Rachel Van Dyken’s 2025 novel, Fallen Gods, is a dark academia romantasy that blends Norse mythology with contemporary romance. The story centers on Rey Stjerne, the daughter of Odin, who is coerced into a dangerous mission at the elite Endir University. She has one week to retrieve Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir, from a rival family’s heir, the enigmatic Aric Erikson. To find the weapon, Rey must awaken the dormant Frost Giant powers within Aric, forcing them into a precarious alliance that blurs the line between enemies and lovers. The novel explores themes of The Weaponization of Familial Duty, The Ambiguity of Good and Evil in Mythic Conflict, and The Violent and Liberating Nature of Awakening.

Fallen Gods is the first installment in a planned duology and became an instant New York Times bestseller upon its release. Van Dyken is a prolific, bestselling author with over 100 books, known for high-stakes romance subgenres such as mafia and paranormal romance. The book is published by Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing focused on romantic fantasy, known for publishing Rebecca Yarros’s bestselling Fourth Wing. In the Author’s Note, Rachel Van Dyken explains that Norse mythology was deeply tied to her childhood and family life. She recalls her grandfather sharing stories about the Gods and giving her mythology books, describing him as such a “larger-than-life character” that she jokingly compares him to Odin (11). Van Dyken notes that while Fallen Gods draws heavily from Norse mythology and extensive research, she intentionally takes creative license to create “a what-if story” that reimagines the Gods and Giants through a contemporary romantasy lens (11).

This guide is based on the 2025 Red Tower Books first edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of physical abuse, sexual content, cursing, illness or death, graphic violence, and substance use.

Plot Summary

The narrative begins with a flash-forward in which Rey asks Aric Erikson, a Frost Giant, to run away with her from a world on the verge of collapse. Aric hesitates, insisting they must “end this” first (14). Rey accepts his decision, convinced that one of them is fated to die and that it will be her.

One week earlier, on her 18th birthday, Rey’s father, Odin, tasks her with a mission: enroll at Endir University, get close to Aric, and retrieve Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir, within seven days. Rey is motivated by the promise of freeing her stepmother, Laufey, a Giant whom Odin holds captive and abuses. Rey possesses an involuntary glamour called an Aethercall, which draws people to her and allows her to manipulate emotions. Before she leaves, a distraught Laufey gives Rey a secret note containing five runes. Accompanied by Odin and her bodyguard and friend, Rowen, Rey travels to the university. At the gates, Odin warns her that failure will bring suffering to her loved ones. Rey and Rowen share a cryptic farewell by acknowledging the danger of Rey’s task, referencing seeing each other on “the other side” (29).

From the dorm, Aric watches Rey arrive. He blames her and Odin for his parents’ deaths two years prior, which he believes was retaliation for his rejection of an arranged betrothal to Rey. On campus, Rey encounters Aric’s younger brother, Reeve, who serves as her Resident Advisor and warns her to stay away from Aric. In their first hostile meeting, Aric is cold and dismissive. Reeve then reveals that Rey’s dorm room is directly next to Aric’s.

Agitated by Rey’s proximity, Aric takes medication to suppress his awakening Giant abilities, feeling a strange power stirring within him when he is around her. Rey soon meets Ziva Morales, a fellow student who is immune to her Aethercall and becomes her first genuine friend. Studying a dossier from Odin, Rey deduces that Aric has forgotten Mjölnir’s location. She realizes her true mission is to awaken his memories and powers. She recalls an incident two years ago on a beach, just before their broken engagement, when their physical contact caused Aric to manifest a sheet of frost.

Rey confronts Aric in his room, where he pins her against a wall and threatens her. After he leaves, she breaks into his room by climbing an exterior ledge and finds his medication. Later, at a traditional campus orientation event under an ancient basalt arch, Reeve tells Rey and Aric to walk through the arch together. Legend states that walking through the arch with an intact candle is a good omen. Rey’s candle blows out, while Aric’s becomes covered in ice, a manifestation of his power that he quickly conceals. The next day, Rey follows Aric to a secluded spring and accepts his dare to go skinny-dipping. The sexually tense encounter culminates in him biting her neck. He soon receives a pivotal call from his grandfather, Sigurd, who tells him he is “awakening” (104).

During an orientation visit to the Hall of Ormir, Rey and Aric explore the ancient temple together. Rey notices the rune Raido carved above an obsidian mirror overlooking a dark pool. When the mirror suddenly swings loose and strikes Rey, Aric catches her and attempts to help her outside. Physical contact between them causing frost to spread across Rey’s skin and intensifying Aric’s mysterious physical symptoms.

