A review by angek98
Children of Icarus by Caighlan Smith

3.0

I was provided with an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

Is it just me or is anybody else annoyed that there are so many books inspired by Greek Mythology but all the characters names are so Anglo. Pls. Give me some cultural names.

Children of Icarus is confusing, unreliable, and weird. It is inspired by Greek Mythology (I had a lot of fun trying to determine which characters was inspired by Greek gods), and its similar to a lot of the YA dystopian novels like Hunger Games. Except it is much bloodier, more graphic than what is usually seen.

The concept of this story is so good. So. So good. But I felt like it could have been better as a series. Every break in the story could have been extended and could have been turned into an individual novel. It would have done wonders for the world building, amd the character development.

Our unnamed protagonist is an outsider looking in. She is quiet, scared, and she has no motivation. She needs to survive, but she relies on other people to help her to survive. This is what seperates this character from so many others, she is not determined, she is not tough. She's confused and she just wants to survive, upset about the death of her friend.

What I liked:
- The concept
- The unreliability of the narrator
- The Executioner
- The explicitness
-The weaving of Greek Mythology
- Lack of romance

What I didnt like:
- Lack of world building
- Felt like a summary of a series of books that never existed