Who Is Actually on Hades' Side

Three books ago, the question was whether Hades could let himself want Persephone at all. A Game of Gods closes out his side of that question by asking something much colder: now that the wedding is close enough to touch, who among the gods standing around him actually wants it to happen. Demeter's weather is still tearing through New Greece. Theseus has thrown in with people who want the pantheon gone entirely. And Hades, who has spent five books being the one god nobody can read, has to figure out in real time which of his peers are allies and which are just waiting for the moment that costs him the most.

This is the closing chapter of his point of view specifically, not the end of the saga. One tome, A Touch of Chaos, still follows.

What It's About

With the wedding close and Demeter's storm still raging, Hades has to navigate a pantheon where the lines between ally and threat keep moving, while Theseus and the extremist faction he has joined push their fight against the gods into more dangerous territory. The book builds toward a betrayal the publisher's own marketing flags directly, without naming who delivers it or who it lands on. Hades spends the book trying to protect a future he is no longer sure he can secure through strength alone.

We are not detailing the betrayal, how the standoff with the Olympians resolves, or how the book ends.

What Works

The Hades POV finally pays off everything it was building toward. Readers consistently say this installment makes earlier scenes land differently in hindsight, the kind of payoff a companion-perspective structure is supposed to deliver and does not always manage.

The modern mythological setting still feels invented rather than borrowed. Readers note that the contemporary New Greece backdrop keeps feeling like its own creation rather than old gods awkwardly dropped into modern life, which is a harder trick to sustain six books in than it looks.

It stays readable without a mythology background. Several readers point out you do not need to know your Greek myths going in for this to track, the saga has built its own internal logic by now.

Where It Struggles

Editing rough edges pull readers out of the story. Grammar and spelling errors are the most cited complaint for this specific installment, noticeable enough that multiple readers mention being pulled out of otherwise strong scenes.

The alternating perspectives occasionally blur together. A few readers report losing track of whose head they are in during certain transitions, a side effect of six books spent building two very differently voiced protagonists who, by this point, share a lot of the same scenes.

The Velvet Coven Verdict

A Game of Gods closes Hades' side of this saga by finally cashing in everything his point of view was set up to deliver, earlier scenes recontextualized, a modern mythology that still feels like its own thing, and genuine tension about who around him can be trusted. The rough editing and the occasional blurred perspective keep it from being flawless, but as the end of a three-book arc built entirely around one god's restraint, it closes that arc with real weight.

Four out of five. One tome left in the saga, and this one makes sure you arrive at it with every reason to be nervous.

Content note: Mythological and political violence, betrayal and war themes, explicit sexual content.

Quick Reference

  • Author: Scarlett St. Clair
  • Published: July 2023
  • Series: Hades x Persephone Saga, Book 6 of 7
  • Pages: 587
  • Setting: New Greece and the wider pantheon of Olympus
  • Tropes: Fated mates, forbidden love, dark romance, mythology retelling
  • Spice level: 4/5. Explicit, open door.
  • Status: 4.00 on Goodreads, over 36,000 ratings. On Kindle Unlimited (verify current availability).