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 (with spoilers)
This review DOES contain spoilers from the book. If you’d prefer a review without spoilers, please 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 the title of King or Queen of the Gods for whichever god they’re competing for.
This story primarily follows Lyra, a mortal who was cursed by Zeus to be unlovable. Lyra’s parents went to Zeus’s temple while her mother was pregnant to make an offer, but her water broke and Zeus, being a petty god, took offense to the water defiling his sacred sanctuary. He decided to curse Lyra as punishment. He made it so no one would ever lover her.
This included her parents, who decided to send her away when she was only 3, to pay off their debts. She was sent to the Order of Thieves, her birth name unknown, where she was renamed Lyra and trained in thievery. She was, unfortunately, a terrible thief. Not nearly subtle enough. So she instead became an office clerk for the Den and stayed with them even once her debt was paid. She had nowhere else to go and no one who wanted her.
Lyra has a crush on her friend and master thief, Boone. After an embarrassing encounter with some of the other thieves who mock her about her crush, 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. A feared god who has dimples when he smiles (Yes, this is necessary to include because dimples 😍). Their encounter is brief, but enough to leave Lyra feeling unraveled.
The gods start appearing all over the world, naming their chosen champions for the Crucible. For the first time ever, Hades has chosen to enter the Crucible and selects Lyra as his champion. Her promises her that if she wins, he’ll remove her curse.
Right away the gods have their champions play a game of sorts. It’s not one of the labors, but could help them in the challenges. They’re to find a hidden token and get to their god before time runs out. If they do, their god will award them 2 gifts. Lyra learns that there’s more than one way to win any challenge. She receives her gifts – Hades sends his tattooed spirit animals to Lyra, for her to call upon when needed, and he marks her with a kiss, ensuring safe passage to the Underworld. She also receives a tiara as part of an outfit and that tiara includes black pearls, which allow the user to transport to other locations.
That night, Boone sneaks into Hades’s home and gives Lyra a tactical vest with supplies, her relic (an axe that showed up in her room 10 years ago), and his relic (dragon teeth that when planted, become bone soldiers).
The first labor: Poseidon’s
Contestants are bound by the wrist to poles, stuck in icy water. They have to get free and are told that they have a bigger challenge coming. This ends up being sea monsters, whose eggs hatch when they touch the air. Isabel, Poseidon’s champion, dies during this labor.
The second labor: Hermes’s
This one takes place on the side of a mountain. Champions have 12-inch platforms to stand on. Herme’s challenge is a riddle. The three fates show up and Hermes explains that one always tells the truth, one always lies, and it one is random and may tell the truth or lie. To win, champions must figure out which fate is which. They each have 3 questions. When they use one of their questions, 6 inches adds to their platform. When a competitor asks, their platform decreases in size instead. If they lose too many inches, they fall. The winning champion will get to fly down from the mountain, while the others must climb.
The third labor: Dionysus’s
For this labor, all the champions must carry as much vodka as they can through a cave, from one section to another. Whoever gets to the end with the most vodka wins. However, night in the cave is exceptionally dangerous. There are poison ivy plants that cause painful blisters and at night, the vines come alive, reaching out and attacking contestants. The vodka heals the smaller burns and acts as an antidote. Lyra gets attacked and wrapped up in the vines too long and not only receives burns, but cannot breathe. Zai, having allergies all his life, pulls out an EpiPen and uses it to save Lyra. When another contestant fights for their life, Lyra uses one of the black pearls given to her by Hades and transports herself and that contestant to Zai’s room to use another one of his EpiPens.
Because the use of the Pearls was not allowed in the trials, daemons come to punish Lyra, but Hades offers himself in her place.
The fourth labor & fifth labors: Apollo & Artemis’s
While Hades is being punished, the fourth labor begins. Apollo invites all the champions to his house for this labor. They’re all surprised when Artemis states her labor, the fifth, will take place as well. For Apollo’s portion, the champions are sent into a room with a hidden door and they must figure out how to open it. They each get 2 minutes, before they’re forced to come out and let the next contestant try. Whoever completes that challenge first not only wins Apollo’s challenge, but also gets to start Artemis’s labor first. Lyra wins Apollo’s labor, but wanted to share the answer with the other contestants. By doing so, she left the room and was not allowed to enter again until all contestants used their 2 minutes. So despite winning, Lyra is the last to start Artemis’s labor.
Artemis’s labor is an obstacle course. Every champion gets 4 flags for the 4 virtues – courage, placed on the back; strength, placed on the arm; mind, placed on the head; and heart, placed on the chest. There are creatures who try to steal the flags as champions make their way through the course and for every flag lost, the course gets more difficult. The first mortal to cross and touch their god wins.
The sixth labor: Aphrodite’s
For this labor, all champions are put to sleep and forced to dream. They must find the mortal they love most in the world. That person will be trapped in their own dream and in order to wake them, the champions must figure out who it is, enter their dream, and tell that person they love them, then come back to the starting location with that person. For those who succeed, that person will become their partner in their next labor. Lyra’s dream leads her to Boone.
The seventh labor: Hephestus’s
The champions are gathered in Hephestus’s home, which transforms into a multi-level course, where the champions must make it to the top within 4 hours. On each level is an automaton that must be defeated. Additionally, gifts from patron gods will not work while in the course. The champions are given the option to either take their partner from the previous challenge, or go alone and keep their most loved mortal safe. Boone refuses to let Lyra go alone.
