The Labyrinthians

I ended up enjoying this young adult read so much more than I thought I would! Kimberly’s Dad has lost his job, and almost like a sign from the heavens, her adopted mother receives news that they are inheriting a “mansion” from some uncle or cousin that no one knew anything about. Upon arriving at their new home they find a dilapidated farm house, nothing to suggest this is the same mansion referred to by the lawyer who gave them the news of their inheritance from their super rich relative. Nothing would indicate there were ever any riches, and the family just assumes that all the previous heirs that disappeared, simply left because they didn’t want to deal with the run down shack.

One morning the parents can’t find their youngest adopted child (Kim and Elliott are adopted and 17 year old Nate is staying with them until he reaches 18 due to the unfortunate death of his family), so they go out in search for him. Kim and Nate stay behind to search and end up finding a book case that strangely has hinges on the side. They are able to open it but once down to the bottom of the stairs, the book door closes and they are trapped. They are in what appears to be a normal basement lounge, until a TV comes on and low and behold the great benefactor himself shows up on the screen. It is a pre-recorded message and we quickly realize that he has set up an elaborate labyrinth beneath the home that if you can get through fast enough, and alive, you will be rewarded with his super precious and worth millions, diamond. Realizing this is what had to have happened to Elliott, Nate and Kim begin making their way through the maze to find him. Each room has its own puzzle to be solved and while some are fairly easy, and provide no threat, there are plenty others that the slightest mistake will cost you your life, and you’ll never make it out of the labyrinth, and no one will ever know what happened to you.

I seriously ended up enjoying this so much because I can’t lie, the great benefactor himself is a freaking psychopath! One by one he has allowed people from his own family to fall prey to the many dangers of the maze and in no way feels sorry about it. I wouldn’t say it isn’t realistic in any sense of the word because, really, someone has to still be around that helped build the labyrinth that would see these missing people on TV and think “shoot! I know where that is, that person is in danger, I should probably call the police”. There had to have been dozens and dozens and dozens of people who helped him build his killer maze so I’m just going to go out on a limb and assume that he had SO MUCH MONEY that he was able to permanently buy off all those that were involved with the labyrinth’s construction.

I ultimately couldn’t put this book down because I just needed to know what horrors were beyond each room. I felt claustrophobic and panicked through the whole read due to the well done observations of how deep underground they were, and how truly huge the labyrinth is. After the ending, and knowing that there are still so many things left to see, I know I’ll be picking up the 2nd book for sure in this trilogy.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy a slightly darker YA read (not too dark or graphic), with little lovey dovey stuff and teenage angst (there is some but seriously not a lot, and the “romantic” interest is definitely a side note of this story. Thank GOD!), and/or speculative fiction.