the next one.

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13 people found this helpful

Terrible narrator mars the next Norse installment

I liked the first Norse narrator, and love the narrator for the current Apollo series. Sadly, Culkin is terrible. He's incredibly fast, monotone, with a permanently sarcastic inflection. It was hard for me to listen to him and we just had to plug along to get this one done. It was also my 14 year old's least favorite narrator. We almost gave up with the one as a result.

Substantively, it was okay. I agree with Riordan's tolerant, diverse views, but am worried some of his attempts at more diverse characters are getting a bit forced. I thought the trans/nonbinary character Alex worked fine. On the other hand, I think Samirah and her relationship with her religious beliefs was a bit breaking the fourth wall or something similar. One of the suspension of belief tenets of these books has been how to reconcile current religious beliefs with verify specific gods and afterlife descriptions. It nagged at my mind a bit early on, but he solved that by having his demi-gods and their families as pretty secular or at least non-literal-interpretation religious types. And my guess is that fits most of his readership. I'm just not sure if I buy his attempts to reconcile the two things, and I feel it would have been better to skip having a character who is both extremely devout and in a religion that requires literal interpretation of religious texts and eschewing of other religious beliefs and gods. I would have felt the same way if she were a providential, quiverfull Christian.

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12 people found this helpful

Great story horrible narration

Worst narrator I've heard by far reads entirely too fast fails to give characters their own personality absolutely atrocious audible should re-record with a much better narrator and I thought the original narrator from sword of summer was bad but he

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11 people found this helpful