A Game of Retribution (Hades x Persephone Saga Book 4)

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Also the setup to this story for Hades is so goofy. It’s like Hera, a god we have not really been introduced to until this book, is like hey do these random tasks for me or else I’m gonna be mean to Persephone and then Hades proceeds to do these dumb tasks before realizing he doesn’t really need to Idkidkidk. When Hera, Goddess of Women, approaches Hades with a plan to overthrow Zeus, he declines to offer help. As punishment, Hera sentences Hades to perform a series of labors. Each feat seems more impossible than the last and draws his attention away from Persephone—whose own tragedy has left her questioning whether she can be Queen of the Underworld. Maybe I’ll give this book another try when I’m in the mood again for reading books that have more to them than just romance but for now I only want to read romance books…

A Game of Fate is basically A Touch of Darkness from Hades's POV. And like so many readers I liked it better. This book had more magic, more Hades interracting with other gods and we got to see how exactly he rules Underworld. We also got deep into his soul. We already knew that in St Clair's universe, Hades isn't the brutal, heartless god we've seen in other adaptations. He's actually come a long way since antiquity, cares about the souls and wishes to help those who want to be helped. Not to mention how much he hates predators and is super cute with his animals. Best Hades depiction ever! A Touch of Darkness شروع می شه. و سه جلد رو با همین داستان از زاویه دید هیدس که با همین کتاب (A Game of Fate) شروع می شه. کلیت هردو داستان یکیه ولی خب چون راوی ها متفاوتن، ریزه کاری ها و جزئیات متفاوتی هم دارن. کتابای هیدس جنبه اساطیری بیشتری دارن و حضور الهه ها و خدایان دیگر توی این کتابا نسبت به کتابای پرسفونه پررنگ تره.A Touch of Chaos که هنوز منتشر نشده، هردو مجموعه به هم می پیوندن و قصه به صورت یک فصل در میون با زاویه دید هیدس و پرسفونه، به سرانجام می رسه. Plus my love for Sephy & Hermes is unbeatable too. And Hecate. They are the quad character group we all need in our lives and A Game of Retribution solidified that fact once again. I'm not asking you to be a queen. I'm asking you to be yourself. I'm asking you to marry me. The title comes with our marriage. It changes nothing." This was for book one, A Game of Fate, to my pleasant surprise, their story in this book, A Game of Retribution is more exciting and twist! This book also jumps around a lot less than the first, so there is some continuity (but if you're new to the series I'd still say read Persephone's PoV before this since it could potentially get confusing).

I read this right after reading A Touch Of Darkness, which is Hades and Persephone’s story, told entirely from her POV . I thought this book would be essentially the same story but told from his perspective. I was apprehensive going into this as it is basically A Touch of Darkness but from Hades perspective so I was unsure as to how different it would be. Would I just be reading the same book twice? The answer is not really.You want a queen,” she said. “So teach her how to live within your realm. Teach her to use her magic. Teach her to be a goddess, and stop trying to fight all her battles”. I loved reading more about the mythological side of this series. With Persephone living in the mortal world and keeping distance between herself and the others Gods and Goddesses you're limited to the Upperworld and the Underworld and only meet the odd character such as Hermes, Hecate, Aphrodite and obviously Demeter. Whereas in this book we go to Mount Olympus and meet a plethora of the other Gods and Goddesses like Zeus, Poseidon and Hephaestus which made it all the more interesting. The story follows Hades and his naive and spirited love Persephone, the woman he wants to marry. Their constant misunderstandings and effort to hold a relationship is taking a toll and he appears to spend a lot of his time trying to keep her safe from her own doings. I found Persephone to be very whiny and a lot of her decisions to have no true base, but when you read them from Hades side, and you see her struggle... it made it feel almost realistic (I say almost because she should have treated him better. Everyone should).

And some dark things happen in this book (and in A Touch of Ruin) that I don’t think get treated with the respect or care they deserve. He had never doubted himself, but he doubted everything when it came to Persephone… even their fate." A Touch of Ruin από την πλευρά του Άδη, ενώ παρακολουθούμε τον ίδιο να προσπαθεί να φέρει σε πέρας τους άθλους που του επιβάλλει η Ήρα. Ήταν με άλλα λόγια γεμάτο δράση και σασπένς. Από τη μία χαίρομαι που μέσα από τα βιβλία του Άδη βλέπουμε περισσότερο τον κόσμο των θεών και της μαγείας, με τη συγγραφέα να χειρίζεται έξυπνα τη μυθολογία (βέβαια, αγάπη, η Λήμνος δεν είναι στη μέση του ωκεανού. Το Αιγαίο είναι μία λιμνούλα μπροστά στον Ειρηνικό). Από την άλλη, στενοχωριέμαι που όλα αυτά τα αγνοεί η Περσεφόνη. Υποθέτω πως αυτά τα μυστικά οδήγησαν στο τέλος του τρίτου βιβλίου. Όπως και να έχει, η συγγραφέας με μάγεψε, με συνάρπασε και θεωρώ ότι γίνεται ακόμα καλύτερη. Το aesthetic των βιβλίων της ήταν κορυφή από την αρχή και με το πολύ γράψιμο εξελίσσεται. Οι περιγραφές μαγείας είναι οι αγαπημένες μου, καθώς κάνουν τα βιβλία πιο ατμοσφαιρικά.For example (and this isn’t a spoiler because you’ve literally already read this conversation in ATOR), there’s this one interaction between Hades and Persephone where he says, “The souls miss you, Persephone.” I miss you. “Do not punish them because you are angry with me.” It’s a really heart wrenching part of ATOR. However, when Hades says it in this book, it comes completely out of left field. He hadn’t been to see the souls in her absence. Hadn’t thought about them. Hadn’t even walked by them. The souls literally never crossed his mind in her absence, so why would he say this here? HE LEGITIMATELY NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THEM ONCE. There is literally no reason he would say this line from this POV. In this book, Hades is just…empty. So, let’s talk about characters, first Hades, he is a cinnamon roll, ready to tear the world into pieces for his lover, but a cinnamon roll deep inside. He is selfless, a dark lord with the power to control the worst groups of New Athens society, he wants the best for his souls, and for the people of the living realm, and also is desperately in love with Persephone. She, on the other hand, is as sweet as we know from her books, but Hades saw her as the powerful goddess she is becoming, the incredible, selfless woman she is and his future queen. I’m gonna try to keep this short and sweet. This entire second story (so this book and A Touch of Ruin) feels super pointless to me and I feel like Scarlett St. Clair should’ve just skipped to the story in book three. Nothing really happens here except Hades and Persephone arguing and not knowing how to communicate with each other. Tbh it’s my opinion that Scarlett is just stretching this story for all its worth, because there’s no reason for this entire series to be seven books. While I'm at added scenes, I love that we saw what Zofie did. I figured she'd tell Persephone at some later date when she was ready, but it's also nice that we finally know.