Thank you very much for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This story very much reminds me of a mix of The Hunger Games and the maze in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It has that raw dystopian feel to it with the hint of the magic with the obstacles inside the maze.

The synopsis with the maze and the mysterious and dangerous character named Dex is what drew me to the story. I feel like this book will appeal to a lot of people, especially ones that really love dystopian worlds. While I am one of those readers, there was just something missing for me. The writing was average to me, there wasn't anything wrong with it by any means, it just wasn't that special either. Trinnea was interesting and it was very corrupt, as was the maze. I thought the trials Zadie and Dex had to go through were unique and scary. However, Zadie did get on my nerves throughout the story. She didn't listen to Dex, and I understand that was probably the authors intention, but those kinds of characters get to me. Now Dex, on the other hand, I was interested in from the beginning but then towards the end is where I fell for him. He was definitely my favorite character in this book. I should have known Landon was going to turn out to be a villain but I'm one of those readers who doesn't think too much about a story as I'm reading. I just go with the flow. I was rooting for Landon and Zadie. But, with an ending like that, not so much anymore.

I appreciate what the author did to Landon's character as it will set up for an interesting sequel. I'm not quite sure if I'll continue with the next book, but if I do it'll be for Dex. That boy has secured a spot in my heart. I feel for him and I want to know what's going to happen with him.

So, in conclusion, while I feel like this story is forgettable, it's not a bad story at all and I'm sure there will be lots of people who will enjoy it more than I did!

This is such a quick, fast-paced book filled with an authoritative regime, a labyrinth full of traps, grand characters, a murderous lovely boy, a self-doubting epic badass female. It's grand. It's awesome. There's are plot twists. and you should read it.

Zadie and Dex were the best, and I loved watching them come to trust one another and how they kept saving each other, and how in the end they could never leave one another behind. I loved how much they both loved their families and how they both would have done anything for them--and that's also the thing that KILLED me.

Things skyrocketed in action towards the end and I'm still reeling from everything and now I just need the next book in this series as soon as physically possible because I will not survive otherwise.

This book description reminded me of The Maze Runner, a novel I fell head over heels for and kept me guessing, and the cover really grabbed me.

The world-building is creative, detailed, and pulled me in almost immediately. The Skilled, the Blanks, and the labyrinth housing the monster, Dex, and separating the town folk from the Creator held me spellbound. The author does a magnificent job explaining Zadie's world without an info dump. Zadie is also very likable, and has survived tragic circumstances in her past. I cringed more than once when reading about her interactions with the Warden. Landon is the stereotypical hero, and plays the role of rescuer and town hero very well. But by far, Dex is the most compelling, and multi-layered character. Honestly, if the author wrote a spin-off focusing on Dex's backstory, I'd snatch it up immediately. The story is well-paced, and the obstacles Zadie and Dex face in the labyrinth are dangerous, challenging, and, at times, heart-breaking.

Everything was going smoothly - awesome world-building, life and death circumstances, intense action - until it became very obvious that one character isn't what the reader is led to believe. That's nothing new - it goes along with good storytelling. But the revelation is meant to be a twist towards the end, and some things just didn't ring true for me with this character early in the story. In scanning other reviewer comments, it didn't seem to come as a shock to them, either.

If you're looking for an original YA dystopian/fantasy, The Red Labyrinth fits the bill nicely. Although the ending includes a cliffhanger, it wraps rather suddenly, and I'll definitely be adding the next book to my TBR.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Scrolling through Netgalley recently my eyes immediately zeroed in on the word Labyrinth. I am an enormous fan of the old Bowie fantasy film from Jim Henson, in fact I'd only watched it the week before. I only needed to skim the blurb of The Red Labyrinth to see the similarities.

-A young girl enters the labyrinth to save her best friend (instead of her brother).
-The journey is time sensitive (a week rather than 13 hours).
-A dangerous enemy is bribed into helping her reach the palace, (he's scarier than Hoggle was though that's for sure!)

Being a lover of magical tricksters I knew I had to read this. Whilst the premise can be compared as above to my beloved childhood movie, the book itself is very much it's own unique tale.
Additionally, unlike my beloved movie, the reason for and origin of the Labyrinth is given in this tale.

