Abigail Owen’s The Things Gods Break is the second installment in The Crucible trilogy, picking up immediately after the events of its predecessor, The Games Gods Play (2024). The first novel introduces the protagonist, Lyra Keres, a mortal woman cursed by Zeus to be unlovable. She is forced to compete as Hades’s champion in the Crucible, a series of 12 deadly trials to establish the King of the Gods. Against all odds, Lyra emerges victorious, winning godhood, the heart of Hades, and the title of Queen of the Underworld.

The grand prize of the Crucible games is Pandora’s Box, intended to be the key to freeing the goddess Persephone from her imprisonment in Tartarus. However, in the final moments of The Games Gods Play, the box’s opening goes awry. Instead of releasing Persephone, it drags Lyra into Tartarus, pulling her friend, Boone, in with her. This catastrophic event occurs just as Lyra and Hades have secured their future together, instantly separating them and establishing the primary conflict of the sequel. The narrative of The Things Gods Break is therefore driven by the urgent need to rescue Lyra from a prison no god has ever escaped, transforming a potential “happily ever after” into a high-stakes test of a newly forged love against cosmic imprisonment.