Odin's Ravens (The Blackwell Pages, 2) - Hardcover

Armstrong, K. L.; Marr, Melissa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316204986 ISBN 13: 9780316204989

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2014

Synopsis

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-olds Matt Thorsen and Fen and Laurie Brekke, modern-day descendants of Thor and Loki, discovered they were fated to take the places of the Norse gods in an epic battle against the apocalypse, they thought they knew how things would play out. Gather the descendants standing in for the gods, 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. That's only their first stop on their journey to reunite the challengers, find Thor's hammer, and save humanity--a journey filled with enough tooth-and-nail battles and colossal monsters to make Matt and his friends a legend in their own right.

Perfect for fans of ancient myths and filled with young heroes, monstrous beasts, and godly enemies, this fast-paced adventure is impossible to put down.

About this title

About the Author

K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr had been friends for several years and found themselves spending hours talking about mythology and monsters. With that shared interest, in addition to K.L.'s love for tackling creatures in video games when not writing (and sometimes when she's supposed to be writing), their monster and myth fixation, and the books they read with their sons, they knew they had to write the Blackwell Pages.

Reviews

Gr 4–7—In Loki's Wolves (Little, Brown, 2013), 13-year-olds Matt, Laurie, and Fen all learn that they are the descendants of Norse gods. Upon making this discovery, they set out on a journey to locate the rest of the descendants in an effort to pool their strengths and defeat a giant serpent hell-bent on bringing about the apocalypse. They hit a roadblock, however, when a fellow descendant is killed and sent to the Underworld. This installment in the series begins where the first book left off, with the three teens trapped in the Underworld on a mission to reclaim their friend Baldwin. The chapters alternate among the three main characters. The story is a perfect fit for reluctant readers as the action begins on page one and never lets up. This is not a standalone title, however. Reading Loki's Wolves first is a must. Recommend "The Blackwell Pages" to kids looking for a companion series to Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson" books (Hyperion).—Jennifer Furuyama, Pendleton Public Library, OR

This sequel to Loki’s Wolves (2013) delivers plenty of action as well as reflective moments for its five main characters, teens descended from the Norse gods Thor, Loki, Baldur, and Odin. Former middle-school classmates Matt, Laurie, and Fen rescue their friend Baldwin from the underworld, defeat a cave bear, and fight many zombie-like draugrs, while their ally Owen faces his own challenges, rejoining his pals when he can. All the young descendants of the gods struggle to come to terms with their roles in the coming epic battle foretold in Norse mythology. The second volume in the fast-paced Blackwell Pages series, this flows well, developing the main characters and offering moments of humor even as it delivers exciting scenes of quest, combat, and adventure. Narrative shifts from one teen hero to another add further dimension to the story as the characters confront personal insecurities, suspicions of each other, and their terrifying enemies. Keep this series in mind for Percy Jackson fans in search of fresh reading material. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The Blackwell Pages looks poised to join Armstrong and Marr’s previous series on the bestseller lists, and the extra push from a multi-platform marketing campaign should help. Grades 4-7. --Carolyn Phelan

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Odin's Ravens

By K. L. Armstrong, M. A. Marr

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Copyright © 2014 K. L. Armstrong M. A. Marr
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-316-20498-9

CHAPTER 1

MATT

"WELCOME TO HEL"

If there was one thing worse than seeing a giant's head rise from the ground, itwas seeing two giant heads. Belching fire. Still, if they killed Matt,his soul wouldn't have far to travel ... considering he was already in theafterlife.

"At least it's only one giant," Matt said as they crouched behind arock.

Fen gave him a look.

"What? It's true. A single two-headed giant is better than two one-headedgiants."

And this, Matt realized, was what their world had come to. A week ago, hisbiggest worry was failing his science fair project. Now he was taking comfort inthe thought that he faced only one fifty-foot-tall, fire-breathinggiant.

It was a Jotunn from Norse mythology. The most famous were the frost giants, butthey lived in a world of ice, and there was no ice in this smoke-shrouded wasteland, just rock and more rock, as far as the eye could see.

The Jotunn looked like a two-headed WWE wrestler on nuclear-powered steroids,insanely muscle-bound, with reddish-orange skin that gleamed as if it were onfire. The giant stood in a crevasse up to its thighs, but even so, Matt stillhad to crane his neck to look up at the heads.

Matt touched the amulet on his chest. It was vibrating, warning him thatsomething dangerous was near, just in case he couldn't, you know, see a fifty-foot flaming giant. The amulet was Thor's Hammer, worn by all the Thorsens ofBlackwell, South Dakota, because they really were "Thor's sons"—distantdescendants of the Norse god ... which is what got Matt into this predicament inthe first place.

