NorsePlay Reviews: 9 From the Nine Worlds. 📗

NorsePlay has dug into Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase series before and found it somewhat wanting, though we were grateful at the time to see Young Adult contemporary fantasy offerings that forayed into Norse Mythology at all, but still it was with some hesitance we returned to read its companion post-trilogy storybook collection 9 From the Nine Worlds (2018 CE).

The literal running gag is that Thor's taking a jog through all the Níu Heimar to log in enough mileage to win a cameo spot on his favourite TV show (yes, that's as ridiculous as it sounds), and to incidentally cross his path are the nine short stories each featuring a Magnus Chase supporting castmember, each one now upgraded to a main character, having to deal with a problem in each world. This unexpectedly gave them as individuals a moment to shine and show how they would do things as opposed to (the now-absent) Magnus taking care of business.

One of the tropes of contemporary fantasy is juxtaposing the magical/medieval elements against the mundane world we know. In the case of this selection it tends to get played for laughs, which normally I feel is the easier route to take, and if done overmuch just undermines the combined/crossed-world its trying to sell. Yet in 9 this foil is instead seated in the characters who know who they are and tend to deftly deal from the adaptation in their lives that straddle those contrasting realities. So there's laugh with the story over laugh at the story, which makes this collection a pleasure and not a groaner.

I especially liked the Helheim story Nice Doggy, as Thomas "TJ" Jefferson Jr, an African-American Union soldier and son of Tyr, has to deal with Hel's bartering with his mother's shade, but this was  more serious fare than the rest of the lineup given what was at stake.

The book also features a full panel art gallery of each character, a glossary, and a pronunciation guide. While there's something stylistically off about these illustrations, it was neat to get extra bells & whistles with the stories.

So I'm guessing the question you're now asking becomes: Is it worth it to read a trilogy to get to this neat addenda story collection? No, but you're asking the wrong question. Rick Riordan as an educator has written an easy-in unit to school youths on Norse Mythology using personas with relatable voices (though it does get a little flippant at times), negotiating not only their adolescence, but the strange & wonderous Norse Cosmos on top of that. Again, the Gods could be cast as far less buffoonish adult figures which serve as metaphors for parents who "don't get it", but Riordan manages to work in what the reader needs to know about the players at all levels, sometimes in a surprising way. If that's something you (or your kid/s) as a beginner needs, or would find an amusing exhalent break from your backlogged Academia.edu reading list on the Pre-Christian Religions of the North (which is why this collection went over so well with me, I suspect), then this series will give you the chuckle you probably need.

#    #    #

Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.