The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen – a Review

 

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Description:

The gods love to play with us mere mortals. And every hundred years, we let them…

I have never been favored by the gods. Far from it, thanks to Zeus.

Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves, I just keep my head down and hope the capricious beings who rule from Olympus won’t notice me. Not an easy feat, given San Francisco is Zeus’ patron city, but I make do. I survive. Until the night I tangle with a different god.

The worst god. Hades.

For the first time ever, the ruthless, mercurial King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible–the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. But instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name mortals to compete in their stead.

So why in the Underworld did Hades choose me–a sarcastic nobody with a curse on her shoulders–as his champion? And why does my heart trip every time he says I’m his?

I don’t know if I’m a pawn, bait, or something else entirely to this dangerously tempting god. 

How can I, when he has more secrets than stars in the sky?

Because Hades is playing by his own rules…and Death will win at any cost.

 

 

Review :

The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen is the 1^st book in her new Crucible series. Can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to reading this book. It’s from one of my favourite authors, and it’s a brand new (no spin off or rerelease) series. I love her Dominion series (that’s a YA read) and adore her Fire’s Edge and Inferno Series (Paranormal/shifter series).

But this book, has them beaten, this has the makings of an awesome series (well I hope it’s a new series, but I’ll take a trilogy/duet/or whatever the author throws my way) 

Myth with a modern day twist, can sometimes come off a stilled or weird! But not this author, she knows how to play the story out, give you just enough information without overload or boring page fillers! 

Characters are finished off to a tee. They jump off the page and into your heart. I read (no, inhaled the book) then sat and read it again, noting all the details that I might have missed. If a movie (true to the book) ever came out, then I’d be first in the queue. 

Details about the world had me clearly visualising it. You could almost smell and hear the story pan out with such great descriptions. 

Gods can be cruel and fickle beings, playing with mortals like dolls. Messing around with their lives, meddling and then watching with fascination. The Crucible is a game held every one hundred years , and the gods get to pick a mortal to be their champion. The mortal gets a prize, (and it’s an amazing prize 🤐) but the winning god gets to rule Olympus! So the gloves come off, cheating/rule breaking/ bending the rules, all in the name of winning!

I loved the games aspect of the story. (No Percy Jackson or Harry Potter challenges I’m afraid, it’s way better than that.) The champions have to do trials set by the gods, and they aren’t easy. The champions can 💀 and some do 😱 it is a little harrowing in places…. But the excitement and anticipation had me on the edge of my kindle 😜 

This isn’t a retelling of Hades and Persephone (which at first I wasn’t too keen on, theirs is a story I love reading) but of Hades and Lyra. Persephone is in here, along with many familiar gods, but we mix them up a little. (Which kept it fresh.) 

Morally grey hero/villain/or just misunderstood? Hades is the god of the Underworld, no surprise there. He’s devious, he’s cold, unfeeling and a total bast@rd!! Lyra maybe his champion, but to him (at first) she’s just a pawn, a tool to get him his prize…. The crown and throne of Olympus! He needs her to stay alive, so his investment of her training is just that, well that’s how it starts 😉

The main female character Lyra, took me a little while to warm up too. She’s a thief, but she doesn’t actively steal, she’s more of a watcher (she watches and helps the Den she comes from to navigate and avoid detection) The character came across too wishy washy, but with most of the author’s characters, they grow, they adapt, and they become one of your favourites. 

And what exactly happened to make Zeus curse her? 🤫 

The story is told by Lyra (which had me missing what Hades thought of his little star) and in one way it makes it a little one sided. (My opinion)  

A slow burn romance has to balance the chemistry with the eventual moment taking place… The sparks, the banter and the pure chemistry these two had, made me a little giddy! I giggled like a schoolgirl, I blushed and I had a nervous cough when things got heated. (Well that’s my fault for reading it on the train 😜) 

Additional characters are many!! Too many some would say. I would love a glossary maybe of the characters, but that’s my wish 😉 but none of them seem superfluous, even the champions of the gods. So as numerous as there are, they all seem to fit into the book. 

So why would Hades pick a regular mortal to be his “champion”? He’s got his pick of anyone! 

Cliffhanger warning for anyone who thought it was going to be easy 😝 a one and done read. Oh no! It’s not going to be that easy. There is also twists, turns, treachery, and betrayal! This isn’t a short read, at over 500 pages long, you’d think it would get bogged down. It doesn’t, the pages seemed to fly by, and I was wishing for more pages! 😆 I’m now hoping the next book is soon (though probably not 😔) 

Would I recommend this? In a heartbeat … open this new world … you won’t be sorry 😍

Reviewed by Julie

Copy supplied for review.