I found Tate to be very clever in creating enemies and obstacles encountered throughout the labyrinth that were fun to read and simultaneously poignant to the characters.
Each trap or distraction provides further insight into the characters as well as action packed entertainment.

Told in present tense from the POV of our main character Zadie, Tate gives us excellent character development for both Zadie and the protagonist Dex via their backstories.
Zadie's continuous internal battle between what she truly wants and what is morally just is wonderfully written. I connected with this MC and could hear her hope, desperation and pain in Tate's words.

One of the noticeable things I discovered in this book was the perfection of character diversity. Race and sexuality were varied throughout characters in the most natural way I've seen for a while. There was no beating you about the head to prove the inclusion, it just belonged - which is exactly how this should be approached IMO. The relationship between Chantry and Nadine especially was a beautiful touch.

The Red Labyrinth appears to end with intentions of a sequel, however I enjoyed this book as a stand alone.

Disclaimer: This is YA and I'm never really sure if my ratings are fair, because I suspect 25 years and several hundred books ago, my opinion would have been different. I have read some truly great YA books and my expectations are high these days.

Zadie was interesting, the labyrinth had some original things in it (i liked the fata morgana tree with the jewellery) and there were unexpected twists and turns in the story.

And it all felt a bit flat. There was little depth in the world-building and there were one-dimensional characters (the warden and some of the skilled).

All together I liked the idea better than the implementation and suspect a harsher editor could have helped.

Zadie's life is horrible. Born without any powers in a village filled with people born with, she is treated like dirt. She has to take the worse jobs and is constantly bullied by everyone. She is in love with her best friend but can't think about being with him because he has powers. One day he disappears and everyone in the village becomes brainwashed. In order to save her family, Zadie goes into the labyrinth to find their leader. The labyrinth is filled with monsters and a powerful man who can help and hinder her.

This is an exciting book and hard to put down. I knew there was more to the setting than it first seems. The reveals at the end made me want more and I'm assuming that this is going to be a series because Zadie has more work to do. She, as a character, was sympathetic and was very hard on herself. She kept thinking that she was relying on others too much but her society punishes her for protecting herself. Once in the labyrinth, she does a good amount helping herself as much as she can.

Dex is a very interesting character who also blames himself too much for things others have done to him. His relationship with Zadie was slow growing and built on trust. No insta love.

Thank you to Flux and Netgalley for providing a copy for review.

This was so good! I literally read this in a handful of hours. So this book takes place in a desert town, where people are Skills (have powers) or Blanks (no powers). The Blanks are considered second class citizens at best, but more like scum. There is the Leader who likes to show up on a big screen and grace the town with water occasionally. Then there is the labyrinth. The labyrinth is a big, red, scary maze dividing the town from the palace where the leader resides. Life is not so fantastic for Zadie, who is a Blank, but her best friend Landon, the town hero is usually around to protect her. At the annual Water festival, Dex, a mysterious boy/monster who lives in the maze tries to kidnap Zadie, and all chaos breaks loose. Landon saves Zadie from Dex, but then the next day he's gone and no one remembers him. Zadie decides to brave the maze to save him.

The maze was a great setting. You wouldn't necessarily think so, but with all the traps and magical creatures it made for a really interesting background. I really enjoyed Zadie's character arc. She starts out very scared, timid, and just feels very worthless. It doesn't help that this has literally been beaten into her for most of her life. However through out the book she grows a lot. Dex is not what he seems at all, and while his character arc didn't seem as developed there were definite changes in him. The action, and the emotional growth that comes about through the different maze challenges was just really well done, and felt natural. I can honestly say that I did not see that ending coming! It was such a great cliff hanger, like I am so excited for the next book because I have a feeling it is going to be a roller coaster of a ride. I just really enjoyed the hell out of this book. It gave me some Wizard of Oz type vibes, with a smattering of Alice in Wonderland, while being its own thing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
The Red Labyrinth by Meredith Tate is a story about a girl, Zadie, who is a blank living in a world where that is basically a death sentence. Blanks, people born without skills, basically think x-men like powers?, are typically cast out of the desert town Zadie is from and into the wastes. Through years of hard work from her family and best friend Landon, Zadie was able to buy her citizenship back but is still very much a second rate citizen.

