Reviews

Icarus by K. Ancrum

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irrationaltide's review

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I shouldn't be allowed to start K. Ancrum books when I'm busy. They are ADDICTING. I read The Wicker King in one day and I finished Icarus in five because I was so busy.

I loved the story. I'm sad with the note it ended on, because I dreamed of a happy ending and the result was definitely more bittersweet. The love story and the thievery were fantastic. I'm in awe of how K. Ancrum can take broken kids that society would deem as "lost causes" and turn them into redeemable, relatable characters that you can't help but love. I anticipate more of the stories K. Ancrum tells.

Content Warnings

stormeno's review

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emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

bambdelion's review

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5.0

Brilliant! The writing and story were both beautiful. Icarus is such a unique character. Despite being so strong and independent, I loved seeing him open up and become vulnerable with friends. It was great to see a community come together to help and protect those in need as well. Highly recommend!

roboe4life's review

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

3.25

bookobsessedmommy's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Icarus tries to live as inconspicuously as possible to keep his home life a secret, but is startled to realize that more people notice him and care about him than he could have imagined. I have never read a book quite like this before, with its combination of poetry and prose and dash of Latin. (Initially this threw me off, but the context, spirit of the language, and my remedial spanish made it knowable in a strange way.) The short chapters make the story go by quickly, and even though it jumps around a bit I rarely felt lost. Icarus is on this epic journey, and I rooted for him and everyone connected to him so hard. His friends are the absolute best, even the school associates who were ready to move heaven and earth for him. (Or one crappy dad.) Angus' arc, even though we don't hear much from him, is a complex mix of heartbreaking and infuriating. I think my biggest complaint is that I wanted more explanation on one specific situation.

I cannot understand how the Helios situation persisted. Did he not need to be enrolled in school? Maybe the dad paid them off. Didn't his mom have calls? She never came to see him? She knows the dad is abusive, so why would she let him take him? Yes, this entire book is far fetched for a ton of reasons, but this one is like dust in my eye. I just can't ignore it.

Elements of the resolution felt rushed to me, but this is one of those books I can see myself reading over and over because there is just so much meat on the bones. The author's note nearly made me cry, so I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from K. Ancrum.

Content Warnings

vexatiousbird's review

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emotional reflective

3.0

This was almost a DNF for me 30% through. Some people will absolutely love this book. I did enjoy the off-kilter poetic prose. It is very ambitious and unique. But I struggled to connect to the characters and found the hyper focus on touch starvation very uncomfortable, though some people will probably love that too.

Part of it is expectations. I sort of thought going in it would almost be enemies to lovers? But it’s really not, it’s just two very lonely boys who are wary at first but pretty desperate to connect to someone on a deeper level and they fairly quickly become something. Which is cool, it’s a legit flavor of romance, but not what I wanted.