The Strange Maid

The second book in the United States of Asgard series, where the Norse gods are celebrities in an alternate modern America.

Fans of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Maggie Stiefvater will embrace the richly drawn, Norse-influenced alternate world of the United States of Asgard, where cell phones, rock bands, and evangelical preachers coexist with dragon slaying, rune casting, and sword training in schools. Where the president runs the country alongside a council of Valkyries, gods walk the red carpet with Hollywood starlets, and the U.S. military has a special battalion dedicated to eradicating Rocky Mountain trolls.

Every day, Signy Valborn gets up and puts on a Valkyrie costume to entertain the tourists who travel north to the icy island of Vinland. She also helps Ned Unferth, a handsome young troll hunter, terrify the tourists by putting his tame greater mountain troll through its paces. Then Baldur's Night arrives, the night when the United States' most popular god, Baldur the Beautiful, rises from the ashes, escaping Hel to live among them for the spring and summer months. But this year, Baldur doesn't rise. Amidst the confusion, a band of mountain trolls attacks and destroys Signy's town. Ned and his troll are not among the dead, but they're nowhere to be found. As Signy sets out to search for them, she leaves behind everything she's ever known to discover

what fate the gods have in store for her.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TESSA GRATTON has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. She was too impatient to hunt dinosaurs, but is still searching for someone to teach her magic. After traveling the world with her military family, she acquired a BA (and the important parts of an MA) in gender studies, and then settled down in Kansas with her partner, her cats, and her mutant dog. You can visit her at TessaGratton.com and learn more about the series at UnitedStatesofAsgard.com.