Caighlan Smith

Six months alone in the labyrinth has made her strong. But the search for the exit means gambling on an old 'friend' and going against everything she's been taught to survive. You know the labyrinth will have yet more horrors lurking in its depths. You've learned few people can be trusted. But freedom is tantalizingly close. Are you ready to take the risk?

Children of Daedala

Sheila Goicea

1) Children of Icarus: ★★

See my FULL review of this book on my blog along with others at: shesgoingbookcrazy.com



All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.



Content Warning: Gore, Bullying 
”Six months is a long time in the labyrinth.”
There’s always a lot riding on sequels in a series. If certain aspects aren’t delivered in the first installment of a series, I hope that the sequel will shed some light on those areas that I think are important to touch on as the reader. Unfortunately,  Children of Daedala simply didn’t deliver as much as I had hoped for. While some aspects were much more tolerable, the plot did not develop as much as it needed to the really engage the reader. 


  World Building


The entire plot of  Children of Daedala takes place in the labyrinth. Little information of the labyrinth itself is given and it is difficult to get a good sense of where the characters are. I constantly felt lost, which is ideally the point (since everyone is lost), but it's also difficult to tell a story not really understanding the surroundings. 

The society within the labyrinth itself takes on a different form. The Icarii literally enter a new world when they entered the labyrinth and they must learn how to survive. The best way to survive is by strength in numbers. Several pods of Icarii are developed, where the groups' members look after and protect one another. 

But where there are people, there is treachery. Supplies are limited in the labyrinth, including hunting grounds, freshwater, medical supplies, and weapons. It isn't uncommon for fighting to happen between the groups for these resources. These fights, however, aren't always provision-related. Bad blood exists between Kleos and Harmonia, two groups with a long and dark history. When the main character finds herself being shoved between the two groups after Fates is ransacked, she must dig to the bottom of the mystery in order to discover who is at fault.

Within these groups exists hierarchy. Being out on her own for six months had made "nameless" a sought out legend among the other Icarii. Nicknamed "Fey Bell" (after the silent bell she wears around her neck) she tries to remain elusive as she searches for the labyrinth's exit. However, she can only make it so far without help. She must take measures into her own hands to have the mysterious journal the Executioner left her translated. The leaders of the groups have their own agendas and are constantly taunting her when they cross paths. Wanting to remain out of the drama, she tries to limit her interactions with them, but can only succeed for so long.


  Pacing & Readability


The pacing mimics Children of Icarus. It is slow, slow, slow. In three hundred plus pages, not a lot happens. Even during the climax in the final pages, nothing grabbed me. Without having many variations in the pacing, it made this a difficult read to get through because it was slow and unengaging. 


  Point-Of-View & Characters


The point of view is again from the perspective of the main character, who again remains nameless throughout the entire story. "Nameless'"--I'll refer to by her nickname of Fey Bell--character grows tremendously from Children of Icarus--but only in her capabilities. In many ways, she still acts quite immature for her age, which becomes tiresome to read. Honestly, I think I stuck it out through this book just because I want to find out what her name is!



Otherwise, I don't think I would have made it this far. 

There are several characters in this series, and it is difficult to keep them all straight. With little distinction between them physically, many of these minor characters blended together. 

For me, Ryan was one of the more interesting characters in this series. Sadly, his character became rather flat in this sequel. I felt he could have been utilized in more effective ways to keep that initial intrigue going, but that simply didn't happen.

Theo becomes a more prominent character in this sequel. Becoming a “sort of” love interest, he’s constantly riding the fence of being trustworthy. Because his character also suffers from flatness, I found him and his motivations to be transparent and without surprise. 

Elle’s character blossomed before my very eyes. I think I didn’t recognize her in  Children of Icarus because I was so distracted with all of the gore and overall treachery. While she doesn’t have a massive role in the plot, what she represents makes her all-the-more important to bring up.

The main antagonist against is the labyrinth itself, but later on shifts to other characters as well.


  Major Themes


⇒ Survival

  It’s easy not to take chances when the price is someone else’s secrets.

Survival is the entire point of this series. Survival in the labyrinth, survival from one another, and survival from oneself in specific instances is constantly on the characters’ and readers minds. 

⇒ Mental illness
”Elle is the beautiful one. I always knew it, but at first I thought it was just her exterior. I thought what was inside Elle was cruel. And it is. Elle has a cruel side, an inhumane side, a manipulative side, but that like her physical beauty, is just something else in the way of the beauty inside. A part of Elle, deep down, is still the child she was when she entered the labyrinth. That child is inside all Icarii, but most Icarii kill that child to survive. Instead, Elle killed her sanity, and used its corpse to shelter the child. Because of that, a part of Elle will always have her innocence. A part of her will always have Prosper.”
Represented by Elle’s character, mental illness becomes a large theme throughout this installment. This theme also exists in the first book, but I think I was too distracted by everything else to really notice it. While I believe this adds an interesting addition to the plot, I’m not sure if I actually like the way Elle’s character is represented. Perhaps it is because I feel that her (and everyone else’s) character is left incomplete. In a positive way, however, I feel that Elle’s able to bring opponents together.
“But thank you. For looking out for Elle.”
“It’s easy to look out for Elle,” Risa says, then gestures to the gauze in my hand. Maybe not always easy, but it’s easy to want to, you know?”

  Overall Feelings


Things that I liked:
⇒ The main character's growth from the first book.
⇒ We finally get a little more explanation behind the Icarii. 

Things that I didn’t like:
⇒ Still not having a good sense of the world or where the characters are at. Scenes blend into one another.
⇒ The slow pacing and anticlimactic end which was supposed to be a massive "cliffhanger" for the next book.
⇒ While we get a better idea as to how the Icarii started, the entire backstory needed a lot more explanation. 

