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Title | Secrets of Valhalla
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Author | Jasmine Richards
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Cover Art | Sam Nielson
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Publisher | HarperCollins - 2016
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First Printing | HarperCollins - 2016
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Title | Keeper of Myths
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Author | Jasmine Richards
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Cover Art | Sam Nielson
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Publisher | HarperCollins - 2017
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First Printing | HarperCollins - 2017
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Category | Middle Grade
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Buzz, Mary, Sam
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Main Elements | Gods
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Website | jasminerichards.com
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 Secrets of Valhalla
Meet Buzz...
FACT 1: He hates Friday the 13th (but getting trapped in a perpetual Saturday loop is definitely worse) - reviewer note, I happen to be writing this review on a Friday that also happens to be the 13th day of the month
FACT 2: He thinks myths are hogwash even though he is the son of a mythology professor (He'll soon see that all those myths about Norse and Roman gods are actually real)
FACT 3: His life is pretty tough at the moment (And it's only going to get tougher now that he's got to save the world...)
It's not every day that you find a famous weatherwoman bound by magic to a tree deep in the woods. Or discover that the weatherwoman is in fact Sunna, the Norse Goddess of the Sun, and one of the seven day guardians, who keep time in order. But that's exactly what happens to Buzz and his new friend Mary.
They quickly realize that with Sunna captured by the Norse God Loki, the world is doomed to repeat the same Saturday forever.
Now Buzz and Mary will have to embark on a quest through many mythologies to find the magical Runes of Valhalla and rescue the day guardians, before Loki plunges the world into chaos for good...
Keeper of Myth
FACT 1: They recently found out that Norse gods are real. (And they're about to learn there are even more gods)
FACT 2: Buzz's mom just returned after being lost in the Amazon. (But there's something important she isn't telling him)
FACT 3: They might have some awesome abilities of their own. (And they're going to need them very soon...)
Strange people have been arriving in Buzz's hometown of Crowmarsh. But it turns out these visitors aren't people at all - they're mythological gods! They've come to kidnap Buzz's best friend, Sam, whose newfound powers make him the key to granting the wishes of the gods.
Buzz and Mary must team up once again on a dangerous adventure to find a mysterious being known as the Keeper of Myths. Only the Keeper is strong enough to help them save Sam, unlock their own abilities, and banish the gods back to their realms - before they take over the world.
I didn't really need more books based on mythology, especially not Norse middle grade ones, I have two series on my to read pile already. But the library had just been renovated and I wanted to see what they did with the kid's section...and well the word Valhalla is kind of obviously myth based. I argued that my inability to resist wasn't a big deal, there were only two books in this series after all, I can squeeze them in!
And I enjoyed the first one. Sometimes I dislike books that mix mythologies, but hey, since all the days of the week are named after Norse gods (Sunna, Manni, Tyr, Odin/Woden, Thor, Frigga) except Saturday (Saturn is Roman), it had a pretty good justification to drag the Titan Saturn, and his children, into the mix (though he gets along surprisingly well with his kids considering he ATE them...) Although suggesting that Jupiter is running the internet Cloud made me really laugh, especially since I work for, well, Oracle of all places, now I like to think of the Cloud as floating above Mount Olympus or something.
There were some failings, everyone was too good. Even the bad guys were just misunderstood, or afraid, or made a mistake, and they all wanted to make up for what they did and help the kids out and be super friendly and everyone will now live happily ever after together. Which is so not like the real gods that didn't care what happens to the humans around them. I mean sure, you can't have Zeus/Jupiter tell Mary he will help her in exchange for some sexual favours and her bearing yet another of his hero children, but by the end of the book there were no villains...well one I guess. So it was a little too sweet and happy and tied up with a bow. In fact, given only two books in the series, it may have been intended as a standalone originally. Thus this takes it down a notch compared to say Rick Riordan's series, since while yes, he modernizes and makes fun of the gods there too, he also keeps closer to their personalities and their petty cruelties.
But that aside, it was a super quick, light, fun read and I enjoyed it overall. And I don't regret investing some extra time to read them, even though it means I'll have to pick a few books I already own off my to read pile to save for another year.
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