During the challenge, Boone states that they should just climb up the side of the stone structure, rather than fighting their way through each level. While climbing up, an automaton strikes out through an open window and Boone jumps in front of Lyra, taking the hit for her. He falls to his death and Lyra watches him die.
After the labor, Hades attempts to console Lyra and promises that if she wins the Crucible, he’ll use his powers as King of the Gods to bring Boone back.
The eighth, ninth, & tenth labors: Demeter, Hera, & Ares’s
It turns out that even though Boone took the worst of it in the last labor, Lyra was injured as well. The injury nearly killed her, though Hades was able to help her pull through and survive. While she spent two weeks healing, the Crucible continued. The next three labors took place without Lyra, making her chances of winning even slimmer.
Once healed, Lyra and Hades get much closer. They get intimate, but the next morning, Lyra finds herself alone and Hades extra distant.
The eleventh labor: Athena’s
This labor takes place in a colosseum. There’s a glass maze full of bugs that sting and bite. During this labor, Dex kills Micah, then Zai accidentally kills Dex when he’s attacking Lyra. Dex had been extra aggressive and odd during this challenge, so as Athena’s champion, Lyra blames her and screams at her, calling her a monster. Charon, Hades’s friend, shows up and takes Lyra out of the labor.
Daemons soon show up to take Lyra to prison. Athena wanted her dead for calling her a monster. As a compromise to avoid death, she is taken to a very nice prison, where she will be kept until the final labor. She is also not allowed to have access to Hades during this time.
The twelfth labor: Zeus’s
For this labor, Zeus changes the rules, to allow his champion a better chance to win. He claims whichever champion wins will receive 3 points instead of 1.
This labor takes place in Death Valley, in the Mohave Desert. There are 3 gates that champions must pass through. The first through all 3 wins. Champions cannot go around the gates and while they can use gifts to get through the challenge, they cannot use them to escape or skip portions.
Before each gate there are monsters to fight – a minotaur before the first gate, a kraken before the second gate, and thick darkness between gates two and three, which we learn hides sirens. These sirens lure everyone except Lyra, Jackie, and Samuel, taking them to them to their island home. Jackie isn’t affected because she can see through enchantments, Samuel appears as if Zeus glamoured him, and Lyra is unlovable. The sirens crave the humans’ love and lure them by telling them they can love them better than anyone else. Lyra immediately believes that Hades somehow knew about this labor and is why he picked her, after learning about her curse.
Lyra makes her way to the gate and could step through and win, but she chooses to save the other champions instead. She uses most of her pearls to accomplish this task. Upon returning, she sees all the champions waiting for her to cross the final gate first, allowing her to win the Crucible.
But being a sore loser, Zeus shows up. He glamours Cerberus to attack Lyra and also uses his lightning to attack her. Knowing she’ll die, she uses her last pearl on Cerberus so he can reach the River Styx and survive.
Hades shows up, having been detained and unable to arrive sooner, and fights with Zeus. It’s explained that Zeus was behind many of the deaths and issues that took place during the Crucible. The daemons take him away to punish him for his interference.
Hades saves Lyra by giving her his crown, making her Queen of the Underworld. And since she won Zeus’s labor while she was still human, that makes Hades King of the Gods. His first act is to grant Lyra a prize. She wishes for Boone. He is brought back and made the God of Thieves, in place of Hermes. Hades then demands Pandora’s box, which is his right as king of the gods. It’s apparently a back door to Tartarus, where Persephone is trapped.
Upon opening the box to try and retrieve Persephone, Boone and Lyra are sucked in, now trapped in Tartarus.
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!
My favorite things about The Games Gods Play:
- The intro. The preface literally starts with “Fuck the gods”, so I just knew it was going to be a fun read.
- The labors. I always enjoy books that have trials, challenges, or deadly games as a main plot point.
- Lyra sticks to her morality and loyalty, even when it angers the gods or causes her to lose.
- The slow-burn romance and the way Persephone is written, not as Hades’s lover, but as someone he loves dearly.
My least favorite things about The Games Gods Play:
- Lyra’s ability to figure out that Hades pushed her away after their intimate night together to protect her. The way she jumped to that conclusion so suddenly seemed completely illogical to me.
- Lyra’s curse to be “Unlovable”. Hades clearly gets romantically involved with her and falls in love. He’s a god, so maybe it doesn’t affect him the same way. But then she has Boone and Zai, who very much care for her and since they’re willing to die for her, I’d even say they love her, even if it’s only friendly in nature. So saying she was “unlovable” doesn’t really make sense to me. I can only figure that maybe because it was important to win Zeus’s labor, that’s why it was included? I’m not sure. Hopefully future books will clarify more.
- Hades pet name for Lyra – “My Star”. I don’t have a reason why, I just don’t like it.
- Lyra using a pearl to travel to the island where the sirens take their victims. Lyra is told she has to picture the place she wants to go – how could she have possibly known how to picture the correct place?
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 enjoyed the interactions with some of the other gods and how they were shown to be similar to mortals with their flaws and personalities. 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 think the few aspects I mentioned about made the story seem like it had some holes that needed filled before I could consider it a 5 star read.
I gave it a spice rating of 2/5, as there were a few mild kissing scenes, but also 1 somewhat detailed sexual scene. Nothing super intense, though, so if you love fantasy but don’t like the spicy scenes, definitely give this one a try! The plot is definitely the focus.
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.
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