Daedalus is Dead
The legendary Greek architect Daedalus has fled to Sicily, where he recalls his earlier life: the building of the labyrinth that housed the dreaded Minotaur, his escape from Crete on waxen wings, and the death of his son Icarus. It is the latter that haunts him, and when he dies and enters the underworld, he sets out on a quest to find his son.
It is here that a series of new adventures begins. Daedalus enters the service of Persephone, queen of the underworld, and starts to apply his problem-solving skills in Hell. Can he make life better for himself, and for others? Can he undo the harm he has done? And can he find Icarus? But first he has to confront himself and his past…
The novel has a slightly shadowy quality. Like the Cretan labyrinth, Hell is a never-ending nightmare, with twisting paths, places just out of reach, ghostly shapes glimpsed from the corner of the eye. And the nightmare continues as Daedalus remembers his life above ground, amid the tyranny of Minos and the constant demand of the Minotaur for new flesh.
I occasionally found the narrative a bit confusing, but perhaps that is consistent with the idea of a dream sequence. And, as Ariadne says to Daedalus, ‘The gods don’t have to make sense’. But really this is a story of self-discovery, of Daedalus’ final realisation that ‘Whatever I do next, it can’t be more of what I’ve done before’. An interesting read.
