The Games Gods Play
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“The gods love to toy with us mere mortals. And every hundred years…we let them.”
When my friend and fellow book blogger sent me a two-minute voice memo praising Abigail Owen’s The Games Gods Play, I had to see what all the fuss was about. Unsurprisingly, I was not disappointed.
Some context…
The Greek gods, equally as deadly as they are alluring, live among mortals, and every hundred years, the ruler of Olympus is renamed through a lethal competition known as the Crucible. Together, the gods manufacture a series of labors to crown their next king or queen, and each of these greedy immortals chooses a single “champion” to compete on their behalf. The world is shocked when Hades enters the Crucible for the very first time, selecting the unsuspecting Lyra Keres as the thirteenth champion. Cursed as a baby by Zeus, she is a faceless office clerk for the Order of Thieves who cannot fathom being chosen by anyone, let alone the callous King of the Underworld.
Lyra is pushed to the physical–and emotional–breaking point as she navigates a competition where she is constantly given the lower hand. Alienated because of her position as the God of Death’s champion, she not only has to earn allyship but constantly evade enemy attacks. Of course, there's also the added distraction of the flutter she feels every time Hades calls her his…Lyra’s not sure of her role in this twisted game, but she’s going to play anyway. Who and what is she really fighting for? Read to find out.
Some thoughts…
The creativity alone made this book a must read. Owen took centuries old stories and characters and gave them a unique flair, adding an unexpected humor to the dangerous gods. Each labor was intricate and full of surprises, leaving me totally engrossed in these chapters. I would heavily encourage readers who aren’t compelled by the novel’s beginning to keep reading to get to this element of the text.
Lyra broke the fourth wall a little too often for my taste. I could have done without the satirical commentary following nearly every action she took and thought she had. This might be helpful for those unaccustomed to the sometimes cringeworthy world of tropes, or it could completely repel them. As a writer (and trope lover), I’m not sure that’s a gamble I would be willing to make.
I found one of the strongest aspects of the text to be its humanization of the Greek gods, with my personal favorites being Hades and Aphrodite. Their dialogue was a nice mix of sentiment and wit, and I found myself wanting to see more of them on every page I turned. Owen did a great job of making them imperfect but still likable, giving them an irresistible charm despite their self-importance. I was even curious about their backstories, and although Aphrodite was a supporting character, I saw potential for her own spinoff book somewhere down the line.
In this new romantasy, A Court of Thorns and Roses meets The Hunger Games for both an action and passion-packed tale of survival, vengeance, and above all else, love.
RATING: ★★★★☆
