Every one hundred years, the gods battle to lay claim to the throne, but none of them want to fight it out themselves. Instead, they pick humans to do the work for them. Each Crucible is just as bad as the next, and Lyra, a cursed office worker for the Order of Thieves, has been keeping her nose cleaned and laying low ever since she angered Zeus, but when she thinks she has escaped the games, the Mercurial God of the Underworld appears and makes her his champion.

Now, Lyra will have to play these games with the gods and come out the winner.

I loved, LOVED this story. I was held captive from the moment I opened the book and saw those beautiful end pages and the gorgeously sprayed edges. I was surprised to see Hades try to battle for the throne. Normally, he rarely is present and seems more inclined to remain in the shadows. In this one, he is more present, and his intentions are clear. It was nice to see a different side of him than we do see in other books.

I know this book was pushed to be a slow burn, but it seemed more like an insta-love/connection between our two characters. It's not one of my favorite tropes, but I can tolerate it enough if the story is as intriguing as this one is.

Lyra's character was a bit annoying. She was more mercurial than Hades seemed to be. I don't think I saw any character growth with her. I am hoping there will be some changes over this in the next book. I nearly dropped this book because I was unable to stomach her. I'm hoping we see a bit more growth in her character in the second novel.

Overall, worldbuilding is a unique take on Greek gods mingling with the human realm and pushing those chosen humans to play a game they, themselves, won't play.