Matt dimly heard Laurie say that they would have to pass theJotunn—answering something Fen had said. He looked over at Fen andLaurie—the Brekke cousins, also from Blackwell, descendants of thetrickster god Loki. Matt was about to speak when a distant roar made him jump.

"It's okay," Laurie whispered. "The giant is still talking to itself. That wassomething else."

Of course it was. He laughed a little at how calmly she had said it. She wasright, though. The Jotunn hadn't noticed them yet.

"It's distracted," he murmured. "Good." Matt pointed at a line of jagged rocksto their left. "Get over there. Behind the rocks. Fast!"

"Shouldn't we—?" Fen began, but Matt waved him forward, and Laurie nudgedhim along.

As they raced for the rocks, Matt kept his gaze fixed on the giant. He herdedthe cousins behind the biggest boulders and motioned for them to hunker down. Hedid the same. Then he took another look.

"Shouldn't we have run that way?" Fen pointed in the other direction. "We couldhave ducked behind those rocks."

Matt shook his head. "That would lead us right to the giant."

"Um, yeah. Kinda the idea, Thorsen. How are we going to get the jump on it fromover here? These rocks lead away from the freaking fire monster."

"Yes, because that's where we're going. Away from it."

"But Baldwin is that way," Laurie said, pointing past the giant.

They'd discovered that one of Laurie's powers was the ability to locate otherdescendants of the gods of the North. In this case, she was homing in on theirfriend Baldwin, who was stuck in the afterlife.

"Laurie's right," Fen said. "This is no short detour, and we don't know whatwe'll find along it. Maybe more giants. We should just fight this one."

"Do you see how big that thing is?" Matt said. "It could swallow a troll."

"But we fought three trolls."

"And barely escaped with our lives," Laurie said. "Matt's right. We should tryto avoid this guy."

"Great. Side with Thorsen again," Fen muttered.

Matt could tell Fen thought he was wimping out. A few days ago, that would havestung enough to make Matt reconsider. But he'd learned a few things since then.Sometimes being a leader meant wimping out of a fight. They weren'tplaying around here. They could die. Their friend Baldwin had died, andthat's why they were trekking through the underworld, to bring him back to theland of the living. Even then, there was no guarantee they could.

Fen agreed to the long route. There wasn't much else he could do, beingoutnumbered, but he kept grumbling that they'd probably run into twofire giants now. Finally, Matt had to ask him, nicely, to pipe down before thegiant overheard. Fen didn't like that, either.

Matt adjusted his shield over his shoulder and led the way along the row ofjagged rocks. Sometimes they could walk upright. Sometimes they had to creepalong bent over. Now and then they needed to dart between rocks. The closer theygot to the Jotunn, the worse the smell got. Sulfur. Matt recognized it now, fromchemistry. Soon, he couldn't just smell the fire—he could hear itcrackling, deep in the canyon, and he could feel it, waves that made sweat rolldown his face. The air shimmered with the heat, and he had to keep blinking tofocus.

Laurie glanced over, but Matt waved for her to keep going. They were alongsidethe Jotunn now, the stink and the heat unbearable. Still, the giant was busytalking to ... well, talking to itself apparently, its two heads deep inconversation. Matt could hear the voices, crackling and snapping and roaring,the words indecipherable, the sound like fire itself.

It doesn't matter what they're saying. They're too busy to notice—

One of the heads stopped talking. And turned their way ... just as Matt wasstepping from behind a rock. He stumbled back, arms shooting out to keep theothers from doing the same.

"One's looking," he whispered.

Behind him, Laurie crept to the other side of the rock to peek out that way.Matt resisted the urge to pull her back. He could barely see from hisdirection—the angle was wrong. It seemed as if the heads were both turnedtoward them. One said something to the other, and the giant shrugged. As theheads talked, Laurie snuck back to him.

"I think they're trying to figure out what to do," she whispered. "If we want tomake a run for it, now's the time."

Matt nodded. The heads did seem to be debating their next move. The left oneobviously wanted to check out whatever it had seen. The right head wasn'tinterested. Then the massive left arm grabbed the edge of the canyon as if topull the giant out. The right head shook and sputtered something, but the lefthalf started pulling itself out of the canyon in a weird, lopsided climb.Finally, the right head gave in, hissing smoke, and the other huge, muscled armreached up ....

"Now can we run?" Laurie said.