Overall, I wasn't thrilled with this sequel, and found it to be without much purpose. I really was hoping for more progression, but this entire book felt like a "time filler" until the next book in the series is published. 

Vulgarity: Minimal. Only five words were counted.
Sexual content: Minimal - kissing scenes only. However, there are some references to more going on between some characters.
Violence: Quite a lot. While this installment isn't as gory as it's predecessor, there's still a decent amount. 

My Rating: ★★

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I want it to be noted that I read this book not realizing it was a sequel. At the time of this review, I have not yet read Children of Icarus which I have 400% intentions of doing because this book was freaking AWESOME.



  "We feed traitors to the monsters"


This book has monsters, a big ass maze, warring teenagers, Greek mythology, and characters that I have real and very raw emotions for!

The MC is a hardened, quiet, self-determined, and intelligent young woman who the reader is given no name for. Instead we know her as 'Fey Bell'. The strength is ridiculously admirable but her adolescent musings and emotions all pore through the cracks as well and holy cow I want her to be my best friend. 

She's not the only character I have intense feelings though - Ryan, my gorgeous, scowling gem and Risa -but seriously I also want a Risa for myself, because she is precious and darling and dear me, have my children? 

There will be monster slaying, there will be human slaying, there will be feuds and peril and serious serious trust issues (wouldn't you if EVERYONE HAD A SWORD OR SPEAR OR ARROW???).

My only gripe was that the world building - the stories of Icarus and why the Icarii, the characters backgrounds in Daedala, the losses that my beloved characters endured but I didn't - these are things that I wanted MORE of. But now, in hindsight and with the understanding that this was a sequel (I have NO IDEA how I missed this because it's the second thing mentioned on the book's NetGallery page? I am 130% assuming that I was distracted by the SO-SCRUMPTIOUS-I-WANNA-BITE-IT cover), I have faith that this has already been established in the first book of the series. 

And so, I will be back with an update. CoI has already been ordered (at 3am this morning upon finishing CoD) and I will return with my update and hopefully so much further applause for Smith. Because honestly I am in love.

To see my Twitter ramblings for this book, click here.
A HUGE thank you for my ARC from NetGallery, Caighlan Smith, and Capstone!

Jolie

I had reviewed Children of Icarus last year, loved it and couldn’t wait to read the second book. When I got accepted for it, I did a happy dance in my living room. Which got me weird looks from my SO and my youngest daughter. I was so excited because I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for “Nameless/Clara” in this book. I also couldn’t wait to see how the author incorporated more Greek mythology into the story.

The book follows Nameless/Clara as she gets caught between two warring factions. Those factions are Harmonia, an all girl group, and Kleos, an all male group. While trying to avoid both factions, she saves Ryan, a boy from the Fates. She needs help deciphering a notebook that the Executioner left her. Ryan has knowledge of the language it is written in. After traveling back to the Fates hideout, they discover something terrible happened. The only person that Nameless cared for in the labyrinth has been taken in by Harmonia. To save her friend, Nameless partners with the Ryan and a small group of Fates that are with the Kleos. Going on a rescue mission into Harmonia, she finds out that not everything is what it seems. She needs to find out the truth behind the attack on the Fates before she is killed. She also needs to find out why the war between Harmonia and Kleos is happening.

This book was a fantastic dark fantasy young adult book. The world that was built up in Children of Icarus was expanded upon in Children of Daedala. This isn’t a fantasy where unicorns and rainbows appear. No, this is a gritty fantasy where children are fighting for their lives and formed societies. I was reminded very much of Lord of the Flies while reading this book. There were so many similarities between the two of them. Only thing…..the kids in Lord of the Flies get rescued at the end. These kids were thrown in the labyrinth as a sacrifice.

Nameless grew so much from the last book. The training the Executioner gave her before she died was a huge part of that. But also, she was mentally strong too. After what she went through with the Fates, she had to be. Her distrust of Kleos and Harmonia were warranted. Gammon was taunting her and Polina treated her with disdain. She was tough too. I mean, she wore metal spikes in her braids and she took down a temple lion….by herself. She even talked more in Children of Daedala. Which is something that I was amazed by because she never talked in Children of Icarus.

The secondary characters made this story what it was. Each character had their own personality which is rare in books. I got to care about Elle, Ryan, Theo, the Mud Maiden and the other secondary characters.

There is no sex in Children of Daedala. There are a few kissing scenes. Nameless did have Ryan and Theo chasing after her. Also, Polina and Theo were observed kissing too. So no sex but lots of kissing towards the end of the book. Which, in my eyes, is acceptable for a young adult book.

The only complaint I have about the book is…..what is Nameless’s name? She has gone by Clara, Nameless and Fey Bell in both books. But her real name is never revealed. I want to know!!

The ending stunned me. I was not expecting what happened to happen. I also was not expecting who showed up to show up. I am wondering what that will mean for book 3? And for Nameless?

5 stars

My summary of Children of Daedala:

Children of Daedala is the stunning sequel to Children of Icarus. This book was a fantastic read. It had fleshed out characters and a plotline that kept me glued to the book.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Young Teen

Why: There are a few kissing scenes but nothing beyond that. I will warn that the book does have some pretty graphic battle scenes so I would vet it for anyone under that age of 14.

I would like to thank Caighlan Smith, Capstone, and NetGalley for allowing to read and review Children of Daedala

All opinions stated in this review of Children and Daedala are mine and I received no financial compensation for this review

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Children of Daedala

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