Tween Tuesday

The Blackwell Pages by K.L Armstrong and M.A. Marr

Another series based on Norse Mythology and for the younger edge of Tweens.

Book One: Loki’s Wolves

Summary from Goodreads:

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarok, 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.
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, South Dakota, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt’s classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke.
However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarok is coming and kids–led by Matt–will stand in for the gods in the final battle, he can hardly believe it. Matt, Laurie, and Fen’s lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

Book Two: Odin’s Ravens

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Book Three: Thor’s Serpent

Summary from Goodreads

Thirteen-year-olds Matt, Laurie, and Fen have beaten near-impossible odds to assemble their fellow descendants of the Norse Gods and complete epic quests. Their biggest challenge lies ahead: battling the fierce monsters working to bring about the apocalypse.
But when they learn that Matt must fight the Midgard Serpent alone and Fen and Laurie are pulled in other directions, the friends realize they can’t take every step of this journey together. Matt, Laurie, and Fen will each have to fight their own battles to survive, to be true to themselves, and to one another – with nothing less than the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

This is a solid read for those Tweens looking for a series based on mythology.  It is an easier and shorter read than the Percy Jackson books or even the Legends of Orkney series, but a still a good story with solid characters and plots.  I will admit I haven’t read the 3rd one yet.  I had a student borrow the first two at the start of school and she came in a few days later and wanted the third, so she currently has it.  But I’m sure it will be as good as the others.  The only thing I didn’t like were the illustrations included in the books by Vivienne To.  She did the covers which I like, but the inside illustrations are just lacking something.  I’m not sure what, but they just fell flat with me.  Other than that a good read for Teens.