Happily! The United States of Asgard is a three book and some novellas series by Tessa Gratton. The basic premise is that gods are real and the Norse gods came with their worshippers to settle what would become the USA.
Blurb: Welcome to the United States of Asgard! Please watch for troll sign!
The United States of Asgard is a nation of poets and warriors, of rock bands and evangelical preachers, of gods and their children. The media tracks troll sightings and reality TV is about dragon slaying and teen prophets. The president rules the country alongside a council of Valkyrie, and the military has a special battalion dedicated to eradicating the threat of Greater Mountain Trolls.
Each book is about a teen protagonist's adventures and relationship with their chosen god. Book one is about Soren Bearstar, a biracial berserker who does not want to be a berserker, who are all men and all sworn to Odin. Soren and teen prophet Astrid Glyn go on an adventure when Baldur the Beautiful, the god of light, disappears, and it is absolutely wonderful. Book two is about Signy Valborn who is trying to solve a riddle set for her by Odin in order to take her place as the final Valkyrie. Where Soren tries hard to control his strength and his anger and his berserker-ness and hates Odin, Signy embraces her power and her rage and her love for her god. Book three is about Astrid, but to say anything about it would be a spoiler.
There's also a book that collects three of the novellas; the stories focus on one of Thor's illegitimate sons, who is biracial and bisexual and possibly my favorite male character ever, a girl who is introduced in book one and anything else about her would be a spoiler, and Glory, who is actually Fenris Wolf, bound to girl form so she won't eat Baldur and swallow the world and bring about Ragnarok.
Glory was my introduction into this world; back when Tessa Gratton was still regularly posting short stories as a part of the Merry Fates, she wrote Blood Like Apples, which is a story about Glory and how she has been bound and what is the only thing saving the world, and it is absolutely wonderful.
(I think there are a handful of other USAsgard stories in the Merry Fates archive, but I haven't looked yet to be sure.)
I love this series a lot. I'm not super knowledgeable about the Norse gods, but Sister K is a big fan and one of my bffs took this excellent blood feuds class in law school that included a lot of references, and so I've picked up things by osmosis. I love the world building, the way girls and women are so strong and so smart and so important in the world, but there is still sexism to be faced, and racism to overcome, and homophobia. I love the adventures, the way the three main books loop together to tell a long, rollicking adventure, the layers the short stories and novellas add. I love it so, so much.
And each time I reread it, I get frustrated by the fact that for all the great things it does, Gratton basically wiped the Indian tribes and their gods out of the world. That's not even what happen with actually colonization. They are still people, still living, still a part of this world and this country. She handled so many difficult things well, only to absolutely fuck up this part, and it is so frustrating.
I highly recommend the books, though. These characters, this world, it is great. Odds are high I'll reread it again soon, possibly even before the end of the year, but if not, definitely early next year.
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Blurb: Welcome to the United States of Asgard! Please watch for troll sign!
The United States of Asgard is a nation of poets and warriors, of rock bands and evangelical preachers, of gods and their children. The media tracks troll sightings and reality TV is about dragon slaying and teen prophets. The president rules the country alongside a council of Valkyrie, and the military has a special battalion dedicated to eradicating the threat of Greater Mountain Trolls.
Each book is about a teen protagonist's adventures and relationship with their chosen god. Book one is about Soren Bearstar, a biracial berserker who does not want to be a berserker, who are all men and all sworn to Odin. Soren and teen prophet Astrid Glyn go on an adventure when Baldur the Beautiful, the god of light, disappears, and it is absolutely wonderful. Book two is about Signy Valborn who is trying to solve a riddle set for her by Odin in order to take her place as the final Valkyrie. Where Soren tries hard to control his strength and his anger and his berserker-ness and hates Odin, Signy embraces her power and her rage and her love for her god. Book three is about Astrid, but to say anything about it would be a spoiler.
There's also a book that collects three of the novellas; the stories focus on one of Thor's illegitimate sons, who is biracial and bisexual and possibly my favorite male character ever, a girl who is introduced in book one and anything else about her would be a spoiler, and Glory, who is actually Fenris Wolf, bound to girl form so she won't eat Baldur and swallow the world and bring about Ragnarok.
Glory was my introduction into this world; back when Tessa Gratton was still regularly posting short stories as a part of the Merry Fates, she wrote Blood Like Apples, which is a story about Glory and how she has been bound and what is the only thing saving the world, and it is absolutely wonderful.
(I think there are a handful of other USAsgard stories in the Merry Fates archive, but I haven't looked yet to be sure.)
I love this series a lot. I'm not super knowledgeable about the Norse gods, but Sister K is a big fan and one of my bffs took this excellent blood feuds class in law school that included a lot of references, and so I've picked up things by osmosis. I love the world building, the way girls and women are so strong and so smart and so important in the world, but there is still sexism to be faced, and racism to overcome, and homophobia. I love the adventures, the way the three main books loop together to tell a long, rollicking adventure, the layers the short stories and novellas add. I love it so, so much.
And each time I reread it, I get frustrated by the fact that for all the great things it does, Gratton basically wiped the Indian tribes and their gods out of the world. That's not even what happen with actually colonization. They are still people, still living, still a part of this world and this country. She handled so many difficult things well, only to absolutely fuck up this part, and it is so frustrating.
I highly recommend the books, though. These characters, this world, it is great. Odds are high I'll reread it again soon, possibly even before the end of the year, but if not, definitely early next year.