Did you love The Hunger Games as a teen? How about the Percy Jackson series? If you combine them and add adult characters, you’ve got Abigail Owen’s book The Games Gods Play. This action-packed, spicy romance will delight readers who love Greek Mythology retellings.
Lyra Keres has lived with a curse all of her life. Zeus, the king of the gods, cursed her at birth so she could never be loved. At three years old, Lyra’s parents gave her to the Order of Thieves to pay off their family debt. Now at 23, Lyra finds herself on the way to Zeus’s temple for the Crucible, a tournament held every 100 years to determine which god or goddess will rule for the next century. Of course, the gods don’t fight in these games themselves and instead pick a human to compete as their champion.
On the way to the Crucible, Lyra is publicly embarrassed mainly due to Zeus’s curse. In her anger she decides to throw a rock at his temple, but instead of causing a disturbance that will likely get her smote by the gods, Lyra meets Hades: king of the underworld. Lyra has never had a friend and has learned to mistrust the gods, so Hades’ apparent interest in Lyra is confusing. Even more so, when he lets her walk away unharmed.
One by one the gods name their champions and pull them from their mortal lives to head to Mount Olympus. However, this year is unlike any other year. Hades has decided to play in this year’s Crucible, and Lyra Keres is his champion. Already unlovable, now as Hades’ champion, Lyra’s life seems even more unfair. But if she manages to win and Hades is crowned king of the gods, he promises to remove Lyra’s curse. Can she trust the king of the underworld to keep his promise? Will she survive the Crucible? And are the rumors about Hades even true? |
