Kam
So this was a lot more emotional and sadder than I expected. On one hand, it’s a story about a father and his son, but it’s also a story about tyranny, and how people react and change when they are in the grip of an oppressive regime - for better AND for worse.
This is clearly illustrated in the narrator/protagonist, Daedalus. For most of the novella the reader is sympathetic to him, mostly because he portrays himself as a devoted father who is just trying to survive under the cruelty of King Minos of Crete. But it’s also interesting to note that Daedalus is not ALL he portrays himself to be. Throughout the course of the novella the reader gets a vague sense that he isn’t being entirely truthful, though it’s hard to pinpoint those moments until something finally happens, or another character points something out. And what Daedalus does with that information is always very interesting: not necessarily good or bad (often both), but interesting regardless.
Speaking of Minos and his cruelty, that is another theme that runs through this novella: how the cruelty of tyrants and dictators force those they control into survival modes that can be destructive both to themselves and those around them. Asterion is the key example of this, in the novella, but Ariadne and Daedalus are also great examples, in subtler - and more familiar - ways. But what really got me about this whole thread is that the novella clearly shows how such tyrants are not punished when the system is weighted in their favor. Again, this isn’t something that’s revealed right away, it’s only something that’s shown as the story progresses, but I really enjoyed how that particular revelation was done slowly and carefully, so that it was up to the reader to put it together for themselves.
Overall this was a lovely little read: bittersweet and heart-breaking, and quite different from a lot of the Greek myth retellings currently out there. There are some moments when the writing falters a bit, especially in revealing certain twists, but those are easy to let slide, especially given the otherwise lovely quality of the storytelling and the grander arc of the narrative, plus the great characterization. However, I get the feeling that certain subsections of certain fandoms will be…upset, to put it mildly, about how certain characters are portrayed here. Readers who have a better grasp and understanding of the nuances and complexities of the ancient Greek myths will have a higher tolerance for the way those characters are interpreted in this novella, but those who are set in their preferred interpretations as based on other, popular media, will likely chafe at the way their favorites are portrayed.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.
So this was a lot more emotional and sadder than I expected. On one hand, it’s a story about a father and his son, but it’s also a story about tyranny, and how people react and change when they are in the grip of an oppressive regime - for better AND for worse.
This is clearly illustrated in the narrator/protagonist, Daedalus. For most of the novella the reader is sympathetic to him, mostly because he portrays himself as a devoted father who is just trying to survive under the cruelty of King Minos of Crete. But it’s also interesting to note that Daedalus is not ALL he portrays himself to be. Throughout the course of the novella the reader gets a vague sense that he isn’t being entirely truthful, though it’s hard to pinpoint those moments until something finally happens, or another character points something out. And what Daedalus does with that information is always very interesting: not necessarily good or bad (often both), but interesting regardless.
Speaking of Minos and his cruelty, that is another theme that runs through this novella: how the cruelty of tyrants and dictators force those they control into survival modes that can be destructive both to themselves and those around them. Asterion is the key example of this, in the novella, but Ariadne and Daedalus are also great examples, in subtler - and more familiar - ways. But what really got me about this whole thread is that the novella clearly shows how such tyrants are not punished when the system is weighted in their favor. Again, this isn’t something that’s revealed right away, it’s only something that’s shown as the story progresses, but I really enjoyed how that particular revelation was done slowly and carefully, so that it was up to the reader to put it together for themselves.
Overall this was a lovely little read: bittersweet and heart-breaking, and quite different from a lot of the Greek myth retellings currently out there. There are some moments when the writing falters a bit, especially in revealing certain twists, but those are easy to let slide, especially given the otherwise lovely quality of the storytelling and the grander arc of the narrative, plus the great characterization. However, I get the feeling that certain subsections of certain fandoms will be…upset, to put it mildly, about how certain characters are portrayed here. Readers who have a better grasp and understanding of the nuances and complexities of the ancient Greek myths will have a higher tolerance for the way those characters are interpreted in this novella, but those who are set in their preferred interpretations as based on other, popular media, will likely chafe at the way their favorites are portrayed.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.