I was intrigued with this engaging romance fantasy world of gods and mortals in a fun reimagined New Greece! Everything really comes down to how awful Persephone is as a character. Girl, you are 23 and left the house for the first time like two years ago—get over yourself. She causes so many problems by being downright annoying and naive. And I realize that this book, being from Hades POV, is forced to fit within the confines of her story, but I get absolutely nothing from Persephone to make any of her actions work. Every event that happens, like her friend being in a car accident or a kidnapping, comes out of the blue and feels so shoe-horned in, making her look like an absolute dumbass.

The thing that bugged me with the first Hades book, is that it felt like the exact same book as A Touch of Darkness just from a different PoV...which is exactly what it was. Book 2 in the Hades Saga. Experience the addictive Greek myth retelling through the eyes of the God of the Underworld, Hades, as he tries to balance the demands of his position while maintaining his relationship with Persephone.

I’ve seen a lot of discourse about the audio narration of this book. I will admit when I first started it, it was surprising because that wasn’t what I had pictured for Hades’ voice. However, I think the narrator did well. 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. Hades, the God of Death, rules the Underworld, as the lord who takes care of the all souls; he is selfless, and does not take sides or bend the rules. Hades is desperately in love with Persephone, the chemistry between them is very steamy. Persephone, is sweet, and caring of others, and she knows she has fallen in love with Hades. But though she means well, she doesn’t understand the decisions Hades makes in not helping her take care of friends and others. This causes a few fights, with Hades trying to explain that what she requests is not part of the rules, which he never bends. Throughout the book, Persephone gets mad a number of times, which caused problems for Hades; as much as knowing she was a good person, I did get annoyed with her. 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! While Hades and Persephone shared a deep love for one another, secrets and lies gave rise to miscommunication and trust issues, instilling fear and doubt in their future.

A Game of Retribution by Scarlett St. Clair is the 2nd book in her Hades Saga series. I have read this author recently and loved her latest, but have not read her Hades or Persephone series. A Game of Retribution, which is based on Greek mythology, did read well, as St. Clair manages to give us enough information to understand. In A Game of Retribution, Hades is the main lead in this story, as it was in his POV; the story does revolve around Hades and Persephone Hera, Goddess of Women, as always we know her, has a plan against her beloved husband. Hera made Hades perform a series of labors in exchange for blessing his marriage! A Game of Retribution is book #2 in the A Touch of Darkness spin-off series, Hades Saga. And I'm eternally grateful that they exist because it's fixing so many issues I have with the main series. I felt like the whole thing with Lexa could have been avoided. I can understand how Persephone wouldn’t understand the consequences of what she wanted to do to keep Lexa alive in the beginning. But Hades told her over and over again how she was doing it for herself and not Lexa, and it was not right, and so on, and so on. But she didn’t ask questions about what he meant by that, and he didn’t go into any details even though it would have been so easy.

About the Author(s) of A Game of Retribution

And I respect it when you aren’t being a complete and utter idiot,” she replied. “You are just as uncertain about your future as Persephone.” Hades God of The Dead is the narrator, he’s the owner of nightclubs, he also works with the most powerful criminals. Hades is a god that doesn’t bend the rules and makes no exceptions for anyone! It was beautiful to see Persephone expose the hidden vulnerability in Hades while his love for her made him fiercely protective. Never breaking his rules, Hades learned to open himself up while he faced his doubts and fears. After they finally confessed their love, Hera is ready to bless their union… with a little condition, Hades must fight and accomplish twelve tasks to gain the goddess of marriage favor. So, he is ready to do whatever she wants to overthrow Zeus, and finally approves their marriage.