Daedalus Is Dead

Sullivan’s lovely debut puts an inventive spin on Greek myth. Master inventor Daedalus and his son, Icarus, attempt to escape imprisonment by the cruel King Minos using man-made wings. The plan ends disastrously when Icarus ignores his father’s warnings and flies too close to the sun, melting the wax attaching the feathers to the wings, and causing him to plummet to his death in the sea (“You fall in silence, as if the gods are waiting for the sound of impact”). From there, Sullivan’s tale veers into less familiar territory. Bereft at the loss of his only child, Daedalus starts a new life in Sicily, only to be tracked down by Minos; though he outsmarts the king and survives their confrontation, Daedalus dies shortly thereafter from an injury. He then endeavors to reunite with Icarus in the underworld, in the process encountering dead heroes and monsters. Daedalus narrates this quest in present tense and through direct address to his late son, creating a sense of intimacy and tenderness. (“Icarus, no good thing has happened to me that I haven’t wanted to share with you.”) Along the way, Sullivan gradually peels back the layers of Daedalus’s past, including several revelations that will shift readers’ views of the inventor significantly. In the crowded field of revisionist retellings, this stands out. (Sept.)