Lost in the Labyrinth
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
“Kindl inventively meshes classical myths, archeological findings and imaginative speculation in an intriguing tale full of mystery and emotion.” —Publishers Weekly
Last night I saw my sister, who is dead. She stood at the end of a long corridor, weeping. “Can it really be you, Ariadne, come back after all this time?” I whispered. She did not answer, but began slowly to sink through the floor.
Princess Xenodice is content to spend her days tending to the animals in the royal menagerie, haunting the workshop of a beautiful young man named Icarus, and visiting her brother who lives in the Labyrinth. Her safe and privileged world, however, has ominous cracks underfoot.
Soon battles for power and revenge threaten everything Xenodice loves. Betrayals from both within and without her family lead to a series of tragedies that Xenodice struggles to avert.
From the deepest layer of the Labyrinth under the Royal Palace to the topmost floor of the prison tower, this enthralling version of the myth of the maze and the Minotaur by master storyteller Patrice Kindl is filled with the marvelous and the strange.
“It’s Xenodice’s strong, appealing character that will get readers through the maze; her first-person narration brings the ancient setting vividly to life with rich detail and timeless emotions—sibling rivalry, heart-pounding crushes, moral outrage, and the pain of family secrets. An intriguing . . . blend of history, myth, and fiction.” —Booklist
“Readers who know the legend will enjoy the parallels and contrasts that occur throughout, but the strong storytelling lets Xenodice’s tale stand on its own, as well.” —School Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kindl (Goose Chase) inventively meshes classical myths, archeological findings and imaginative speculation in an intriguing tale full of mystery and emotion. Set in Crete, the story up-ends tradition, in which Ariadne achieves a tragic glory for helping the Greek hero Theseus slay the Minotaur. Kindl taps Ariadne's younger sister, Princess Xenodice, to narrate. Where this Ariadne is ruthless, like their stepmother, Queen Pasiphae, who rules over matriarchal Crete, Xenodice is kindhearted. She feels protective of her half-brother Asterius, the much-feared Minotaur who is kept in a separate chamber of the labyrinth where the royal family resides. While most people consider Asterius a monster, the princess grows deeply troubled when she learns that Ariadne and Ariadne's lover, Theseus, are conspiring to kill him. Then Xenodice discovers that she and her good friends Daedalus and Icarus also may be in danger. The author nimbly reweaves classical motifs while vividly conjuring an ancient world. As fans of her The Woman in the Wall might expect, Kindl does particular justice to the idiosyncrasies of the labyrinth; her envisioning of a matriarchal society and its rituals also proves memorable. While the story will especially interest those with a grounding in mythology, cloak-and-dagger buffs should enjoy it, too. Ages 10-14.
