Book Stats
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Piper Goodeve
Length: 17 hours 57 minutes
Chapters: 111
Narrator POV: First person narration; all from the main female character’s POV
Summary (No spoilers)
If you’d like to read the full summary and review with *spoilers included*, check out this post instead!
In this modern retelling of Greek mythology, gods choose mortals to compete in the Crucible, a deadly contest where the winner decides which god will rule Olympus for the next 100 years. The Crucible consists of 12 labors, 1 for each god and goddess of Olympus (excluding Hades since he never participates), and each labor counts toward 1 win. Whichever mortal champion has the most wins by the end earns their represented god the title of King or Queen of the Gods.
This story primarily follows Lyra, a mortal who was cursed by Zeus to be unlovable. Due to this curse, her family sends her to the Order of Thieves, to pay off their debts, where she continues to work as an office clerk even after her debt has been paid. After an embarrassing encounter with some of the other thieves, Lyra angrily heads to Zeus’s temple to confront him and deal with her curse. Instead, she has a run in with Hades, the feared God of Death.
For the first time, Hades has chosen to enter the Crucible and selects Lyra as his champion. No one is more shocked than Lyra. Having been cursed and unnoticed all her life, she never expected to be thrown into a situation like this.
Lyra faces many challenges, both during and outside of the labors. She develops strong relationships with some of the other characters, making both alliances who help her through the challenges, and enemies who do their best to ensure she fails. Most gods and goddess are terrified of Hades becoming King of the Gods, so they help their champions win, often by cheating.
Review
Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️/5
While trials and challenges are very common among fantasy books these days, I really enjoyed how these challenges were all unique and varied from each other. The strengths and weaknesses explored made it a more even playing field for all competitors. I like how, despite there being 12 labors, none of them felt repetitive or overdone. With this being such a common fantasy theme, it’s truly amazing that Abigal Owens was able to keep her story unique and intriguing.
Hades and Lyra have chemistry and tension that they continuously dance around and try to ignore. I loved their slow-burning romance and the fact that their every interaction impacted the choices they made throughout the Crucible. From concerns over each others’ safety to their reasons for wanting to help each other win.
In my opinion, the ending of this book was well done. I like how it wrapped up the current story, despite ending on a cliffhanger that leads to more questions. I’m definitely excited to start the second book and I hope it’s as fun to read as this one has been!
Reason for the ratings:
I gave this book 4 stars, as it drew me in immediately with the first sentence of the preface starting “Fuck the gods”. Now, if that doesn’t make you curious, I don’t know what will. There are a ton of main and side characters, most of which I found entertaining. I loved the chemistry not only between Hades and Lyra, but also between Lyra and her friends/allies throughout the story. It was a great read and I will be reading the next book in the series. That said, I still felt like it was missing that “something extra” that truly makes a story 5 stars.
I gave it a spice rating of 2/5, as there were a few mild kissing scenes, but also 1 somewhat detailed sexual scene.
Book Cheat Sheets
The Games Gods Play, like many fantasy books, transport you into a world with so many new names and information, it can be difficult to keep track. For me, I know I had a difficult time remembering the gods/goddesses’ various virtues, whose labors we already went through, and which champion represented which god. If you have the same issue(s), check out these cheat sheets I created and used while reading.
Leave a Reply