Matt hunched over and ushered them to the next rock and then the next. When theground shook, Matt thought it was just his amulet quivering. Then Fen sworeunder his breath, and Matt knew he felt it, too. He prairie-dogged up andsaw—

A fire giant. Which was, of course, what he knew he'd see, but there was adifference between watching it from a couple hundred feet away and seeing itright there. Okay, maybe not "right there," but close enough. More thanclose enough. It was no more than twenty feet away, so near that Matt couldsmell fire.

When one head spoke to the other, wisps of smoke wafted out. Sparks flew as theother head replied. Matt could see flames inside their mouths. Did theyspit fire? That wasn't anything he'd read in the myths, but they werelearning not everything was the way it was in the old stories.

"A sword?" Fen whispered. "Seriously? It needs a sword, too?"

Matt's gaze dropped to the monster's belt. "No, it needs two swords, apparently.Flaming swords."

"Of course," Fen muttered.

"You still want to fight it?" Matt said. " 'Cause now's your chance."

Fen scowled.

"Hey, you might distract it," Matt said, grinning. "Take one for the team."

"I thought that was your job, Thorsen."

"Stop it," Laurie whispered. When they did, she said, "Do you think we shouldrun?"

Matt peeked over the rock again and then shook his head. "It doesn't know wherewe are. It's still just looking around. Follow me."

He set out, hunched over behind the rocks. When he dared peer out, the Jotunnwas still moving, but slowly, looking from side to side. They reached a spotwhere the rocks were little more than boulders, and they had to almost crawlthen, creeping along as they tried not to inhale dust and sand from the rockyground. That wasn't easy, especially for Matt, with an ancient Viking shield onhis back. He had to stay far enough from the rocks to keep from scraping theshield against them. His amulet wasn't helping, either. Now it was vibrating sohard that Matt swore he could hear it.

When they saw a row of taller rocks, Matt let out a sigh of relief ... until hedrew close enough to notice the ten-foot gap between their row and that one.

"It's not too bad," Laurie whispered. "We just need to time it."

Matt nodded. "I'll watch the giant. You get in front of me. When I tap yourback, run. Fen—"

"Follow. Yeah, I get it." Did he look annoyed? Matt couldn't tell, and thiswasn't the time to worry about it.

Laurie inched forward and got into position, crouched as low as she could get,ready to run on his signal. Matt peeked over the rocks. The Jotunn had stopped.Each head looked a different way—neither their way. Matt tapped Laurie.She sprinted, with Fen right behind her.

Matt let them get halfway across the gap, then took one step out, his gaze fixedon the fire giant. A second step. A third ...

Blue light flashed. That's all he saw, a flash so bright it was like a stungrenade. He staggered back. Laurie let out half a yelp before stifling it.

Both Laurie and Fen were staring at him. At his chest. He looked down to see hisamulet sparking a brilliant blue. His hands flew to cover it. A roar boomedthrough the air—a crackling, unearthly roar. Matt swung around and saw theJotunn coming straight for them. No, coming straight for him.

He glanced at the cousins. "Run!"

As Matt turned to the Jotunn and raced toward it, Fen shouted, "Wrong direction!I really wish you'd stop running toward danger, Thorsen!"

As Matt ran, the amulet vibrated, but there was none of the usual heat. It wasalmost cold. The burn of ice. The amulet glowed so bright now that it cutthrough the swirling smoke and lit the dim wastelands like the midday sun.

The Jotunn had stopped running. It stood there, both heads tilted, looking athim in confusion. Matt pulled the shield from his shoulder and slung it over hisarm. All four eyes of the Jotunn widened.

"Vingthor," one of the heads rumbled.

Vingthor. Battle Thor.

Not exactly ... but Matt still smiled. Adrenaline tore through him, sparking andsizzling like the amulet, and when his hand shot out, it wasn't even a consciousaction. He just did it, as naturally as breathing. There was a deafening crackas ice shot from his fingertips. Yes, ice. A blast of white that froze into ashard of solid ice as it flew. It hit the Jotunn in the stomach and sent thegiant crashing to the ground so hard the vibration nearly knocked Matt ontohis butt.

Matt stood there, grinning.

I can do this. I can really do ...

The Jotunn sprang up. It didn't struggle up, dazed, like the trolls had—itleaped to its feet like a gymnast and barreled toward Matt. His hand shot out tolaunch another ice bolt. And it worked—the ice flew from his fingers andwhipped straight at the Jotunn. But the giant's massive fist swung, hit the icebolt, and shattered it into a thousand harmless slivers.

