The book “The Things Gods Break” is the sequel in The Crucible series by Abigail Owen. The first book in the series is “The Games Gods Play.” While the writing is good, there were some aspects that created confusion.
It was published on October 21, 2025 by Red Tower Books with a length of 528 pages or 20 hours 38 minutes in audiobook format. While the book was on the long side, the length was needed for the plot and character development. I felt as if it could have been broken into two books.
This review contains spoilers for “The Things God Break” and “The Games Gods Play.”
“The Games Gods Play” is a take on Greek mythology with a modern twist, with features of betrayal, political intrigue, and power dynamics. It is a slow-burn romance, with some spice.
The series centers on Lyra Keres, who works as a record keeper in the Order of Thieves. The series begins with Lyra being chosen by Hades to be his champion in the Crucible, which is a deadly game held by the twelve major Olympian Gods every century. It is inspired by Hercules’ Labors to decide which god rules for the next hundred years.
When Lyra was born, she was cursed by Zeus to be unlovable. She was born in his temple by accident, and her parents gave her to the Order of Thieves. This led to Hades choosing her to be his champion after he saw her in Zeus’ temple, in an attempt to vandalize it. Traditionally Hades stayed out of the Crucible, but he promised to break her curse if she won.
Through the deadly trials, she was able to win leading to her curse being broken and in turn loving Hades. She had developed new friends, enemies and alliances.
The overall character development was good, but with a book of this length it was difficult to keep on improving the characters continuously. It felt like some characters, namely Hades and the other gods of death, were dropped off and forgotten about, then picked up again when convenient. I didn’t like going for long periods of time without knowing what the characters were doing. I forgot what they were doing, and had to go back to refresh my memory, which disrupted the feel of the book.
Lyra became more annoying, especially all her self-doubt and reduced confidence, when compared to the first book. While she didn’t have the most confidence in the first book, she had some. She was also more level-headed. She made several emotionally based actions, but I could sort of understand where she came from. I couldn’t understand why she made these choices in the second book. This was very prevalent in her inability to recognize obvious manipulation. Especially when the Titans say that they have reset time before, so that they will get an outcome that benefits them, but not anyone else. Still she just continued to help them. There were some actions that just did not make sense to me.
Hades though, is not as prevalent on the page as before, which was disappointing given that Lyra is trying to get out of Tartarus to prevent him from destroying the world. Their romance arc felt much more subdued and prevalent.
On the other hand, we did get to know Boone better. Boone is Lyra’s oldest friend, from her time in the Order of Thieves. He is now the God of Tricks or Deception. His character arc introduces more abilities that are both unique to him or that he shares with Lyra; time manipulation, glamour, and a strategist. I really liked getting to know him better as he was not a feature in the first book.
The main plot development was excellent but it also got very messy. The new development of time travel made it really hard to keep track of the plot. This time travel then brought up the paradox of time travel; if you kill this person will history stay the same or will history change and if so how much. This paradox didn’t really seem to affect their decisions. It seemed like they were trying to change that area for a favorable outcome or to fix a mistake they made in another time jump. I felt like this was prevalent every time Lyra traveled to the past Hades, to keep her timeline the same.
In a space already filled with myths layered with divine politics and increasing god numbers, the time travel just made it cluttered. I felt like it could have been broken into two books, one with the time jumping and the other with a cliff hanger. It would have been a lot easier for me to digest and get the plot details correct while still enjoying it.
The locks were very repetitive, similar to the challenges in the first book. The locks were a challenge that she had to complete by herself or with Boone as they were the only ones to be able to survive it. The trials in the first book started off relatively easy, but as it progressed so did the stakes and the difficulty. The same easy to hard stakes were reminiscent of the trails. The alliances between different characters in the first showed that Lyra didn’t care for others’ opinions. Which in turn also got her into trouble with the locks and her headstrong nature for getting into trouble.
Cronos was believed to be a horrible father, but it turned out that he wasn’t. His children were glamoured into false truths. While he was violent towards many characters, including Boone, he was relatively nice and patient to Lyra. He later revealed that he was the ‘key’ to a lock. He sacrifices himself to break the structure of Tartarus. He also taught Lyra to control time, forcing her to become the Goddess of Time. Which furthered her abilities in time travel.
While there is a huge cliffhanger, we do get hints at the third book in the series: “The Wrath Gods Reap.” That is with the new character “The Deceiver.” He was revealed to be the one who glamoured the gods and the Titans. He is the true villain, for nearly the entire book we didn’t know he existed.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and the series as a whole. There are some areas that could have been improved. I generally liked the first book more and there were a lot less confusing areas, but it set the second book up really well for a successful story line. I would recommend this book for anyone who already has a relatively good understanding of Greek mythology, and anyone who liked the Bonds of Hercules, Lightlark, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Shatter Me.
