Children of Icarus (Children of Icarus #1) by Caighlan Smith - Review

❋ ❋

Clara is desperate to become an angel, aka an Icarii, and enter the labyrinth to be reunited with her brother who was selected a few years ago. She is a perfect candidate so it's no surprise that's she's selected. However, Clara's best friend, a girl who has always lived in Clara's shadow, is also picked. The two girls enter the labyrinth together along with the other new Icarii hopefuls. The two violently parted only minutes into the labyrinth. Now, this girl who has never left her own city, and rarely the confines of her own building, must survive in this new nightmarish world. If there's one thing she knows, the world of the labyrinth is not at all what the potential Icarii were promised.

Once I realized that a novel I was approved for on NetGalley, Children of Daedala, was actually the second book in a series, I knew I had to read this book, the first of the series, if I was going to have any hope of making sense of the sequel. I really wanted to like this novel for the sake of the sequel, but unfortunately it did not deliver. The novel is heavily compared to The Maze Runner which I enjoyed, both in terms of the setting and the characters, and it's also based on mythology which seemed promising from the outset. While the labyrinth in this case was pretty intriguing, the characters left me wanting particularly our lead character. Nameless, we actually never learn her name, is one of the more irritating characters I've come across in quite awhile. I usually wouldn't say this, but she's one of those characters you want to shake and slap some sense into. She does nothing to help herself, and she tells some pretty major lies that go about as wrong as they can go. That doesn't excuse Collin's actions of course, but what the heck, Nameless?! What made you think that would be a good idea? I'm not trying to be judgmental, but Nameless is a useless, cowardly liar who relies on others to drag her through the plot. I did find myself interested in the character of the Executioner, but we have to wait far too long to become acquainted. My other major complaint is that tons of questions are raised in this story surrounding the labyrinth itself, but even after reading the entire story we get zero answers. In fact we're totally left with more questions than we started with in the beginning.

Overall, I can't say I have high expectations for the sequel after Children of Icarus. I doubt the outside world, the city, and / or the Icarii have a chance if Nameless has to do the saving. In the end, I definitely preferred the concept of the story to the final product - and most of my issues with the story can be traced back to our nameless main character. You may want to try the novel if you like The Maze Runner or The Hunger Games.

I read this novel from March 15 - 16, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.