Besides the danger of being a blank where the city guard even harass the blanks, inside the village things aren’t exactly safe. There is a maze between their village and the building their leader stays in. A maze that is very dangerous and houses the mysterious and deadly Dex. Many a person has gone into the maze and come out without their wits about them anymore, a skill attributed to Dex who has more rumors and assumptions about him than anything else. Dex who has been starting to wander further from the entrance of the maze to drag in blanks after him for some unknown but very feared reasons. Many people fear Dex for good reason, except Landon whose gone after those who’ve entered the maze and brought them back, mostly safe and in one piece.

When Zadie wakes up one day to find her home turned completely upside down and Landon missing she realizes she needs to enter the maze if she’s going to make things right. She teams up with Dex but what does she have to fear more, the maze and it’s many traps or Dex? Big secrets are being kept and finding them out might be worse than the lie.
******
So, wow. Interesting read. I was largely drawn to it because it’s a book published under the Flux imprint, even if its not under the Flewellyn publishing house anymore, and I’m a huge fan and have yet to be disappointed by what they release. I’m around a 3.5 rating for this book.
I think the world was interesting, but getting to things happening just seemed like it took so long and what kicked it off seemed a bit contrived I guess and considering what I learned at the ending I guess it fits.
Zadie wasn’t exactly my favorite kind of character for the most part, but as you got closer to the end her real character started to show through more and really shone. Dex was an interesting guy with a lot of motive, depth and so many secrets. Landon surprised the heck out of me, I didn’t like him much at the beginning and still didn’t really like him at the end but boy can I admire his determination to make things happen.
Also, if this book is not in fact the first in a series I’m going to go burn something very dramatically because that ending means I need answers. I will fight someone for answers.

This book was SO GOOD. Seriously. I couldn’t put it down. And when I did put it down, all I thought about was picking it back up for wanting to know what was going to happen.

Now, full disclosure, Labyrinth starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly is my favorite movie. Of all time. Ever. So I discussed with my best friend the possibility that this book was only amazing to me because I was imagining THAT world. Once you get into the labyrinth part of the story, there are “dangers untold and hardships unnumbered”… BUT… they’re different. AND THEY ARE SO GOOD. Oh my goodness. I don’t want to give any of the obstacles away but they’re so clever and so dangerous and so… elaborate.

As for the characters, I was kind of annoyed with Zadie at first as she was so helpless allll the timeeee. Someone would start picking on her and she would mentally wish for Landon to swoop in and save her. But I soon learned there was a reason we were taken through that part of her character. She had to grow. She had to learn. Being a Blank scum who was considered worthless around her town was all she knew and it came to be how she saw herself. I love where the author took her character and I enjoyed her journey up to that point.

I’ve been known to love the dark characters in books and this book was no exception, Dex was my favorite. The mystery and the way he does what he has to do no matter the cost… Maybe he’s evil but it. 😈 Let’s just go ahead and add him to my fictional boyfriend list.

This is a YA novel… BUT, that didn’t stop the author from making some brutal decisions throughout the story. I loved that aspect. Given the situation of the book and the setting, there’s no room for romanticized words or actions and the author sure doesn’t try to force them in. We get some pretty heart wrenching scenes in this book. The author really doesn’t show any mercy. For ANY character. So, prepare yourself for that. I wasn’t ready.

This was honestly such a good book but I NEED THE SECOND ONE. There’s going to be a second one… right? Meredith???

4/5 stars

When her best friend Landon goes missing, Zadie a non-magical 'Blank' will do anything to save him. Unfortunately, that may mean joining forces with Dex, a mysterious and magical killer that lives in the Labyrinth, in order to navigate the Labyrinth's perils and save her friend.

I really enjoyed this one! I loved the blend of fantasy and science fiction with a few thrills. There were definitely a few twists that kept you on your toes and I'm still wondering what's going to happen next after that ending!

