Children of Icarus

August 1, 2016

Gr 7 Up-In the city of Daedalum, each year on Fallen Day, children ages 10 to 16 are candidates to be Icarii: to enter the labyrinth, find the way to Alyssia, and become angels. The nameless 16-year-old narrator and her best friend Clara await their last Fallen Day anxiously. They are both chosen, but once they are inside the maze, things are not what they expected. A team of warriors, past Icarii who call themselves Fates, rescue the narrator from a multitude of other threats. She is at first accepted, then loses favor with the Fates, and is cast out into the maze to die. A mysterious woman known as the Executioner saves her and teaches her how to survive. While the story shows echoes of James Dashner, Suzanne Collins, and even Veronica Roth, the result is not greater than the sum of these parts. There is plenty of action but also plenty of questions and not many explanations. The narrator's helplessness grows old, and her transition to capable defender seems unbelievable. VERDICT Necessary only for collections where readers can't get enough of science fiction/adventure.-Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

In a nightmarish, claustrophobic world, a small band of near-feral adolescents scavenges among harpies, hydras, and other horrors from Greek mythology.The highest joy for any child of Daedalum is to be chosen as an Icarii and sent out of the city; once through the vast surrounding labyrinth, they are taught, they will become angels like the fallen Icarus of legend. The unnamed 16-year-old protagonist soon discovers the horrific truth: the labyrinth is an endless trap, filled with monsters, and those Icarii who aren't immediately slaughtered may be even more dangerous. The characters are realistically rounded, without clear-cut heroes or villains; the plot, mostly focusing upon complex female relationships, avoids stereotypical gender roles or even a whiff of romance--although not sexual violence. (The absence of racial descriptions indicates that they are all probably white.) Unfortunately, the first-person present-tense narrator is so pathologically timid, needy, and passive that readers will likely endorse her self-loathing, especially when her mute listlessness leads to cruel deceit and inadvertent death. Still, as the short chapters and constant tension keep the pages turning, she is forced in the final section to attain (rather unbelievable levels of) competence and self-assertion; it's frustrating to realize it's all little more than setup for the real story to begin, presumably in the next volume. Dystopia fans with the patience to wait could do worse--but with so many similar titles out there, they probably won't bother with it. (Fantasy. 12-18) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2016
In a nightmarish, claustrophobic world, a small band of near-feral adolescents scavenges among harpies, hydras, and other horrors from Greek mythology.The highest joy for any child of Daedalum is to be chosen as an Icarii and sent out of the city; once through the vast surrounding labyrinth, they are taught, they will become angels like the fallen Icarus of legend. The unnamed 16-year-old protagonist soon discovers the horrific truth: the labyrinth is an endless trap, filled with monsters, and those Icarii who arent immediately slaughtered may be even more dangerous. The characters are realistically rounded, without clear-cut heroes or villains; the plot, mostly focusing upon complex female relationships, avoids stereotypical gender roles or even a whiff of romancealthough not sexual violence. (The absence of racial descriptions indicates that they are all probably white.) Unfortunately, the first-person present-tense narrator is so pathologically timid, needy, and passive that readers will likely endorse her self-loathing, especially when her mute listlessness leads to cruel deceit and inadvertent death. Still, as the short chapters and constant tension keep the pages turning, she is forced in the final section to attain (rather unbelievable levels of) competence and self-assertion; its frustrating to realize its all little more than setup for the real story to begin, presumably in the next volume. Dystopia fans with the patience to wait could do worsebut with so many similar titles out there, they probably wont bother with it. (Fantasy. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.