The Games Gods Play Review: Too Many Games? ⭐⭐⭐
The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen — Book Review (3 Stars)
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS FULL SPOILERS INCLUDING THE ENDING
📚 Trigger Warnings
⚠️ Child abuse
⚠️ Emotional abuse
⚠️ Human trafficking
⚠️ Death / graphic deaths
⚠️ Grief
⚠️ Violence
⚠️ Toxic family dynamics
⚠️ Physical injury / body horror
⚠️ Abandonment
⚠️ Loss of loved ones
🏛️ The Premise
Lyra Keres has spent her entire life cursed by Zeus to be unlovable. She survives by working with the Order of Thieves, mostly keeping her head down while secretly carrying enough emotional damage to fill several Greek tragedies.
Then Hades unexpectedly chooses her as his champion in the Crucible: a brutal competition filled with deadly Labors, monsters, gods, betrayal, and political games where the winner becomes ruler of Olympus.
Naturally, nothing goes smoothly.
Because apparently the gods looked at reality TV and thought:
"Needs more murder."
⚔️ The Games Gods Play Plot Summary (FULL SPOILERS)
The story begins during preparations for the Crucible, the massive competition where gods select champions to compete through deadly Labors.
Lyra is angry at Zeus for cursing her before birth, leaving her unable to experience love or meaningful connection. While attempting to vandalize Zeus’s temple, she unexpectedly encounters Hades.
Soon afterward, Hades shocks literally everyone by entering the Crucible himself and selecting Lyra as his champion.
She absolutely did not volunteer.
Hades offers her a bargain:
Help him win → he removes her curse.
So begins approximately 500+ pages of:
🎯 Labors
🎯 More Labors
🎯 More Labors
🎯 "Wait there's another Labor???"
Lyra enters the competition already hated because nobody wants Hades winning.
During the early competitions, she gains several magical items:
• Summoning tattoos
• Hades's mark allowing Underworld access
• Persephone's pomegranate seeds
• Odin's axe
• Dragon teeth from Boone
Throughout the Labors, Lyra repeatedly proves herself by helping other competitors even when it hurts her own chances.
Which is admirable.
Also occasionally frustrating.
Because girl please stop helping everyone 😭
She forms alliances with Zai (Hermes' champion), bonds with Cerberus (best character, honestly), and gradually develops feelings for Hades despite believing her curse makes love impossible.
The Labors continue:
🌊 Sea monsters
🧩 Riddles
🌴 Jungle survival
🐉 Dragons
🎵 Monster rooms
❤️ Dream worlds
🤖 Killer automatons
And eventually I reached a point where every time someone announced another Labor I wanted to scream:
THERE'S MORE???
The biggest emotional blow comes during Hephaestus's Labor.
Lyra teams up with Boone.
Their strategy goes badly.
Very badly.
Boone falls.
Boone dies.
Lyra spirals into grief while suffering worsening injuries.
Hades saves her using his blood and Underworld magic, causing even more emotional confusion between them.
Eventually Lyra discovers the massive secret:
Persephone is alive.
Hades never entered the Crucible because of romance.
He entered because he wants to rescue Persephone from Tartarus.
Lyra realizes she may have simply been useful.
And THEN discovers something even worse:
Hades specifically chose her partly because her curse makes her immune to sirens.
Ouch.
🖤 The Romance: Hades, But Make It Weird
Look.
We need to discuss this.
When I imagine Hades...
I imagine:
🔥 Blue hair
🔥 Pointy teeth
🔥 "Guys! Relax. It's only halftime."
So every time this book described mysterious sexy Hades, my brain unfortunately supplied:
Disney Hades wearing leather pants.
This is not the book's fault.
This is my burden.
Anyway.
The romance works reasonably well, though I personally found some of Hades's jealousy moments more irritating than swoony.
🏆 The Ending Explained
During the final Labor, champions battle mythological monsters.
Instead of abandoning everyone, Lyra uses her remaining resources to save other competitors.
The surviving champions reward her by allowing her victory.
Then Zeus ruins everything.
Zeus manipulates Cerberus into attacking Lyra and strikes her with lightning.
Lyra dies.
Hades defeats Zeus but sacrifices:
• His godly essence
• His power
• His role as ruler of the Underworld
...to resurrect Lyra.
The two finally admit their feelings.
Lyra wins the Crucible.
Hades becomes King of the Gods.
Boone is resurrected and made a god as promised.
Everything appears happy.
HAHA.
No.
Because then:
They open Tartarus.
Cronos appears.
Time freezes.
Cronos drags Lyra and Boone into Tartarus.
The gate seals.
Book ends.
Cue screaming.
🤔 My Thoughts: Did I Enjoy It? Yes. Was I Also Tired? Also Yes.
I started this book thinking:
"Oh this could be a 4 or maybe even 5 stars."
Then the Labors kept coming.
And coming.
And coming.
Eventually I developed the same energy as someone trapped in a never-ending obstacle course.
This book is LONG.
Over 500 pages long.
And unfortunately, the repetition started wearing me down.
Did I enjoy:
✅ Greek mythology
✅ Cerberus
✅ The atmosphere
✅ The romance
✅ Some genuinely fun twists
Yes.
Did I need QUITE this many Labors?
No.
Respectfully.
Absolutely not 😭
Still, I had fun.
I just wish someone had occasionally yelled:
"ENOUGH GAMES. GO HOME."
Final Rating:
⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars
Fun? Yes.
Too long? Also yes.
Would I read book two?
...probably 🙃
📖 If You Liked The Games Gods Play, Try These:
The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins
(Dangerous competitions + survival + political games)
Kingdom of the Wicked — Kerri Maniscalco
(Demons, romance, dangerous magical politics)
Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros
(Trials, romance, dragons, emotional damage)
Powerless — Lauren Roberts
(More deadly competitions because apparently we cannot stop)
A Fate Inked in Blood — Danielle L. Jensen
(Norse mythology + romance + destiny)
The Serpent and the Wings of Night — Carissa Broadbent
(Vampire competition fantasy done VERY well)
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