It’s been a while since I updated this blog as life has taken my attention away from reading but that’s not to say I haven’t been finding new indie books and hoarding them like a deranged squirrel just waiting for the right opportunity to share them with you. In fact as I sit here typing this a large pile of them continues to grow!
Today’s book came from Twitter. I had a flush of new followers last week, many with their freshest book in their bios, and this one caught my eye because I am a hopeless lover of anything involving Greek Mythology. The details were sparse so I wasn’t 100% sure what I was going to be reading but suffice to say this book was deeply poignant, something I was not expecting.
The story has all the same familiar details we all know as being part of the myth and the setting is much the same in ancient Crete but what makes this retelling stand out from all others is it’s deeply humanistic approach. The narration switches between father Daedalus and son Icarus who in this version of the story shows up as a very cloistered twelve year old boy. And let me say this, seeing this whole scenario play out through the lens of a awkward tween gives it a profound sense of innocence and sweetness. And we get to grapple with whether or not the naivity of a child is a form of stupidity or if there’s some deeper wisdom there the adults in the story fail to see.
The story is initially about the strained relationship between an overbearing distant father and a boy taking his first trepidatious steps into adulthood. As it continues new characters are brought in and the whole emotional backdrop becomes a rich and complex tapestry. But this isn’t to say it’s not also a quick conversational read jam-packed with adventure as well as misadventure.
By the end we realize this reimagioning isn’t about hubris. It’s not about unrestrained youth. It’s not about having the attention span of a gnat. It’s about love. It’s about the love of a father for his son and wife, it’s about a boy’s first romantic love, it’s about the love of adventure, of freedom, of creation and invention. And in many ways it’s about flying free as an individual. And whew, the ending was powerful! Obviously I knew it was coming but it still melted my heart along with Icarus’ magnificent wings.
I strongly recommend this for a wide audience as it’d be appropriate for people who already know and love the story just as much as people who don’t know anything about the original myth. And it’s an easy read – allowing you to make up your own mind about how much you want to invest in it intellectually which I think gives it a broader appeal.
If I have peaked your curiosity Icarus by Adam Wing can be bought on Amazon here.