Loki's Wolves (The Blackwell Pages #1) by K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr

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."





I really enjoy reading books about mythology, be it Greek, Norse or Egyptian. I must confess though despite having read through The Percy Jackson Series, some of The Kane Chronicles and loving East of the Sun and West of the Moon, I really don't know as much as I would like to.   So it is very important to me that when reading mythology that I have some reference to the myth the story is based on.   Loki's Wolves is a nice example of this for me,  I learned a lot of details about Ragnarok, how the main characters are the descendants of the Norse gods Thor, and Loki and somewhat as to why they are to stop the end of the world by becoming their gods champion.   

There is so much to enjoy about this story.  I loved how it was set in modern day South Dakota in a town called Blackwell that seemed to have some Norwegian influences.  The characters all seemed unique each with their own powers handed down to them.  The team jumps from three to seven rather rapidly, so I didn't get a great sense of the last four but the main characters were Matt, Fen and Laurie.  I kind of felt bad for Matt, he was so full of self doubt.  He really struggled for much of the book between wanting to live up to the family name, while trying to learn how to control his temper and the power he receives from his amulet.  Fen and Laurie seemed like brother and sister to me instead of cousins.  They have such a strong bond, so it was frustrating when Fen was portrayed as being overly protective of Laurie, but came off as him thinking she was physically weak.  Laurie's character was very strong willed and Fen's comments about her being a girl and not being able to defend herself, well they were very contradictory to the bond that they shared.  Laurie did use her powers several times to get them out of sticky situations after all. Fen and Matt struck me as natural enemies, I had this strong Edward/Jacob (Twilight) vibe at first so, I was so relieved when they finally aligned themselves and had each others backs.    I wish there had been more time to learn more about twins Ray and Reyna (Frey and Freya's descendant), there are some mysteries yet to learn about them.  Baldwin (Balder's descendant) was very cool and I liked how Fen identified with him so quickly.  It seems he might play an important role in the next book, so I hope to learn more about him as well.  Overall, I thought Loki's Wolves was a wonderful introduction to a series based in Norse mythology that was filled with plenty of action, adventure and humor, leaving room to learn more about these champions before they go to battle.  

My copy of the book was purchased.