I stayed up till 3 in the morning, reading this book so that should tell you how much I liked it.
Title: The Games Gods Play
Author: Abigail Owen
Series: Crucible #1
Page count: 509
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Romance
The Premise
The story revolves around a deadly contest among the 12 Olympian Gods held every hundred years. Every god chooses a mortal as their champion who takes part in various challenges, most of which are extremely dangerous. Hades has never entered into the Crucible but this time he does and chooses our very reluctant protagonist to be his champion. Fantasy books that have this trope of quests and winners always reels me in. I’m an addict for this genre and cannot get enough.
The world building in this book is very unique because it is set in modern day, the world that we live in but all the Greek gods, deities, pantheons are real. And moreover, you can choose the god you want to worship, the religion you want to follow, which makes it all the more interesting.
Lyra Keres and her curse
Talking about characters, our female protagonist Lyra Keres is very funny, witty and smart. I enjoyed reading the book and listening to her narration of the story. The confidence she has to talk to these literal Gods in a casual way bring a refreshing dose of hilarity and entertainment to the book.
How I see Lyra - Created by Chatgpt
Lyra has been cursed, by Zeus, that no one will ever love her. So she has spent her life resigned to her lonely fate which makes for an interesting commentary on what friendship is and what does it mean to be an ally.
This is something that kind of made me ponder on how one can form close friendships and maybe even intimate connections all the while knowing that it will not go any deeper beyond that. It also makes me question how a curse can stop someone from falling in love. I think the author tried to tackle the mental health issue where many feel like they are unlovable and undeserving of real emotions, and that’s why sometimes they stop themselves from exploring where a relationship could lead to.
Lyra is very helping and kind. Sometimes too kind that it seemed impossible in a real person. I mean if you're literally fighting for your life, you'd be atleast a little cutthroat and selfish. Her integrity was of course commendable but it took away from the illusion that readers have that she's a real person and not just words on a page.
Hades, The Male Protagonist
Hades, our male main character is a bit on the sidelines here. We get very little insight on who he is. This book is written only through one POV and all other characters including the male main character felt underdeveloped. This should not have been the case as plenty books only portray a single POV but still manage to make the other characters come alive. We only get to see him as an object of Lyras affection and romance but nothing else. There was a lot of potential there, seeing as the author had the chance to write a memorable greek god, but it was failed to be explored. This frustrated me a bit because I really enjoyed the parts of the book that he was in, but those were very less and I wanted more of that.
How I see Hades
Cerberus
An honourable mention to Cerberus, Hades’s monster, who I came to really like over the course of this book. The interactions between Cerberus and Lyra were always fun to read. The writer did a good job of giving each head a set of different characteristics, making it a unique addition to the story.
Cerberus
The Questionable Slow Burn Romance
The relationship between Hades and Lyra is a good slow burn and the romantic tension is perfect. I hate books with insta-love plots. Either have no romance in a book, or keep it slow. I’ll admit, technically it is “insta love” because the book is pretty much set over the course of around 2 months? But the way that it is written, makes the reader feel like a lot of time has passed and the connection between the characters seems to be deeper when compared to surface-level infatuations.
Lyra and Keres
The Crucible
The structure of the Crucible is that there are generally 12 Gods competing for this opportunity to be the Ruler of the Olympian Gods. Each of these gods have their own virtues, like Aphrodite has love, Hades of course death, so on and so forth. And hence there are 12 challenges that the chosen champions compete in devised by the gods based on their virtue. Winners of the challenges receive gifts from the gods that
could give them an edge over the other competitors.
Another tidbit, that is maybe not exactly part of the book review, but I’d still like to mention is that this book has a whopping 111 chapters. For a page count of 500, that is a lot of chapters, which for me is great because I prefer my books with short bite-sized chapters as it gives me the sense of illusion that its fast-paced. But some readers might find it annoying, so just a disclaimer.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I really liked The Games Gods Play. The world-building was amazing, and I loved the female main character, Lyra, and the fun tropes in the story. The challenges and gods made it very exciting, but the character building could have been better. Still, I enjoyed it a lot and would rate it 4.5 stars. The book ended on a cliffhanger but I was going to pick up the sequel regardless when it comes out in September 2025.