The Magnus Chase trilogy is Rick Riordan’s Norse mythology sequence, and The Ship of the Dead is its conclusion — the one where Magnus Chase and his friends from Valhalla sail to stop the launch of Naglfar, the ship of the dead built from the fingernails of corpses, which when launched will carry an army of giants and monsters to trigger Ragnarok. As sentences go in YA fantasy, that one is doing a lot of work, and Riordan handles all of it with his characteristic blend of genuine mythology education and excellent comedy.

Magnus, a dead Boston teenager who is now an einherji (an Einherjar — a warrior in Odin’s army), leads a crew that includes Alex Fierro (a gender-fluid child of Loki), Blitzen the dwarf, Hearth the elf, and Samirah al-Abbas, a Valkyrie who is observant Muslim. The crew is diverse in ways that feel organic rather than checklist-driven, because each character has a fully realised interiority that has nothing to do with their identity categories.

The Flyting

The climax of this book involves a flyting — a formal Norse insult contest — and Riordan commits to it completely. Magnus must out-insult Loki to win, which means the reader must believe both that Magnus could do this and that a flyting has genuine narrative stakes. Riordan makes it work through careful setup across all three books.

Alex Fierro

The representation of Alex as gender-fluid is handled with the specificity that characterises Riordan’s best work. Alex uses he/him and she/her pronouns on different days, and the other characters adjust naturally. The relationship between Magnus and Alex develops with patience and care across the trilogy, and its resolution here is earned.

Why YA Readers Will Love This

For Riordan fans who have followed his work through Percy Jackson, the Heroes of Olympus, and The Kane Chronicles: Magnus Chase is his most emotionally mature series, and The Ship of the Dead is its best volume. The comedy and the mythology are both at full strength, but there’s a weightiness to the stakes here — Ragnarok is the end of everything — that gives the book a gravity Percy Jackson didn’t need.

For readers who want LGBTQ representation in mythology-based fantasy: Alex Fierro is essential. The way Riordan handles the gender-fluidity — as simply part of who Alex is, requiring no special plot explanation — is a model for the genre.

For readers who love Norse mythology specifically — Odin, Loki, the Aesir and Vanir, the Nine Worlds, the entire cosmology — this trilogy is one of the best YA treatments of that mythology and serves as an excellent gateway to the original sources.

Published: October 2017 · Genre: YA fantasy · Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 3

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Ship of the Dead about and how does it conclude the Magnus Chase trilogy? Magnus Chase and his friends from Valhalla sail to stop the launch of Naglfar — ’the ship of the dead built from the fingernails of corpses, which when launched will carry an army of giants and monsters to trigger Ragnarok.’ The review describes this as Riordan’s ‘characteristic blend of genuine mythology education and excellent comedy,’ calling Magnus Chase ‘his most emotionally mature series’ and The Ship of the Dead ‘its best volume — the comedy and mythology are both at full strength.’

How does the novel’s climactic flyting work? The climax involves a flyting — ‘a formal Norse insult contest — and Riordan commits to it completely.’ Magnus must out-insult Loki to win, ‘which means the reader must believe both that Magnus could do this and that a flyting has genuine narrative stakes.’ The review credits Riordan with making it work ’through careful setup across all three books.’ The flyting is positioned as an example of how the series uses real Norse cultural practices as narrative architecture.

How is Alex Fierro’s gender-fluidity represented in The Ship of the Dead? Alex uses ‘he/him and she/her pronouns on different days, and the other characters adjust naturally.’ The review credits Riordan with handling this ‘with the specificity that characterises his best work,’ describing Alex as ’essential’ for readers who want LGBTQ representation in mythology-based fantasy. The relationship between Magnus and Alex ‘develops with patience and care across the trilogy, and its resolution here is earned.’

How does The Ship of the Dead compare to the Percy Jackson series in tone? The review describes The Ship of the Dead as having ‘a weightiness to the stakes — Ragnarok is the end of everything — that gives the book a gravity Percy Jackson didn’t need.’ Magnus Chase is positioned as Riordan’s most emotionally mature series for this reason. The ensemble — Alex Fierro, Blitzen the dwarf, Hearth the elf, Samirah al-Abbas — is described as ‘diverse in ways that feel organic rather than checklist-driven, because each character has a fully realised interiority.’

Further Reading from Authoritative Sources

  • The Ship of the Dead — Wikipedia’s The Ship of the Dead article provides publication details and series context, helping readers understand the final Magnus Chase instalment’s place within Riordan’s Norse mythology sequence.
  • Norse mythology — Wikipedia’s Norse mythology article contextualises the mythological tradition the trilogy is drawing on, helping readers understand the real Norse sources that Riordan renders for a YA audience.