Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan starting on May 15, 2024.


Happy Reading!

Thank you!

Continuing the Rick Riordan-a-thon! Now with the Magnus Chase books!

1. The Sword of Summer Mar 15 [link]
2. The Hammer of Thor Apr 15 [link]
3. The Ship of the Dead May 15

If we're still going strong at the end, we'll move along to the Trials of Apollo.

I started this one this morning and plan to continue it while on the road today.

Oh yay! Someone starting! I'll be here this weekend!

I'll be behind..m

So far the best thing about this book is the chapter titles. They are so funny!

It seems like not much happens for the first 20% of the book nothing happens. Then they get a quest and nothing happens again until around 50%. I am curious to see what you guys think. I was hoping for more action since this is the last book in the trilogy. I suspect it will come later on, but I'm not there yet.

I ended up enjoying most of the story but the ending felt rushed. I really enjoyed having the audio version this time around.

Read through this today! I definitely agree with you Rachel on the first half--I kept thinking... why are they doing this? Everything seemed kind of random... and then we start getting into the endgame and it's like oh yeah, that's what this was all about! And things started picking up.

Opening chapters, through Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[I really enjoyed getting a cameo from Percy and Annabeth! None of Riordan's other series have matched the magic of the first series yet... It was amusing having the sword-pen joke rehashed again--I actually remember that line in book 1, when Jack scoffed at turning into a pen. And Percy gushing about Annabeth's capabilities and wisdom as "the most powerful demigod I know" was just super cute. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 12, was feeling much like @Rachel said... the book is pleasantly diverting but not compelling... (view spoiler)[though I really like getting more Alex and seeing her/him and Samira working together to help Sam overcome her father handicap. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 21 (view spoiler)[I like how we've been getting each of the crew backstories fleshed out some more. They've been largely absent through the previous books, so it's interesting to get, well, a proper crew together. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 27 (view spoiler)[I'm glad Hearth got some closure... that was brutal, with his dad... but at least he knows his brother doesn't blame him, and thinks he's the awesomest... not all of his family is awful... and he has his found family too. The whole dragon situation was pretty crazy! Was not expecting that. Lots of interesting scenes but up to this point they feel pretty disconnected... Makes me wish I knew more Norse mythology. I haven't been getting a lot of the references. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 32 (view spoiler)[Even more backstory--for Mallory this time... daughter of Frigg! Unexpected, though this is one of the few stories I *am* familiar with, that of Baldur... The word "caegh" or however it's spelled is pretty fun... Great moment on audio! (hide spoiler)]

End thoughts--(view spoiler)[Things picked up into the end game... but it seriously took me until Chapter 32 to actually figure out why they were going all over the place and doing all these random little quests. Oh, Ragnarok! Loki! Stop the Ship of the Dead! Just a really roundabout trip there. I did enjoy the insult-contest that turned into a boast-a-thon. I could have felt anticlimactic but it fit the overall mood of the series, I think.

And I'm definitely happy for Magnus & Alex. I was "awww"-ing for them at the end. (hide spoiler)]

I will join soon.

Up to chapter 5 so far. Interesting start.

Are folks interested in continuing with the next series? Next up is the Trials of Apollo series containing:

1. The Hidden Oracle
2. The Dark Prophecy
3. The Burning Maze
4. The Tyrant’s Tomb
5. The Tower of Nero

After that there's the new Percy Books and the Nico book, then we'll have toured the Riordanverse!

Do you want to keep going on the 15th, if interested? Skip a month and take a break? Spread out the schedule? Let me know.

I'm in for next series :)

Currently reading through chapter 32. Less than half book left to read. No spoilers from me at the moment. I'm enjoying reading it :)

Finished ☺️. Good read whole way through ☺️.

Monika wrote: "I'm in for next series :)

Currently reading through chapter 32. Less than half book left to read. No spoilers from me at the moment. I'm enjoying reading it :)"

Does keeping the 15th work for you, Monika? I can put in requests for the next series if so.

I felt much the same reading through--fun, not much to comment on.

yeah, 15th good for me ☺️

Requests made! ^_^ Will update when threads are live.

Thank you ☺️

The Trials of Apollo BR threads are live! Here's the first link:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...