Scarlett  St. Clair

A Game of Retribution

Leslie

Don’t put me on a pedestral because you feel guilty for your decisions. Just…forgive yourself so you can forgive me. Please.

Sophia

They whispered to him as they circled, monstrous things they used to infect mortal minds and drive them to madness.

 and then, the deities flashed red eyes or gnashed long, sharp teeth. They were monsters more than they were human, and Hades needed them.

He had never allowed himself to think long on loss, not when it came to Persephone, though he’d always promised to end the world if anything did occur. 

Now he was certain of it, but he’d not just set it aflame.

Him being suicidal for centuries is actually sad even tho he was an asshole🙃

Apollo knew that, and Hades worried that perhaps that was what the god wanted.

Ariadne and Dionysus are so enemies to lovers coded haha

Dionysus looked toward Hades. “I’ll send maenads to scout. Maybe they can discover his next move.” He looked at Ariadne. “And start planning an escape for Phaedra.”

“I thought you didn’t take sides,” Hades replied.

“Yeah, well, fuck anyone who sides with Hera,” Dionysus said.

Scarlett St Clair

Become enchanted by the fantasy world of gods and mortals in bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair's reimagined New Greece. Readers are hopelessly addicted to the story of Hades and Persephone told from Hades's point of view. Hades, God of the Dead, does not take sides or bend the rules. He makes no exceptions to these values--not for god or mortal, even his lover, Persephone, Goddess of Spring. Usually, fear prevents retaliation. But not this time. 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. Can Hades maintain the balance he craves?

Tropes : gods x godesses, protective hades, third girlfriend drama, drama.

Pacing : i’d say, it was a perfect 5/5.

i) hades : I liked him, when I started reading the book, just to let you know, i didn’t read this series in order, so everything I read did not make sense to me, but I wanted to read more and more and how the story unfolds. I liked hades, and how protective he was, how he tried to keep sephy safe, other interactions of hades with gods, godesses was something i looked forward to. I also loved the communications between hades and hecate.

ii) persephone : I liked her. Sephy was a tolerable heroine, but I would have loved if the leuce drama was not dragged too much, and how she tried to seperate both hades and sephy, which was unnecessary, maybe it was to show that hades cared about her, but it was portrayed through the entire book, I knew he did, so there was no point in dragging that third woman thing.

Hecate : i loved her, especially how she gave advice to hades, when he felt confused, her communications with hades were something i really enjoyed. I also loved how she supported hades, and sephy’s union.

Hera : god, I hated her. Ever from the start.

Hermes : oh, the sneaky boy, i loved him too. And that one conversation with hades about dressing her with reavealing clothing that only hades would have liked to see. Still hermes’s playfulness was something I admired.

The other male gods, i didn’t like them much.

What I loved : i loved the pacing of the story, expect the third woman drama, i understand that sephy was hurt about hades’s previous lovers, and what leuce did, reminded me of that one scene in the movie “our fault” by mercedes ron, and one another scene in the movie “fifty shades darker” where this other girl tries to harm ana — these scenes were unnecessary both in the movies and in this book..

What I struggled with : i didn’t struggle much, expect for the drama, everything else was good, I enjoyed the book thoroughly.

Loveable characters or not : loveable, yes, but not all of them.

Strong character development : character development, well, i won’t say that, except for sephy and hades getting married, and him fighting to keep her safe, and trusting her, in this book he doubted her strength, it felt like it, although he did try to keep her safe, but in the next book, the touch of chaos was my favorite part where he tells that thesaus god or something that she will be his ruin. Uh 🥹🥰 men, when they believe in their woman’s strength, so fucking attractive.

Plot driven / character driven : definitely plot driven for me.

Favorite quotes/ highlights : there are so many, and i practically highlighted the whole book, so, you can read the book, give it a try. (I had a paperback, and truly enjoyed it decorating it, instead of digitally highlighting it)

Similar authors : i’d recommed scarlett’s other books in this series.

Similar book recommendations : a touch of chaos, a touch of ruin by the same author.

Any other details : i loved reading this book, given that this was my first fantasy —romance book, i really loved it. I know nothing about greek mythology, but I loved reading this book, so good! 💗

ruhaani ♡

Plot : ⭐⭐⭐

Story : ⭐⭐⭐

Spice :🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tropes : gods x godesses, protective hades, third girlfriend drama, drama.

Pacing : i’d say, it was a perfect 5/5.

