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The Things Gods Break by Abigail OwenThe Crucible #2
Published by Entangled: Red Tower Books on October 21, 2025
Age Group & Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Mythology, Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
The gods want her dead...Hades will bury them.
You’d think I’d have learned by now:
Don’t mouth off to deities.
Don’t fall for the King of the Underworld.
And definitely don’t get dragged into a divine death match where I’m the cursed mortal prize.But here I am—trapped in Tartarus, humanity’s worst pit stop, squaring off against monsters who make the gods look merciful. Titans, twisted by centuries of rage and ruin, are sealed behind seven ancient locks.
And guess what?
I'm the key.
To escape, I’ll have to survive every horrifying trial they throw at me.
To win, I might have to become something the gods never saw coming.
Oh, and Hades?
He's about to break every rule the gods ever wrote.
Because to save me...the god of death will burn the world.
But if I break free? So do the Titans.
And the world won’t just suffer—it'll beg for the end.
Trigger & Content Warnings: blood, gore, violence, heights, vomiting, parental neglect, imprisonment, bullying, isolation, torture, death, grief, use of hallucinogens
The Things Gods Break was such a good sequel with a good balance between being very unserious and serious; I practically ran to get on the hold list at my library and definitely ran to download it when I found it was available on Kindle Unlimited. I enjoyed the first novel a lot and this was definitely one of my most anticipated sequels.
The Games Gods Play ended with our protagonist Lyra winning the games and opening Tartarus with the intent to release Persephone, but it came with a cost: separated from Hades, she’s now stuck with the Titans in Tartarus who believe she’s the key to unsealing the seven locks and releasing them.
Like the first book, there are trials Lyra undergoes to unseal the locks so she can free herself from Tartarus before Hades burns down the world. In between, there’s a time loop arc, which I thought was interesting but it eventually became tedious at times. That being said, it really felt like the time loops had a purpose each time we were in it with Lyra and that we were ultimately going somewhere with it: learning about the world and characters, Lyra’s powers as a new goddess, etc. It was, however, confusing early on since there was a scene set in the present before we were sent back to the past for the rest of the time loops in the book.
I especially loved the concept of history being written by the victors that Owen examines throughout The Things Gods Break. We know the Titans from Greek mythology to be villains that were overthrown by the Greek Gods that we know about today, and that’s the same mythology that Lyra knows as well. As such, when she first enters Tartarus, she’s wary about the Titans and doesn’t trust them – surely after centuries of being trapped down there, they would be twisted and resentful, right? The concept was unique and refreshing, and I was absolutely here for it.
Hades unfortunately takes a huge back seat here outside of the time loops, but I enjoyed reading his POVs – it felt like they added a lot more depth and history to his relationship with Lyra that we wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Owen also introduces us to a lot of characters here in the sequel: the Titans and the gods and goddesses of other cultures. The Titans play a huge role in The Things Gods Break, and I loved their relationship with each other along with the growing dynamic they have with Lyra as she uncovers what’s really going on as she unseals the locks.
We also have a brief appearance from gods and goddesses from other cultures, which I thought was a nice touch added on with the concept of history being written by the victors. I’m honestly curious how Owen will explore more on this in the final book, but I’m also scared it’ll backfire really bad considering the huge cast of characters we have here. That being said, despite the relatively large cast, I feel like there’s a distinct characterization of who the main characters are from the side characters. There’s no overshadowing going on and they all get a good amount of time in the spotlight where they can develop with their own personalities and backstories. The first book also had a pretty large cast, though, so I’m pretty positive things won’t get too overwhelming in the third book.
The Things Gods Break is hands down my favorite sequel of this year – Abigail Owen delivered a brilliantly written sequel that was refreshing to read, and I hate that I have to wait until November next year to finish the trilogy.
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