ChapterHouse: My Thoughts: Loki's Wolves, By Mellissa Marr and Kelly Armstrong

Age Range: 8 and up
Grade Level: 3 - 7
Series: The Blackwell Pages (Book 1)
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 7, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031620496X
ISBN-13: 978-0316204965

"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"- Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I had a few qualms with Loki's Wolves. Primarily its main characters; Matt and Fen. To put it simply, they behaved, acted, and were written like sixteen year old men. No Mrs. Marr, you may be shocked to find out that the (average) 13 year old doesn't come "sweat drenched" from "two hours of boxing", on a typical school day.

Another thing that caught my attention, was the fact that Mrs. Marr's and Mrs. Armstrong's writing was unusually grounded. Grounded in the sense of the kind of writing you would see in crime novels. This of course, is a stark contrast to the captivating and sarcastic dialogue usually spotted in MG. (Yes, I do love that middle grade snark)

Along with Loki's Wolves "grounded" writing came the inevitable state of nonchalance during "down-scenes". (Chapters of a novel with little action or chit-chat) Fortunately for LK, there were only a few down-scenes throughout the novel.

I guess what it boils down to is that I wasn't captivated. At times Loki's wolves was mildly "good", however it quickly sank down to mediocre. I will not be buying the sequel.

Rating: 3/5

What to expect?