Characters :

i) hades : I liked him, when I started reading the book, just to let you know, i didn’t read this series in order, so everything I read did not make sense to me, but I wanted to read more and more and how the story unfolds. I liked hades, and how protective he was, how he tried to keep sephy safe, other interactions of hades with gods, godesses was something i looked forward to. I also loved the communications between hades and hecate.

ii) persephone : I liked her. Sephy was a tolerable heroine, but I would have loved if the leuce drama was not dragged too much, and how she tried to seperate both hades and sephy, which was unnecessary, maybe it was to show that hades cared about her, but it was portrayed through the entire book, I knew he did, so there was no point in dragging that third woman thing.

Hecate : i loved her, especially how she gave advice to hades, when he felt confused, her communications with hades were something i really enjoyed. I also loved how she supported hades, and sephy’s union.

Hera : god, I hated her. Ever from the start.

Hermes : oh, the sneaky boy, i loved him too. And that one conversation with hades about dressing her with reavealing clothing that only hades would have liked to see. Still hermes’s playfulness was something I admired.

The other male gods, i didn’t like them much.

So, zeus’s son, dionysus, and others.

What I loved : i loved the pacing of the story, expect the third woman drama, i understand that sephy was hurt about hades’s previous lovers, and what leuce did, reminded me of that one scene in the movie “our fault” by mercedes ron, and one another scene in the movie “fifty shades darker” where this other girl tries to harm ana — these scenes were unnecessary both in the movies and in this book..

What I struggled with : i didn’t struggle much, expect for the drama, everything else was good, I enjoyed the book thoroughly.

Loveable characters or not : loveable, yes, but not all of them.

Strong character development : character development, well, i won’t say that, except for sephy and hades getting married, and him fighting to keep her safe, and trusting her, in this book he doubted her strength, it felt like it, although he did try to keep her safe, but in the next book, the touch of chaos was my favorite part where he tells that thesaus god or something that she will be his ruin. Uh 🥹🥰 men, when they believe in their woman’s strength, so fucking attractive.

Plot driven / character driven : definitely plot driven for me.

Favorite quotes/ highlights : there are so many, and i practically highlighted the whole book, so, you can read the book, give it a try. (I had a paperback, and truly enjoyed it decorating it, instead of digitally highlighting it)

Similar authors : i’d recommed scarlett’s other books in this series.

Similar book recommendations : a touch of chaos, a touch of ruin by the same author.

Any other details : i loved reading this book, given that this was my first fantasy —romance book, i really loved it. I know nothing about greek mythology, but I loved reading this book, so good! 💗

Selin Igten

Scarlett St. Clair

Become enchanted by the fantasy world of gods and mortals in bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair's reimagined New Greece. Readers are "hopelessly addicted" to the story of Hades and Persephone told from Hades's point of view. Hades, God of the Dead, does not take sides or bend the rules. He makes no exceptions to these values—not for god or mortal, even his lover, Persephone, Goddess of Spring. Usually, fear prevents retaliation. But not this time. 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. Can Hades maintain the balance he craves?

Cindy McKee

Always a delight in approaching a story you know and love from a different point of view! Hades and Persephone struggle to maintain and grow their relationship despite trouble seeming to close in from all sides. Another excellent installment in this stellar series!
**I received this book from NETGALLEY for an honest review **

Become enchanted by the fantasy world of gods and mortals in bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair's reimagined New Greece. Readers are "hopelessly addicted" to the story of Hades and Persephone told from Hades's point of view. Hades, God of the Dead, does not take sides or bend the rules. He makes no exceptions to these values-not for god or mortal, even his lover, Persephone, Goddess of Spring. Usually, fear prevents retaliation. But not this time. 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. Can Hades maintain the balance he craves?

Taylor Arevalo

Hades journey is far more interesting and way less annoying than Persephone's

Faith Kitowski

I read this book months after I read TOD,TOR, and TOM. I definitely recommend to read them after each other, because I was a little confused about what happened when. Altogether this was a good book. I like that we got his pov on things. 

Jordan Allison 

We are already aware how smitten Hades is with Persephone from previous books, but I can I just start by saying I couldn't help feeling giddy whenever he described his feelings for her! 

