copied and pasted from my goodreads:

This was my very first time reading in the sci- fi genre (i am a fantasy/ dark romance reader, more specifically vampires and elves) and my first time reading something by this author. Let me tell you this wont be the last book i read by Erik. I dont like to post spoilers in my arc reviews (theres nothing worse than seeing that "warning spoiler" button, but you let your intrusive thoughts win by pressing "read more" anyway and get mad at yourself for spoiling 🤣

So here is my honest, none spoiler review: Honestly I have no idea what made me step away from my comfort genre and read this book, the book cover? The title? Both? Maybe the plot? I was getting interstellar vibes and i had to pick the book up, and i enjoyed every single minute of it.

the plot was fantastic, basically this takes place after earth has been destroyed and you follow along a team of scientists who go back to earth to study it and find out earths history, humanitys past. the characters was so well written too, i love elizabeth. What a fantastic start to this genre. The only downside now after reading this is: will other sci fi books live up to this book? Have i set my standards now to high? My only real downside is the book was a little too long for me, but that might be because my romance/ fantasy books are average 300 pages but thats not stopping me from giving this 5 stars.

Thank you for a great read!

A wonderful SCI-fi book that I devoured fairly quickly. Only issue is that some of the character backstory is quite long and could use some slimming down. I found the different timelines easy to navigate and will recommend this book to my followers!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

A thoroughly intriguing sci-fi horror. The one flaw that personally almost pulled me from the story was the near excessive backstories about the characters. I think trimming these bits down would bump my rating to 5 stars. Otherwise, Icarus Dawns is a captivating tale and I recommend for fans of sci-fi horror like myself.

Wonderful sci-fi horror that jumps timelines and presents well done arguments about what it means to be human. Highly recommended

Wonderful book, amazing from the first page on. Could not put this book down wanting to know what happens next.

◇ Synopsis
In 525 AE (After Earth), humanity lives on a lifeless planet due to a disaster that destroyed their home world. A team of scientists return to Earth to bring back forgotten cultures, extinct species, and technologies that could help humans terraform their new planet. In the time capsule of humanity's past, Elizabeth Lawrence leads a team of engineers to revive lost technologies and record ancient data. Deep under the icy planes of the American Midwest, Elizabeth finds a lead to the answers they seek. In the macabre details of humanity's darkest hour, she finds questions of trust, stories of heroism, and long-dormant feelings of agony.

◇ Thoughts
This book is interesting, grabbing my attention at the start but losing me with confusing backstory. The pacing was inconsistent, starting fast, slowing down, and picking up only towards the end. Characters were good, but excessive backstories could've been streamlined for a better focus on the great storyline. The plot itself was intriguing, but the world building could use more detail; the shift from high-tech sci-fi to floppy disks felt like a distracting joke. Their were some spelling errors. Aside from that, it's a fun, adventurous read with elements that might trigger anxiety in today's readers. I.e. suicide etc.

This was a interesting concept for a story, I enjoyed the idea of what happens after humanity leaves Earth. The idea was a scary concept and amazing how well everything worked with the how I pictured this concept. The characters were everything that I wanted and glad they were so well written. Erik James Troy writes a great story and I enjoyed getting to read this.

This book was better than expected. The author was able to capture the return to earth in detail and it did not sound weird. I thought the dynamics within the crew were difficult to understand at times but overall this was a decent book.