Setting
There was definitely a magical and otherworldly beautiful feel to Zadie's world. A good portion of the story takes place in the city of Trinnea and the other half takes place in the Labyrinth. In this story, Zadie's post-apocalyptic world was brought on by a drought a hundred years ago therefore no one travels through the labyrinth to the palace of the Leader or beyond the city to the desert. The city of Trinnea gave me the feeling of a sci-fi desert border town with it's ominous red clay labyrinth, cacti garden, stone houses, burning sun, and air bikes. The skilled and Blanks, or magical and non-magical humans, gave the world a feeling of fantasy. The physical and society separation between the skilled and blanks added to the turmoil within the story and made Zadie the nonmagical under-dog you wanted to root for! Part of the story does take place inside the Labyrinth and that was when the setting became more of a fantasy adventure. The Labyrinth is basically made up of things trying to kill or trap anyone that enters and it adds an element of horror, action, and thrilling adventure to the overall story.

Characters
Zadie, a blank, was the non-skilled, non-magical heroine of the book. She was overall very likeable even though she made some annoyingly stupid mistakes at times. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact she has no magic and seems like a smart girl. Basically her only true power or defense was her brain and she consistently made poor decisions. There were also times that I felt frustrated for Zadie living inside the solely magical city of Trinnea with her magical family. Society didn't make it easy for her living as a blank. Her one friend was Landon. He was famous throughout Trinnea as 'Limitless Landon' due to the amount of powers he possessed, but he ignores society's opinions and still treats Zadie as a friend. Dex was the mysterious evil character of the story and I liked not knowing much about him at first. I loved how the backstory between characters played out throughout the entire story including the distance between Zadie and her sister, how Zadie and Landon became friends, and more about the mysterious Dex. I loved the lack of information dumps and how everything was given piece by piece! It allowed the reader to discover characters and past events throughout the story instead of it being shoved down our throats which I very much appreciate!

Pacing
This story had a decent pace in the beginning while Zadie was in Trinnea. It was still faster than most stories while allowing detailed world building and character interaction while the reader figures out all the characters in play. Once the story shifts to the Labyrinth, I thought it had a faster pace and became more of a thrilling adventure with quiet spots here and there for more character backstory.

Overall
I really liked this story overall with it's magical setting, fast pace, thrilling Labyrinth adventure, twists, and characters you want to know more about. However, I was a little frustrated with the character's poor choices at times and a little torn on the ending. I loved and hated the ending at the same time. I wanted so much more and felt a lot of issues were still left unresolved! I'm truly hoping there will be another book! I really need to know how Zadie, Landon, Dex and the town of Trinnea are faring after that ending!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, North Star Editions and Flux for allowing me a chance to review this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I greatly appreciate it and truly hope to read the next story in this series soon!

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

2.5 stars. I would have given it 3, but where’s the ending? Is there going to be a sequel? Because the way this book ended was not an ending—it was what you’d expect at like the 75% mark of a book.

But let’s set that aside for a moment.

I found this book interesting though occasionally flawed. The idea of a society in which some citizens (the Skilled) have 1+ supernatural abilities and others (Blanks) do not isn’t new. But all of the new info presented at the end puts kind of a different spin on things. The labyrinth itself presented a number of unusual challenges, both physical and mental. I found it very odd how this society seemed to eschew marriage and monogamy. Zadie and Chantry are half sisters—they share a father and are the same age. Landon and Valerie shared the same parents, and they were in a monogamous marriage, which shocked Zadie. I found that aspect of the story weird. And from a genealogical standpoint, it creates quite a mess. Not to mention there’s bound to be a lot of unintentional incest when people can’t be sure who their dad is. Just saying.

What I meant by “flawed” was that sometimes characters’ actions or attitudes were rather inconsistent. I don’t mean in the way that people can be inconsistent in real life; I mean that sometimes the characters said or did things that just felt off. The last few chapters in particular are what really drove my rating down, as they just didn’t . . . fit. I get what the author was trying to do, but they way it was done felt a bit overdone.

Zadie (17) was an okay character. She was constantly relying on other people to save her, but at some point she recognized that and began making and effort not to be helpless. Dex (?—I could figure it out, but he’s about Zadie’s age, probably a little older) was an intriguing character. I grew to like him, but I also suspected he wasn’t as bad as he and everyone else believed. Landon (17) . . . I liked him a lot, and then last night something occurred to me, and it all went downhill from there. He was one of the big flaws for me because Landon in the last few chapters really didn’t feel like Landon throughout the time Zadie knew him, yet he insisted he hadn’t changed. I disliked Chantry, probably more than the other guards—they were mean, power-hungry girls, while she was a girl bitter at her sister for something that she (Zadie) really couldn’t control.