I loved reading about everything Hades was going through when not with Persephone and that the book is not just simply going over the events in A Touch of Ruin from his POV. The amount of fires he had to put out and all he did in his fight to be with Persephone builds up his character fantastically. It was very enlightening to see why he said or did certain things I did not agree with or questioned when reading A Touch of Ruin. The way that the same conversation reads very differently depending on whose POV you are reading is simply 

- a testimony of the author's talent! (I was indeed jumping back and forth betwen the two books!) I also liked the fact that there wasn't too much focus on the spicy times, but it was instead on everything Hades had to go through to make sure they can be together. 

My knowledge of Greek Mythology is predominantly from high school and the ad hoc Wikipedia page, so I am by no means the best person to make such judgements, but I loved how we see multiple myths being incorporated in the story and the clever way they have been interpreted to fit in the modern world the books take place (honourable mention for the Maenads). 

P.S. I started the series mostly because it had spice and I was intrigued by Persephone and Hades's story (thank you Lore Olympus) but honestly I don't care if we don't see another spicy scene as long as these two end up happy at the end and we get to see Hades being more and more enamoured with Persephone every day 😍

Lera D

We are already aware how smitten Hades is with Persephone from previous books, but I can I just start by saying I couldn't help feeling giddy whenever he described his feelings for her! 

I loved reading about everything Hades was going through when not with Persephone and that the book is not just simply going over the events in A Touch of Ruin from his POV. The amount of fires he had to put out and all he did in his fight to be with Persephone builds up his character fantastically. It was very enlightening to see why he said or did certain things I did not agree with or questioned when reading A Touch of Ruin. The way that the same conversation reads very differently depending on whose POV you are reading is simply chef's kiss- a testimony of the author's talent! (I was indeed jumping back and forth betwen the two books!) I also liked the fact that there wasn't too much focus on the spicy times, but it was instead on everything Hades had to go through to make sure they can be together. 

My knowledge of Greek Mythology is predominantly from high school and the ad hoc Wikipedia page, so I am by no means the best person to make such judgements, but I loved how we see multiple myths being incorporated in the story and the clever way they have been interpreted to fit in the modern world the books take place (honourable mention for the Maenads). 

P.S. I started the series mostly because it had spice and I was intrigued by Persephone and Hades's story (thank you Lore Olympus) but honestly I don't care if we don't see another spicy scene as long as these two end up happy at the end and we get to see Hades being more and more enamoured with Persephone every day 😍

Farra McChesney

As a fan of this series I was not disappointed. St Clair hits some excellent thoughts as usual. I feel like she also dove deeper into some thought provoking point regarding Persephone and her journey. Cannot wait to see who she becomes in ATOC! 

I loved seeing what Hades was up to outside of his time with Persephone. He continues to amaze me with his strength and understanding. I loved that we got to see some of his deeper sins in this one. Intiquity from Persephone's POV was revealing but from Hades' POV... well... enlightening. 

I am continuously amazed by her interpretations and mingling of Greek Myths. I am SO satisfied with her interpretation of Theseus! I am also even more excited, now, for the stories of Dionysus to come!

The Authors Note at the end was a touch of beauty to end this novel. I LOVE how real and candid Scarlett remains with her readers. Please never stop adding these little revelations to the end of your novels.

Why is SEPTEMBER 2023 so far away! Consider me in chaos and agony until then. Well, at least until December 2022 and then I'll be okay for a week or 2 maybe.

The events of this book were just Hades side of the plot during the time of Touch of Ruin. There were points that seemed a bit monotonous but overall the book was good. The scenes with Hades and Persephone are superior. 

Quinn Sparacino 

I loved it even though it was a lot like the one from Persephone's perspective but since it was from Hades's perspective it was quite different and it gave me a lot of insight into what he was thinking when certain things happened

Lisette Haasnoot

Meg (megschapters)

** spoiler alert **
           Actual Rating 4.5 

I don't think I was ready to revisit Lexa's death 😭 incredible as always full review to come soon

Cierra 

Scarlett did it again. Fueling my love for Hades this book was cute and funny! 

Nimet Akiturkmen

AAAH 🥰. I've waited months for this one to be released and it did not disappoint. I'm a Hades girl and will always be a Hades girl. I thought this book was going to be A Touch of Ruin (pt 2) but from Hades' POV (like A game of Fate x A Touch of Darkness (pt 1) but this one was so much more. There were so many things happening in this one that weren't even mentioned in aToR. Even my girlie Medusa was mentioned a couple of times. I'm as obsessed as I was w the other books in this series, and I cannot wait for the other 2 books (which of course I already pre ordered🤭). There's also some bonus content from the next book, which unfortunately won't be released till September 2023 🥲