Cinder Moss, 8th grade mortal at Copperpenny Middle, doesn't know it, but Odin has a mission for her: slow down Ragnarok.

Abandoned at birth and shuffled through the System all her life, Cinder is on the verge of being expelled from yet another school. Despite high test scores and uncanny talents in gym class, Cinder's records show a penchant for fighting, defiance, impulsivity, and an "unwillingness to develop appropriate decision-making skills." When a lunch-time brawl breaks out in the cafeteria, Cinder gloomily prepares for what has become all-too familiar. This fight, however, will not end like all the others.

All Father has dispatched his Predators from Asgard, an elite team of bodyguards to keep tabs on Cinder, biding his time till the surly human teenager reaches pledge-age. Knowing she will play a pivotal role in his eventual fall from power, Odin means to bring her to Valhalla where she will be broken, disciplined, trained, and given her quest directive.

Cinder may be in an alternate realm full of valkyries, dark elves, and world-encircling serpents, but she still has a chip on her shoulder the size of Thor's hammer, and she's not about to let Odin or any other god push her around. Can Tristan, son of the god of inspiration and the Galaxy's Most Eligible Boyfriend help Cinder put the brakes on Ragnarok, or will the end of the world claim her life beneath a strip mall in Pismo, California?