A Touch of Ruin

This section resolves several plot points and pays off the points of suspense. Hades and Persephone repair their relationship with the resumption of passion and her acceptance of his proposal of marriage, confirmed by his offering of an engagement ring in the last scene. Lexa ends up in the Underworld after all, and Persephone’s worst fear is realized: With her friend forced to forget her, their friendship is significantly changed. Even as Persephone tries to rebuild, their relationship now is less one of equals than one of a queen with her subject, reflecting the change in Persephone’s status when she agrees to marry Hades.

Regarding the theme of Identity, Talent, and Influence, this section introduces the question of whether people can change, played out in the storylines of various gods. There’s an inherent irony to this, as the mythical gods represent different qualities or domains—love, healing, the underworld and the dead—or have different roles, like Hermes being the messenger god; in their original permutations, they are thus unchanging and enduring figures, though they may play different roles in different narratives. As characters in a modern novel, however, the gods cannot be static characters and remain interesting.

Therefore, St. Clair gives her characters modern dimensions. Hermes is a bit of an exhibitionist, in love with fashion and self-expression. All the gods desire attention because it’s connected to their power, except for Hades, who likes to remain in the shadows, while Persephone struggles with just how much exposure she can deal with. Apollo is cast as the self-centered, entitled flirt and is misogynistic if not outright abusive, but Persephone’s kindness to him, especially when she tries to reunite him with Hyacinth, makes him aware that he could change. Hades also changes through his love for Persephone. These changes are evident in his interest in doing good deeds in the Upperworld, such as his continued interest in the Halcyon project and Lexa’s memorial garden.

Persephone’s change plays out in the manifestation of her magic, which she learns to better control, and this power allows her to defend herself from harm as well as impose her will on others. She cuts more ties when she rebels against her mother, first summoning her to and then banishing her from the Underworld, the realm Persephone will share with Hades. She has also lost a tie to the Upperworld with Lexa’s death. In agreeing to marry Hades, Persephone makes her choice about where she belongs. Her final appearance with Hades at the gala is not as herself alone but as his fiancée, and his celebrity includes both of them. Them walking side-by-side into the gala presents them as a New Athens power couple, a new role substantiated by the image of Persephone sitting on her own throne beside Hades when they summon Demeter for judgment. Before, she was uncomfortable with being labeled as his partner, but part of Persephone’s character arc is accepting her place as his partner.

Persephone’s character seems to change as well. She has a new vein of vindictiveness and interest in suffering. At the beginning of the book, she wants to strike back at Apollo to bring justice to Sybil for her circumstances. Though her resolution to start her own news and media outlet reflects her initial interests in journalism, her first publication is about her relationship, borrowing and building on her place of power in her association with Hades. Though she wishes to advocate for others, Persephone also wants to punish, a quality attributed to the gods. Also, she now accepts that Hades, out of passion and care, will show up whenever she needs him and fight her battles for her. She seems to resign herself to having less agency: After she deals with Pirithous herself by killing him, Hades shows up and instantly resurrects Pirithous, rendering Persephone’s self-defense useless. He wants to punish Pirithous more than he wants to accept that Persephone has begun to master her own magic. Persephone is eager to participate in the torture, and a thirst for vengeance is a new aspect of her character. Likewise, in the end, she is comfortable being identified as Hades’ consort.

The cliffhanger ending sets up events for the next book in the Hades x Persephone series, A Touch of Malice, in which Demeter freezes New Athens in a blizzard to get revenge on Persephone. The Olympian gods intervene to decide Persephone’s fate, but they disagree on what should be done, leading to the war between the gods that erupts in A Touch of Chaos.