Also, it bothered me how much various characters resented the sibling relationships of other characters. Nadine was angry Chantry helped get Zadie out of the bunks instead of helping her. Zadie resented that Landon frequently went to Valerie’s aid or spent time with her. Zadie was also bitter when Dex “chose” his sister over her (though that situation is a lot more complicated, and it’s understandable that she was angry in that circumstance). But for all the times Zadie was resentful, she never stopped to think about when her own sister chose her over someone else. I would say that sibling relationships are more important than best friendships and high school crushes (though not marriages, for the record).

I think I saw somewhere that the author might consider a sequel sometime. If she doesn’t write one, there’s no reason for anyone to read this book because THAT IS NOT AN ENDING. Not a single character has reached an end point.

Note: Some swearing. And ending that’s not an ending.

A death-trap filled Labyrinth stands in the way of you, everyone you love and your entire town's salvation. Logically what do you do? Run in and hope that you come out of it alive... I guess.

Gah. I am so torn about how I feel about this book. I think a 3.5 stars is what I'm thinking right now. Reason why I don't feel like its 4 stars? It was sooo slow to start and it was hard get into it at first. I really had to force myself to keep reading it because there was literally no connection to the characters until about half way through the book.
Zadie is pretty cool- other than she doubts herself for 99% of the book(which can get kind of frustrating). You can do it Zzzzssaaaiiidddeeeee!!
Landon of course is always the hero saving his damsel in distress best friend from terrible things all the time. - cliché.
Dex is a disturbed murderous evil monster... he was by far my favourite character in the book- know why??? Read it and you'll find out! (He is the reason why I finished the book).

Overall though, the book was pretty good. The story has some serious potential to be a GREAT book. Once you get past the half way point it becomes a good book, full of twists and turns that are intriguing and make you keep reading. There's also quite a few unanswered questions throughout the book that keep you glued to the pages. If the characters had been more intruguing at the beginning and the story didn't drag on for the first part of the book, it would have definitely been a 4 stars.

Enjoy!

ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for gifting me with an E-ARC in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I rate this a 3 out of 5 Stars.
The prose of this book was promising, and very creative. I was excited to read this one. However, something just fell short for me. I feel like this would be better suited for a younger reader. The cover is beautiful, and I did like the immersive world that the Author built. I really can tell she enjoyed telling this story.

Zadie is a great main character in this book, but she was born a "blank". I liked Zadie right away.  This book was faced paced for me and I like the ride it took me on. This book reminded me of the "maze runner" movies.   I really liked those movies.  I was rooting for the characters and the book kept me wanting to read more. I think I will try the next book or more from this author. The ending worked for me even if it left me hanging. *This book was given to me for free at my request from NetGalley and I provided this voluntary review.*

In the near future humanity has been divided in to those with "skills" (magic, telekinesis, etc.) and those without called "blanks". The skilled community looks down on and abuses those without skills to the point of practically enslaving them. Zadie was born a "blank" and tossed out by the community of Trinnea when she was six years old to live and survive on her own. She indentured herself to work in the mines, until one day her mother and friends had scraped enough money to purchase a pass for her to return to Trinnea. Still shunned and hated by the community Zadie works each day only interacting with a few others, including "Limitless Landon" her childhood friend who is so named because of the limitless amount of "skills" he has. All is normal until one day when the town is taken over by outsiders and Landon goes missing. Zadie must attempt to work her way through the Labyrinth, a massive structure that was constructed to keep citizens separate from their "Leader", in order to attempt to save the town and Landon. What will happen to her as she takes on the labyrinth, its' monsters, and the "devil" inside named Dex?

Loved this book! Loved the female protagonist, her struggle, her optimism, everything. Excellent read, well written! Enjoyed it so much that I added to my to purchase list! Kudos for developing such an interesting and diverse universe with a hero with flaws! Love!

4.5 stars

Oh, how pleasantly surprised I am about this book! Well, I guess “pleasant” isn’t quite the right word because I AM SHOOK. But we’ll get to all that in a bit ;)

First of all, I want to thank NetGalley, Flux from North Star Editions, and Meredith Tate for providing me with an arc for her novel! Though I am extremely late in posting this, I hope I can spread the novel around so it can get the attention it deserves.