Later, Rey and Aric travel together to the Ice Caves for a class assignment, still fighting their intense connection. During the drive, they argue about Rey’s loyalty to Odin and their shared desire to escape their families’ control. Inside the caves, Aric reacts strongly to the icy environment, and the two become trapped when part of the cavern collapses. After Rey is injured by falling ice, Aric experiences a violent vision connected to Mjölnir. Rey notices silver blood and mysterious runic markings appearing on Aric’s body, further confirming that his dormant Giant powers are awakening.

Rey later finds the Hagalaz rune from Laufey’s note carved into a tree; touching it triggers a violent vision of an ancient battle. She sneaks into Sigurd’s office during a game of capture the flag and is discovered by Aric. When a professor arrives and chastises Aric, mentioning his deceased parents, his powers surge. Rey kisses him to create a distraction, and they flee into the forest, where lightning strikes Aric. Lightning strikes a nearby tree, snapping it in two, and Aric leaps to save Rey. Afterward, she sees two runes, Raido and Dagaz, burned onto his back.

Rey reveals her knowledge of his Frost Giant heritage and shows him the runes, which match those in Laufey’s note. They form a truce to awaken his full power so he can lead her to Mjölnir. Once they find it, the truce will end. They activate the third rune, Hagalaz, by pressing their blood to the carving on the oak tree. They learn the fourth rune, Othala, is on a cow statue at Sigurd’s home. Over the next few nights, Rey begins sleepwalking into Aric’s room and sleeping with him. He allows her to stay, finding her presence calms him, and their relationship deepens into physical and emotional intimacy. Publicly, they remain distant, concealing their alliance and their intense connection, but they tease each other and look forward to their nights alone.

At a party at Sigurd’s house, Rey and Aric give into their desires and have sex, causing a power surge that blacks out the house. They find the statue with the Othala rune has been mysteriously moved to his game room adjoining Aric’s bedroom. They activate it, and Aric collapses from a vision. The next morning, Rey overhears a tense conversation between Reeve and Sigurd. Reeve follows Rey down to the kitchen and taunts her, leading Aric to punch Reeve. Rey and Aric drive back to Endir. Reeve later confronts Rey in an elevator at the school, revealing his true identity as Loki. Aric overhears Rey and Loki arguing and realizes she kept this secret from him. Feeling betrayed, he declares their truce over.

Rey follows Aric to his room to try to explain. Rey and Aric fight but reconcile through passionate sex. They plan to awaken the final rune during the Wild Hunt, the last orientation event. Aric confronts Sigurd, who reveals Aric holds the power of his deceased parents and instructs him to kill Rey after she retrieves Mjölnir. During the Hunt, Odin arrives with a bound Laufey. Rey and Aric slip away to a cobblestone carved with the final rune, Thurisaz.

Aric creates an ice bridge to a secluded cave, where they activate the rune. Aric fully awakens, his memories and powers returning as he transforms into his Frost Giant form. He now knows Mjölnir is hidden in the pool at the Hall of Omrir. As Rey runs across another ice bridge to retrieve it, Aric is ambushed, stabbed with a spear, and trapped in enchanted chains.

Rey awakens chained in the Hall of Omrir with Odin, Loki, and a captive Laufey. Aric is still chained and bleeding profusely. Loki holds a sword to Aric’s neck, forcing Rey to retrieve the weapon. Encouraged by Aric, she dives into the pool. Guided by a glowing serpent rune stone she found, she discovers a box at the bottom. Rowen pulls her to the surface, but his true motive is to retrieve the box’s contents: the legendary Nightfrost ring, not Mjölnir. He puts on the ring and is revealed to be Thor, Odin’s son, long believed dead. Thor explains that Mjölnir is embedded in Aric’s spine but fails to pull it out, as the hammer rejects him as a betrayer of his people. Odin reveals that only Rey’s blood can retrieve it, as Odin is also a betrayer. Mjölnir is sentient and will only respond to a worthy wielder.

As Rey approaches, Aric summons his full power, and Mjölnir erupts from his back, shattering his chains. He wields the hammer against Odin, but Thor deflects the blow with the Nightfrost ring. Rey calls Mjölnir to her hand, proving she is also worthy, and strikes Odin. Thor grabs their wounded father and teleports away, leaving Laufey behind. Sigurd arrives, announcing that Gods and Giants across campus are now awakening. Mjölnir, now belonging to both Rey and Aric, re-embeds itself in Aric’s back. Loki wakes after being hurled across the Hall of Omrir by Odin. He says Rey and Aric need him, stating that he gave Rey the serpent rune.

Two days later, Aric takes Rey to a secluded cabin filled with flowers. They affirm their love and their alliance, acknowledging that the war is far from over. They decide to open the Bifrost, the bridge between realms, to restore power to all the fallen, including Odin, accepting that this will escalate the conflict but is necessary to restore balance as they prepare to face the future together.