This was a title that had been sitting on my shelf for a little while, I didn’t feel dedicated to reading it straight away (obviously) but a colleague of mine read it, loved it and was very determined for me to read it as well. By the end of it, I loved it but admittedly it was touch and go for a little bit there.

The start of a book sets the scene for the rest of the story, and I found the beginning to be a little bit confusing. The story is set in modern times, in this case, modern day San Francisco, BUT the Greek gods and goddesses are very much present in the world and like to wreak havoc with a hunger games style competition called the Crucible. The Context makes sense but the description of it in the beginning was a little confusing, that being said, once the story kicked off it was fantastic!

Anyone familiar with Greek mythology is aware of Hercules and the Twelve Labours, the Crucible follows the same set up. Each god and goddess selects their champion, who then fights to win the Crucible therefore crowning their sponsor god/goddess as the new ruler of Olympus for the next five years. All gods and goddesses participate except for Hades, but that was the twist for the story. Hades comes across our protagonist, Lyra, and chooses her as his champion. His motivations for participating is kept hidden throughout the book, but eventually comes to light and honestly, I found it quite respectable even though his way about it frustrated me to no end!

Lyra is forced to participate in the labours, during which she suffers no end of betrayal, pain and grief, which just adds to her already tragic backstory of being sold by her parents and cursed by Zeus from the moment of her birth. She is immediately likeable and her attitude towards all of the gods/goddesses in general is just awesome, even Cerberus and Charon have a soft spot for her! Each of the labours were beautifully put together and matched up with the assigned gods/goddesses wonderfully, the last labour being the absolute best one, especially since it reveals the reason as to why Hades chose Lyra to be his champion. Owen definitely wrapped up the book beautifully and then hooks us with one hell of a cliff hanger!

I cannot wait to read the sequel “Things that Gods Break”, which was released only a few weeks ago. If you enjoy modern day style Greek mythology, I strongly recommend “The Games Gods Play”.