"Matt! Come on!" Laurie shouted.

Matt turned and ran. Ran as fast as he could, the ground shaking under his feet.The Jotunn roared, and the heat of its roar scorched Matt's back.

"Run!" he yelled to Fen and Laurie. "Go!"

They took off behind the row of rocks. Matt veered to the left before he reachedthem. He was heading for another row of rocks, farther down, to keep the Jotunnaway from the cousins. Then he saw the fissure—a crack in the rocks, maybethree feet across. If he could get down in there, the Jotunn couldn't reach him.He ran over and raced alongside the crack, getting a look down. It tapered offpast the opening. The lowest point he could see was maybe ten feet down. Too farto jump. He should—

The Jotunn roared with a gust of heat that made Matt gasp. Sparks blasted him,burning his skin, singeing holes in his shirt. He spun, and the giant was rightthere, a flaming sword in each hand. One blade headed straight for him. Mattswung his shield up, but even as he did, he realized his mistake. Flaming sword.Wooden shield.

His amulet flared again, and cold ice shot down his arm and into his hand. Therewas a blast of white as snow whipped up and swirled around his shield arm. Theflaming sword struck the wood with a thunderous clang. The blow knockedMatt clear off his feet. He fell backward, and as he did, he remembered wherehe'd been standing. On the edge of a chasm.

There was no time to grab anything. No time to even right himself. He fellbackward into the fissure, his head hitting the rock side with an explosion ofpain so intense he blacked out. He came to and found himself wedged as far downas he could get in the crevasse. He lay there, looking up, not daring to move,certain he'd broken something, probably broken everything. Then theJotunn's two heads appeared over the edge of the chasm. One mouth opened. Fireblasted. Matt got his shield up just in time. A layer of ice snapped over thewood, and the fire bounced off.

The other mouth opened. Smoke billowed, and Matt thought, That's it?Really? Then the smoke hit him, so thick he choked and sputtered, eyeswatering as he gasped for breath.

Matt yanked his shirt up over his nose and mouth. Then he flipped over and beganto awkwardly crawl with his shield slung over his shoulder, protecting his back.Not easy to do when there wasn't a flat bottom. His feet kept sliding fartherdown into the fissure, and he almost got his shoe stuck more than once.

It felt like he had indeed broken everything, but he kept moving as fast as hecould. The fissure dipped, getting deeper, and soon he couldn't feel the heatagainst his back. He glanced over his shoulder to see the Jotunn reaching intothe chasm, but he was too far down.

"Hey!" a voice shouted. "Hey, you! Fire creep!"

Fen's voice echoed through the wasteland. When Matt looked up, he saw theJotunn's two heads looking every which way, as if they couldn't find the sourceof the voice. Matt crawled faster. Fen kept shouting. Finally, with a grunt, thegiant took off, ground shaking as it ran.

Matt grabbed the side of the fissure and began crawling up. When he popped hishead out, the Jotunn was a few hundred feet away, looking around wildly.

"Matt!" It was Laurie, whispering loudly.

A hand appeared from behind a rock. Matt took one last look at the Jotunn, thenheaved himself out of the fissure and ran for the cover of the rocks, whereLaurie waited. When he reached her, he checked for Fen, to be sure he was safe.He seemed to be. He was keeping his distance from the giant and had gone silentnow that Matt had escaped.

The Jotunn kept looking around, heads muttering to each other after each scan ofthe rocky plain. It checked the crevasse a few times, as if Matt might suddenlyappear there. Finally, the giant lumbered back toward the chasm where it hadfirst appeared. As it climbed down into it, Fen came along, jogging silentlybehind the rocks. Matt waited until he caught up, then the three of them set outagain.

"You need to rest," Laurie whispered as they made their way across the rockyplain. The landscape had flattened out and the smoke had dispersed, but theruined city was still a distant smudge against the endless twilight. The home ofHelen, ruler of the afterlife. That's where they'd been headed, presuming that'swhere they'd find Baldwin.

"You can barely walk," she continued. "We've been up all night and hiking allday."

Matt shook his head. "We have a long way—"

"Fine." She raised her voice so Fen could hear. "I'm sorry, guys, but I reallyneed a break."

Matt knew she didn't. He also knew that if he dared say so, Fen would snap andsnarl at him for pushing his cousin too hard.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Odin's Ravens by K. L. Armstrong, M. A. Marr. Copyright © 2014 K. L. Armstrong M. A. Marr. Excerpted by permission of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316204986
• ISBN 13: 9780316204989
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 342