The Things Gods Break by Abigail Owen

Here is a summary with spoilers for The Things Gods Break by Abigail Owen

Lyra and Boone find themselves in Tartarus and immediately run into Kronos. Before either can fear the Titan, Kronos pushes them both further into the pit of Tartarus and into a deadly game. In the maze, Lyra is supposed to make it through to the end, but she slowly starts forgetting why she is there. The maze takes her through her past, but she believes it is her present. Every once in a while, she remembers a face that should be there—Hades—and is reminded she has a task. Luckily, the one constant in this is Boone, who she manages to grab, and the two get out of the maze.

After the maze, the two meet with some of the Titans. Lyra begins to realize that the Titans have seen her there before, and the reason they are not telling her everything is because, in the past, if Lyra gets too much information too fast, the plan fails. They start to tell Lyra that she is the key to everything, that the Titans and others need her to open the gates; otherwise, they will continue to be trapped there.

Meanwhile, in a POV from Hades in the present, he is still panicked, angered, and getting ready to do anything to get Lyra back.

The Titans tell Lyra that she needs to go into Hades’ past, kind of insert herself there in certain times, so that way things will eventually work out the way that it is needed to. Lyra starts to realize that if this plan does work, that means her Hades has run into Lyra multiple times in the past and hasn’t said anything, and it makes her a bit angry. As a little test, Lyra is sent back to her trials. She is so happy to see her Hades that she kisses him, only to have him shocked, saying, “They have never kissed before.” Before Lyra can explain, she is taken away.

Lyra and Boone have a new goal now, thanks to what they have learned. Each of the gods on the outside has a lock, and all locks need to be opened in order for them to get out. While some have been opened, they now need to go through trials set by each of those gods to get through their locks. They go little by little through these brutal trials. However, Lyra still has her goal of going back to talk and explain to Hades certain things. She then goes back to when Hades was a child with his siblings. Lyra touches him, and Hades is shocked to see that he withheld his powers for her because, up to this point, anything Hades touched died. He is surprised and intrigued by this girl, but before Hades can get more info out of her, the girl leaves. To Hades’ shock, he realizes that this mysterious girl has also been part of his dreams for years. He wants to know who she is to him.

Lyra is brought back to the Titans again, and she starts to realize that maybe the Titans aren’t all bad. In fact, she realizes that Persephone (who is not a Titan but is the reason they are in this mess) has a block on her, and they don’t know why. She also soon finds out that many of the Titans are indeed good; it was history that changed them into villains.

Lyra then goes back in time to the night after Hades burned down Olympus. He is devastated and thinks himself a monster. But when he gets to his room and Lyra is waiting there for him, she calms him down, tells him he is not a monster, and that better things are to come. Hades feels more calmed down, just as Lyra is once again taken away from him.

Boone and Lyra are slowly working through the locks and now only have three left. Lyra is starting to enjoy those down in Tartarus with her, especially Kronos, who she has started figuring out is a father figure towards her now. After a long discussion with Kronos, Lyra decides to go back out and visit Hades. This time it is right after Hades chose her to enter the trials as his. Hades is broken because, in his timeline, he has met a beautiful girl who tells him to hold off again and again. Yet, he finally meets a version of her that doesn’t remember him, and it’s breaking his heart that they are starting from square one. Lyra has to remind him that it is all worth it and that it will eventually all work out.

Lyra ends up accidentally getting stuck in that timeline for a short period of time, but long enough that Boone has to do the next lock, Zeus’s, by himself. It ends up causing him incredible pain, and Lyra feels terrible. On top of that, Persephone has taken it upon herself to heal Boone and refuses to let Lyra in to see him. Kronos is there to help comfort her and talk through some of her plan.

After her talk with Kronos, the two of them together decide they need to go and talk to Hades. Hades is not thrilled that Kronos is there because, from his viewpoint, Kronos was a terrible father, and the only reason Kronos is allowed in is because of Lyra. Though the conversation doesn’t last long, the two are taken back, and Lyra decides she needs to sneak off again to see Hades. When she does, she finds him in the midst of her trials. He is still panicked about how everything is going to work out, so he ends up casting a binding spell, almost like a marriage, on her. Lyra readily accepts it and hopes there are no consequences to having Hades be bound to a future version of herself. Before she leaves again, Hades makes her promise that there is a future for them.

Lyra and Boone are so close to completing their task, which in return will take them and the Titans to the mortal world. They are to go and lift the last lock, but as they enter the trial, at the last minute, Kronos shows up with them. The trial is that there must be one sacrifice, and Kronos knew this. Despite Lyra’s tears, Kronos is the sacrifice and dies for the two of them. At the end of the trial, with the locks open, another surprise comes to Lyra. With Kronos dead, his power of time is given to her—the new goddess of time.

Lyra wills herself and everyone else to moments right after she was originally taken to Tartarus. When she gets to the mortal world, all hell breaks loose. The gods and the Titans start to fight until Lyra has to jump in and tell them that the Titans are good and that there is no need to fight. But as Lyra looks around, she sees that Olympus has fallen, and the world is shattering—Hades. The gods tell Lyra that he is in a full rampage looking for her and refuses to talk to anyone. Lyra asks Hermes to transport her as close as he can, and then Lyra fights her way to Hades. After some time, she eventually breaks through some of his magic. Though Hades can’t tell if this is his Lyra or a future version with time travel, he refuses to stop. Lyra has to convince him that it’s the real version, and it takes a long time for Hades to finally be convinced. Once the two are reunited, Hades realizes everything that he has done and breaks down completely.

Lyra is able to talk a bit more about her time with time travel and reveals that she now has Kronos’s power to do so. Hades tells her to hide that power because the Death Gods from all over are coming together. Hades has gone too far and needs to be punished. After a quick deliberation, Hades’s power and immortality are taken from him, leaving him mortal. Lyra isn’t sure what to do with him, but Hades tells her that he has a plan and not to worry.

In an epilogue, someone is upset that Persephone got out and that she was the one who put her there. And now she will need to stay close to Lyra to keep an eye on her.