Book Review: ‘Daedalus is Dead’ by Seamus Sullivan
Daedalus created many things in his life, some awe-inspiring and some monstrous. Of all his creations, the one he would most like to take back is the one that led to his own son’s death, his incredible wings. Now that he is in Hades, Daedalus is obsessed with one question, “Why?” and he won’t rest until he gets to hear the answer from Icarus himself. Follow Daedalus on his agonizing journey for answers in first-time author Seamus Sullivan’s Daedalus is Dead.
[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by Tor for the purpose of this review. Warning: My review of Daedalus is Dean contains some spoilers!]
Daedalus is Dead is a modern retelling of a classic tragedy
Most of us who know something about Greek mythology know about Daedalus and his many fantastic creations that helped King Minos rise to prominence in the ancient world. Even if you don’t know his name, you know of his most famous creation, the labyrinth. And most of us almost certainly know of his son, Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun. He has far better name recognition than his father, even though Daedalus is the one who designed and built the wings that Icarus is famous for.
Seamus Sullivan begins with this well-known classic and takes it farther. His Daedalus is wracked with grief over the loss of his son. But he’s also consumed with the need to know why. Why didn’t Icarus listen to him? And was it in any way his fault? Daedalus scrutinizes their lives to find clues as to what Icarus was thinking in those final moments. And once in Hades, Daedalus strikes a deal with the devil (or at least his wife) to help find his son and finally get the answers he so desperately needs.
But deals with gods are never that simple and rarely work out for mortals. Will Daedalus get the truth he so desperately desires? And will it give him the peace he craves or just make Hades that much more of a Hell?
Half of the story is flashbacks; the rest is Hell
Daedalus flashes between his place in Hades and different times in his life to try and find the reason for Icarus’ death. We see scenes from when Icarus and Daedalus are escaping, when Daedalus is building his infamous labyrinth, when Icarus is a baby, and even before Icarus is born. All of these memories serve to try and make us feel pity for Daedalus. He is just a nice guy stuck in an impossible situation. All he wants is to keep his son safe, so he does what he must, even if he doesn’t want to do it. That’s what he tells us.
But Daedalus is an unreliable narrator, and we can’t trust anything he says, as we see over and over again. In Hades we meet the people from Daedalus’ life and hear their sides of the story. Turns out, Daedalus isn’t quite the innocent man forced into a bad position that he’s convinced himself he is. He’s actually rather a jerk. And his obsession with why Icarus flew too high seems to be more about being able to say “it wasn’t my fault” than about the actual “why.” In the end, the why isn’t really all that important because it’s likely that Daedalus will twist Icarus’ reasoning to fit his own view anyway.
Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan has no real resolution
After tramping all over Hades and Daedalus’ lives, we end up pretty much where we started. Daedalus is just as lost as the Minotaur was in the labyrinth and has even less chance of finding his way out. The Minotaur was only caged by rambling walls, but there was always an open exit if he was brave enough to take it. But Daedalus is caged by his ego, and it takes a much braver man than him to leave that behind.
When I was done reading Daedalus Is Dead, I couldn’t help but feel like I had just wasted the last few hours. There is no character growth, there is no plot resolution, there’s just the dissection of a sad little man’s misery. The story made me feel sad and uneasy but never gave me a way out of those feelings. I was just left feeling icky, and I didn’t care for that at all. I think that Sullivan was trying to show the cyclical nature of violence and how monsters beget monsters. But without the offering of hope, it was just too heavy for me to enjoy.
My rating for this book: 6/10
This is Sullivan’s first novel, so I’m inclined to forgive some errors. But the lack of any real progress for plot, characters, anything at all, just made this book feel pointless. I love stories that draw on ancient mythology, and I feel like this could have been a good story if only there had been something that actually happened. The fleshing out of Daedalus’ time in Minos was interesting. Seeing the Minotaur as a child and seeing how it became the legendary monster was fascinating. A good ending would have seen a strong recommendation from me. As is, I can’t really recommend it too highly. If you want to see if this circular story gives you more than it gave me, it’s releasing on September 30, 2025.
Also check out Book Review: Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs
