K. L. Armstrong

M. A. Marr

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarök that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters - wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the seabeds - all bent on destroying the world. But the gods died a long time ago. Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history - because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt's classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke. But knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarök is coming and kids - led by Matt - must stand in for the gods in the final battle, Matt can hardly believe it. Matt's, Laurie's, and Fen's lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to stop the end of the world.

Loki's Wolves

Briar's Reviews

Loki's Wolves is a truly fantastical, middle grade novel that focuses on Norse mythology.

I love Kelley Armstrong and I've been dying to get my hands on a novel by Marissa Marr for YEARS. So, when I heard that the two of them were writing a novel together I had to get my hands on it! On top of it all, I love a good, middle grade novel that I can sink my teeth into and not think *too* hard when reading. 

Loki's Wolves has Percy Jackson vibes, but for a little younger base. Matt Thorsen is, you guessed it, a descendant of Thor, and of course he's the chosen one! He has been chosen to defeat a mythical serpent that will aid in the destruction of Ragnarok. Laurie and Fen are descendants of Loki, and they will join Matt on his epic quest. Along the way, they must find the children and descendants of the other Norse gods and try not to make their corresponding tales come true. 

This book leaves itself on a WILD cliffhanger. I NEED to know what happens, and unfortunately for me I don't have the next novel in my hands yet. The story does not stand alone, which is a real shame. I totally get leaving a cliffhanger so your audience wants to keep reading, but MAN I AM FRUSTRATED. The story just stopped, it didn't end! 

These 13 year old leads were shockingly like 13 year olds! Sometimes when you read a book like this, the leads act like adults. Lucky for us, Kelley and Marissa are amazing writers and were able to craft characters that felt like their age. They make silly mistakes, they trust people they shouldn't and sometimes they are down right goofy. What more can you expect from a pre-teen cast? Especially when said pre-teens are the chosen ones who need to save the planet. 

The plot itself is fast paced, full of fun surprises, and has lots of literal fun. This is a fantasy novel, so it's not going to be some Oscar winning, realistic drama. It has monsters and amulets and silly tricks (I mean, you've got Loki in the title... what did you expect?). To me, I think it's the perfect way to introduce the middle grade audience into Norse mythology. It's a fun story with just enough mythology to make it interesting! Also, I totally binged it in a few hours. It was THAT good.

I'd highly recommend this book. Seriously, whether it's for your middle grade readers or adults who just want to sink into a good, fun book! I loved it and I'll definitely be continuing this series if I can ever find the sequels.

Five out of five stars!

Nessa Luna

I don't remember how I found out about this series (probably through Goodreads), but I immediately knew I had to get my hands on it. Because it's about Norse Mythology, in the style of Percy Jackson. Yes, it sounded super perfect, but was it? I can wholeheartedly say, yes. Yes, it was.

Loki's Wolves tells the story of Matt, Fen and Laurie, who are the descendants of the Norse Gods (Thor and Loki), who are supposed to be the substitutes for these gods during Ragnarök, the apocalypse that will destroy everything if the gods don't act. As a direct descendant of Thor, Matt is chosen as the one who needs to kill the sea serpent Jormungand, but to do that he must find all the descendants in time, convince them to fight along with him, and find some very special items as well.

When I first started reading it, I had been expecting it to only be about Thor and Loki, because they are the best known gods of the mythology, and of course with Marvel having movies and comics about them I had been very afraid. But this book has more gods (and goddesses) in it than I had expected, and I loved it. I won't spoil it for you, of course, but one of the descendants they tracked down was really one of my favourite gods (though I think that may have been caused by the Almighty Johnsons, in which this god is just amazing). In the end, I liked all the descendants, and I really hope we'll get to meet more of them in the next two books. Please give me Heimdall or Hodr or Frigg or Bragi or just any of them please.

The story was very simply written, seeing as it's a book for teenagers (from I think the age of twelve to sixteen maybe), but that didn't really bother me too much. I was too busy enjoying the story and noticing all the references to the actual mythology (like the Valkyries and the Mare/Mara, and yes yes yes I loved it). The characters were so like their God-ancestors, and that made me really happy. The Blackwell Pages is a great way to learn about Norse Mythology, if you're not into reading 'adult' books like Runemarks and The Gospel of Loki. And yes, I am still also looking forward to Rick Riordan's take on the myths, yay!

There were multiple POV's in this book, but they didn't bother me too much. That was probably because the story was written from a third-person narrative, rather than first-person. And also because the names of the character whose turn it was was above the chapter title. The three POV's were Matt, Fen and Laurie (obviously) and they were all pleasant characters to read from. Honestly I didn't really find that much difference between their characters, but that might have just been me.

Another amazing thing about this book? It has illustrations. Yes, illustrations! In between the pages of this book, there are some scenes that have been drawn, and wow honestly these images look really cool! It really adds something to the story, it makes you able to imagine the characters better and just wow, look at them:

 
I probably spend way too much time looking at these images, but honestly they look so cool! I really hope there's more of these images in the other two books in this series.

So yes, in the end, I loved Loki's Wolves, even though I was afraid it might be too much about Thor and Loki (okay the three main characters who have POV's in this story are descendants of these gods, but other than that it wasn't that much actually). If you are looking for a nice bookseries about Norse Gods while waiting for Rick Riordan's series, go and read The Blackwell Pages (Loki's Wolves, Odin's Ravens and Thor's Serpents).

My opinion on this book in one gif:

laura

I thought this was a super fun start to middle grade series, featuring norse myths. I really liked how the story was structures and enjoyed the pacing. I also liked the characters. I thought with so many characters it was hard to feel connected to all of them and felt the plot was a tad dis jointed in the middle and wish it was clearer. I loved the norse elements that made the story and world built. I will de check out book 2!