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A review by thatlibrarynerd
Children of Icarus by Caighlan Smith
1.0
There were some better aspects to this book, like the world-building and monsters were interesting, but the world-building was pretty much limited to glimpses and allusions. For the most part it's awful. It reads like the author wanted to write a prequel but only had material for about half of a prequel, so half the book is about a girl being demeaned and abused and being too passive to do literally anything.
The main character annoyed me, but I was aware this was only because she wasn't strong enough to stand up to other characters who kept her in this role. She's resented and abused for not pulling her weight by people who never made any effort to teach her what's expected in their society; they basically decide from the start she's worthless so it's okay to mistreat her, so when it culminates in her being put on display and Collin basically deciding which of his friends will get to rape her first, there's a sense of "this is too far but also basically how our society functions".
Not to mention the fact that after going to great lengths to describe how filthy she is even compared to everyone else, apparently the character is still irresistibly sexy while being demeaned. It also makes her confusion about Gina seem... stupid. Just stupid. "How could she be here? She's too young to be sent into the labyrinth!" Geez with this many teenagers around I was surprised there weren't more little kids! Most teenagers know what sex is.
The writing is odd, with a habit of describing what happened rather than showing it. This strengthened the feeling that the middle half of the book was thrown in as filler. What's especially frustrating is that when something actually *happens* the writing is good! This is a capable writer who clearly needed a good deal more guidance than she received on plotting and making characters who were more than either abusers or enablers.
The main character annoyed me, but I was aware this was only because she wasn't strong enough to stand up to other characters who kept her in this role. She's resented and abused for not pulling her weight by people who never made any effort to teach her what's expected in their society; they basically decide from the start she's worthless so it's okay to mistreat her, so when it culminates in her being put on display and Collin basically deciding which of his friends will get to rape her first, there's a sense of "this is too far but also basically how our society functions".
Not to mention the fact that after going to great lengths to describe how filthy she is even compared to everyone else, apparently the character is still irresistibly sexy while being demeaned. It also makes her confusion about Gina seem... stupid. Just stupid. "How could she be here? She's too young to be sent into the labyrinth!" Geez with this many teenagers around I was surprised there weren't more little kids! Most teenagers know what sex is.
The writing is odd, with a habit of describing what happened rather than showing it. This strengthened the feeling that the middle half of the book was thrown in as filler. What's especially frustrating is that when something actually *happens* the writing is good! This is a capable writer who clearly needed a good deal more guidance than she received on plotting and making characters who were more than either abusers or enablers.