Everyone is kind of an

asshole

in this one.

3 POVs, spicy, reunited exes plus friends to lovers, but it's all in the lower city of Olympus- rEaLm Of HaDeS. 

Outside of the trio of POVs, it's really hard to like anyone or the lower city- which was fairly charming in Neon Gods. And within the trio, also kind of hard to be too amped about the individuals and their choices bc of the other stuff going on.

If you're reading Dark Olympus for the sex stuff and kink, go forth- this book delivers on a perfectly adequate MMF sex dynamic. If you're reading for the continuing citywide plot or past characters- manage your expectations. 

It's not that nothing happens, it's that people start making choices. [Ending]

And some of those choices are extremely shitty, out of character, and mean. I kinda wanted to change my Neon Gods rating for introducing me to this setting's Persephone and Hades, who are real shitheels in this one.

Very little

Hermes. And Ariadne, who's been a joy in other books,

is everyone's punching bag for some reason?

As someone who's just read the books, it seems like there was a lot of relevant plot info that was probably in short stories I haven't read.

Hades has a secret dad who is a secret king and now Hades is kind of a weirdo who breaks his word?

If you're just reading for sexiness, you may just want to read internet smut. It's a lot of edging and power dynamics.

Sex scenes were fine, intimacy was rushed but felt natural, even if the emotional beats didn't totally hit logically. Everything is moving forward. 

(Also, the cringe of two terrible diminutive pet names being said back to back is real.)