Odin's Ravens (Blackwell Pages, #2)

by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr

Seven kids, Thor’s hammer, and a whole lot of Valkyries are the only things standing against the end of the world.

When thirteen-year-old Matt Thorsen, a modern day descendant of the Norse god Thor, was chosen to represent Thor in an epic battle to prevent the apocalypse he thought he knew how things would play out. Gather the descendants standing in for gods like Loki and Odin, defeat a giant serpent, and save the world. No problem, right?

But the descendants’ journey grinds to a halt when their friend and descendant Baldwin is poisoned and killed and Matt, Fen, and Laurie must travel to the Underworld in the hopes of saving him. But that’s only their first stop on their journey to reunite the challengers, find Thor’s hammer, and stop the apocalypse–a journey filled with enough tooth-and-nail battles and larger-than-life monsters to make Matt a legend in his own right.

• ISBN10: 0316204986
• ISBN13: 9780316204989
• Publish Date: 13 May 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 342
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

So the teens have to use their wits to survive and go to Hel to find their friend and to try to do things differently from the past to stave off Ragnorok. They also start to accumulate allies and the tools to help them, often they have no way of knowing if the people helping them are allies or enemies.

I'm liking this series.

[Melanie]

3.5 stars

Review originally posted at RabidReads.com.

As a general rule, I’m not a huge fan of young adult books, so I was really surprised when I decided to pick up Loki’s Wolves back in 2013. I’m a huge Kelley Armstrong fan, so I decided to give it a try. I’ve never read Melissa Marr, who is the other author on this series. I also liked the idea of the Norse mythology. While it is written for younger children, I still found the story interesting. We have a group of thirteen year old kids from South Dakota who are standing in for the Norse gods, Thor, Loki, Balder, Odin, Frey and Freya. They are all working together to stop Ragnarok. They are even getting powers of the gods.

In Odin’s Ravens, we pick up basically where Loki’s Wolves left off. Baldwin, the descendant of Balder, has been poisoned and Matt Thorsen, descendant of Thor, along with Fen and Laurie, who are cousins and descendants of Loki all make a trip to Hel to bring Baldwin back from the dead. While there, they must face monsters and convenience Fen and Laurie’s “Aunt Helen” the guardian of Hel, to let them leave with Baldwin. After that, they meet with the Valkyries (I so wish these Valkyries were more like Kresley Cole’s, but then I guess this wouldn’t be a middle grade book anymore then would it?) and are put on a quest to find Mjölnir, Thor’s hammer.

The characters in this story are well written, as if with Kelley Armstrong there was ever any doubt. The kids make mistakes that kids their age would make. They get upset with themselves for making the mistakes when they figure out what happened. There is a lot on these kids shoulders, but overall they do handle things really well, while still being young teenagers.

This story is a typical quest type story. As soon as they complete one task, they are set up another. The mythology is great. I don’t know a lot about Norse mythology (outside of the comic books), but it seems to researched extremely well. It is also told in a way that explains the stories really well, especially for the age group for which it is written.

I think the storyline is really good, if you can get over the idea of thirteen-year-old kids as stand-ins for gods and are forced to fight to stop the apocalypse. It is a book written for middle school kids and they want to read about kids their age, so it makes sense. I believe that this is a trilogy and that the last book, Thor’s Serpents will wrap of the story. I can’t wait to see how it ends. I would highly recommend this book for kids, boys and girls alike. I do recommend that you start at the beginning of the series with Loki’s Wolves.

[Chelsea]

Initial Thoughts

I read everything Kelley Amrstrong writes so my expectations of her are always high. This one didn’t disappoint.

My New BFF

I still really like Laurie. I’d take her and Matt as my bff’s easy. They grew a little bit in this book while still being the same characters I loved in the first book. I like how they both are very similar to the Gods they represent.

My Crush

I will never stop loving Fen. He’s very interesting and that’s what keeps my entertained. Odin was another character that really started to grow on me the more we saw him. He’s like the quiet, smart one that sits back and lets everyone else work things out. He seems the oldest of all the characters. He knows exactly what he needs to do and he does it.

Writing Style

Lots and lots of action and adventure! My favourite! There was never a boring moment and I could hardly put the book down. You feel like all the characters are your best friends but they still surprise you sometimes. That’s what happens when you stick two great authors together.

Closing Thoughts

This is one of the only middle grade series that still keeps me interested. I think it’s funny how Thor’s and Loki’s descendants have to get along and it gives them a hard time throughout their adventures. There;s just a lot of humour in general in this book. You can tell it’s for a younger audience which bothers me a little but I have to read all of Kelley’s books. There’s a pretty high possibility that the descendants will complete their mission and save the world. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Some crazy plot twists are going to happen I can feel it!