IN A CITY FULL OF LIES,
THINKING IS YOUR ONLY WEAPON
Marshton City has a problem.
On the surface, everything looks normal.
But beneath it… not even close.
The new school principal is hiding something.
The water is freezing.
Fires are burning.
And a vengeful Viking is back.
With giants rising, lies spreading,
and Karl and Finch off the board,
Erika is running out of time.
To fix this, she’ll need more than courage.
She’ll need the truth.
And in Marshton…
the truth is getting harder to find.
IN A CITY FULL OF LIES,
THINKING IS YOUR ONLY WEAPON
Marshton City has a problem.
On the surface, everything looks normal.
But beneath it… not even close.
The new school principal is hiding something.
The water is freezing.
Fires are burning.
And a vengeful Viking is back.
With giants rising, lies spreading,
and Karl and Finch off the board,
Erika is running out of time.
To fix this, she’ll need more than courage.
She’ll need the truth.
And in Marshton…
the truth is getting harder to find.
Wolves are fast runners.
Remember, if you’re chased by one (and let’s hope that never happens), four legs can outrun two. But right now, a two-legged runner was leaving a four-legged one behind.
Let’s be clear: the two-legged runner wasn’t a human. And the four-legged runner wasn’t a wolf. Two legs looked human, and four legs looked wolfish.
Are you confused?
Let’s cut to the action. And find out who the runners were.
Geri, the wolf, chased Loki along a corridor. Loki lived in Asgard and was human-like. He had two arms, a head, a body, and two legs. He wasn’t human, not as we know humans.
If Loki lived next door to you, he’d pass each test for being a human. He wasn’t human, but he was alive.
We need to keep up, or Loki will escape.
Geri wasn’t getting any closer to him.
Loki swung around a corner. He sprinted along another stone corridor (Asgard had lots of them). There was another corner at the end of it.
He sped up, leaving Geri a lot of catching up to do. Loki rounded the corner and flung open a large wooden door.
He rushed through it and banged it shut after him. He put his ear against the door, listening. It rattled as something heavy struck it. Loki dropped to the floor and peeked under the door.
Geri lay on his side, where he landed after bouncing off the door. A nasty lump pushed through his fur above his eyes. Wolf claws were serious scratchers and diggers.
But, for grabbing door handles, you’re better off with fingers and thumbs. To be sure, Loki slid a locking bolt into the door frame.
Whistling, he strolled away into a large room.
He was in Thor’s room. Thor could turn up at any moment, so Loki worked fast.
He hurried across the room and stopped at Thor’s hammer. It had a brick-shaped head attached to a short handle. Thor used it to control the weather.
He could call up thunderstorms, strong winds, droughts, and floods. If you could name the weather, Thor could bring it.
Thor also used his hammer to defeat his enemies. He’d fling it at them or clout them with it. That’s not something you should try at home.
You shouldn’t–seriously.
Loki grabbed the hammer. He pulled a second one from a cloth bag slung over his back. He left the fake in the real one’s place.
He went to the window and looked down. Surt, the fire giant, looked up from below. He tossed the end of a rope to Loki, who tied it to the leg of a sturdy armchair.
He tugged on the knot, then climbed through the window. He slid to the bottom, and they disappeared into one of Asgard’s forests (Asgard had lots of them as well).
Geri, Loki, Thor, and Surt lived in Asgard, the home of the Norse Gods.
It’s hard to find Asgard. If you sent a package there, you’d need to write more than “Asgard” on the address label.
A difficult task because Asgard had no street address.
Look for it on an internet map. You could, but you’d get a message saying, “No Results Found.” You could say that the Norse Gods were good at staying hidden.
Everyone in Asgard knew that Loki was a troublemaker. Well, no, let’s make that a big troublemaker. Wherever there was trouble, Loki wasn’t far away.
The Norse God Odin, the boss of the Norse Gods, tried to keep Loki under control. But Loki was always one step ahead. He’d dodge capture, cause more trouble, and escape again.
Odin was Thor’s father. Thor had a brother named Balder. (The first syllable rhymes with “pal.”) Thor was the muscle, but Balder was the brains of the family.
Odin often sent Balder on secret missions to Earth.
If you wanted rain, Thor was your man, er, god.
Balder was the go-to guy for clear thinking and keeping a calm, cool head.
Odin had ordered his pet wolf, Geri, to guard Loki. But, as you’ve seen, Loki escaped and stole Thor’s hammer. Odin decided Geri needed something easier to do, so he sent him to guard a girl in a small room downstairs.
If you weren’t a god (or an animal) in Asgard, chances are you were a giant–like Surt. The giants didn’t live in Asgard.
They lived in another hard-to-find place named Utgard. Sometimes the gods needed their help. So, the giants visited.
Surt was a fire giant. We humans think of giants as big, tall people. When we hear “Giant,” we think of a boy climbing a tall plant. He finds a giant at the top.
Norse giants weren’t. Giant, that is. They were mostly normal-sized beings. Some were giants. Others could change from normal person-sized into oversized versions of themselves.
Surt was normal-sized. He was tall, but not giant tall. He wouldn’t be the tallest on a basketball team. Like Thor, Surt had a superpower.
He could set his body alight. (Again, please don’t try that at home.) You’d have to say it’s a great skill if you’re camping–everyone’s hungry–and you can’t light the campfire.
Loki needed Surt’s help to mess with us humans.
Karl, Finch, and Erika are back for another grand adventure, and this time, Odin’s on their side. After impressing the Norse god by using their skills and smarts to outwit those Vikings in book one, the three friends find themselves trying to stop raggy-rock, that end-of-the-world doomsday thing that has all the adults in a panic. But honestly? Karl’s more concerned about lies, in particular who’s telling them and why. Because lies hurt and break down trust among friends, and one thing he’s going to need to stop those giants working for Loki is trustworthy friends and allies.
Those Giants is the second installment in the Vikings Chronicles by Mike Cooper. Through the same playful and wildly humorous tone, Cooper delivers an exciting sequel in this clever middle-grade series. Part one reintroduces the characters and fills in some details during the opening recap of the final events from book one. If you’ve read the first book, you know the gang was separated in the final showdown against the Vikings, and the author does a great job bringing readers up to date on the latest goings on between Marshton and Asgard without slowing the pacing.
Those Giants continues to focus on building friendships and navigating adolescent emotions, while the pre-teen characters continue to learn and grow through their uncanny adventures. Once again, the author puts them in situations where they must rely on each other and think critically to solve problems and save the day. This time, there are frost giants and flame giants involved, and the havoc wreaked on the town gets quite messy. Maybe this is Ragnarok after all. Either way, there’s a lot of fun and excitement as the chaotic events unfold.
Young readers continue learning some Norse Mythology as Odin and his family become more involved in the plot. The previous novel mentions Balder, but this time around readers get to meet him and find out what he’s been doing all along. Thor and Loki also become part of the story in fun and familiar ways as Loki inevitably initiates his trickery and Thor’s hammer ends up in the fray. You’ll see a few other notable gods show up along the way, and the kids have to think quickly to outwit the not-so-friendly ones.
The theme in this sequel explores lying and its impact on friendship and other relationships. Karl and the gang find out what it means to be lied to, what lies of omission are, and how to forgive after being lied to. There are solid life lessons to learn while enjoying a rambunctious adventure to stop the apocalypse. You won’t want to miss this hilarious adventure, and keep an eye out for the next book in the trilogy.