<p>THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES, #1 USA TODAY BESTSELLER, this dazzling romantasy epic from an award-winning author is <em>A Court of Thorns and Roses</em> meets <em>Percy Jackson</em> in an alternate contemporary world where the gods of mythology never died. For readers of Rebecca Yarros.</p>
<p><strong>The gods love to play with us mere mortals. And every hundred years, we let them...</strong></p><p>I have never been favored by the gods. Far from it, thanks to Zeus.</p><p>Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves, I just keep my head down and hope the capricious beings who rule from Olympus won't notice me. Not an easy feat, given San Francisco is Zeus's patron city, but I make do. I survive. Until the night I tangle with a <em>different </em>god.</p><p>The <em>worst </em>god. Hades.</p><p>For the first time ever, the ruthless, mercurial King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible-the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. But instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name <em>mortals </em>to compete in their stead.</p><p>So why in the Underworld did Hades choose me-a sarcastic nobody with a curse on her shoulders-as his champion? And why does my heart trip every time he says I'm <em>his</em>?</p><p>I don't know if I'm a pawn, bait, or something else entirely to this dangerously tempting god. How can I, when he has more secrets than stars in the sky?</p><p>Because Hades is playing by his own rules...and Death will win at any cost.</p>