Now for the fun stuff. I SO SO SO loved this book! I was immediately drawn in by the writing and the steady world-building. We see around the little town, then we learn of its prejudices, and then we see glimpses of our main character Zadie’s past. Needless to say, I was really impressed by Tate’s introduction of the setting and the characters. Tate feeds us just enough to make us slightly suspicious but not really... Well, I don’t know how else to describe it, but I will say this: at first, I was suspicious a certain event typically of YA was going to happen, but as the novel progressed, I completely forgot about it.

And then, as if we needed more awesomeness, Zadie has to flee inside a maze full of booby traps and scary things… like, what?! That’s freakin’ awesome if you ask me. And never once did I think, Aw man, this is kinda cheesy. Heck to the no. Ok, yeah, I loved the world, if you didn’t get that yet.

Character development is also something I want to note, because I really felt the characters’ pain and why they have the weaknesses they do, and I respected the way Zadie and Dex support each other.

And on that note, Zadie and Dex!! I’m not even going to put spoiler thingies on that because if you read the description and if you’ve read even one YA novel, then you know the endgame is Zadie and Dex, alright? Ok. Anyways, going into this, I thought there was going to be some insta-love, I’m not gonna lie. But there was a really nice progression into their feelings for each other.

Of course, I could gush for a while longer, but as this brings me perfectly to my only (slight) complaint, I will stop the gushing. As much as I love Zadie and Dex, every once in a while I wish the good guy would get the girl; for reals, nowadays it’s always the “bad boy” with a secretly golden heart who gets the girl. Classic Stelena or Delena dilemma, ya know?

Lastly, I have to address the cliffhanger CUZ OMG I’M DEAD AND NEED TO KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPENNN. You seriously won’t expect it at all, because you’re gonna read it. You’re going to, right? Yes, of course you will, because it’s sooooo good! AND THIS BETTER NOT BE A STAND-ALONE!

I’ll just stop this now haha. Au revoir!




Oh, and if you enjoyed this review, be sure to follow me here on Goodreads so you can experience even more of my weirdness! ;) I also have an instagram dedicated to books @ashton_reads if you’d like to follow that as well. I love you guys!

Great worldbuilding and a fantastic storyline. Connected almost immediately to the characters and couldn't put it down! I look forward to reading anything this author has to offer.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley who approved my request for reading and reviewing this Young Adult Fantasy/SciFi book. In no way does this influence my opinions. I’ll try to keep it as spoiler-free as I can!

This was an exciting story, the way Tate came up with the concepts and fictional names/places were cool, but it seemed to drag a bit to point where I forgot that it was split into three parts to distinguish the three settings. Good idea but the second part dragged on a bit too long. I loved the beginning though, as it immediately drew me into the story and the chapter ended with some action starting. That’s difficult to do, and Tate managed that perfectly.

Onto our main character, Zadie Lynn. At first, I liked her alertness and the fact that she was sincere but not in a way where it made her weak. She saw right through everything, and even though she’s lucky enough to live in Trinnea, she knows how they treat Blanks. It’s quite sad just because you’re physically marked as not being Skilled, you’re picked on. However, from part two, Zadie becomes the most oblivious thing known to mankind. It’s like her intelligence and instincts die as soon as she enters the maze.

For the minor characters who are the most important, not because they’re skilled, but I love them each. From the start, I knew Tate would do something more with Dex. That he wouldn’t just be the creature in the labyrinth. I love his backstory, how the author crafted it and connected it with Trinnea and the Stone Palace. I hope to see more of Dex in the future. I’d prefer him over our next character—Limitless Landon. That name already struck egotistically. I don’t know I tried to like Landon throughout the story but couldn’t find the spark. Maybe because he winked too much or deemed superior to others. I don’t know but when I first read about him, limitless being that he’s got an unlimited amount of skills…that was cool.

The other characters, in short, would have to be, Chantry (Zadie’s sister) who I found out to be such a coward like she treated her little sister like crap even though she already gets it from Skilled people. Their relationship is included in the story, but it didn’t seem like it was going anywhere, just added more worry and guilt to Zadie. The so-called Leader who lives on the other side of the labyrinth in the Stone Palace. When we’re introduced to him in the second chapter, I instantly found it fishy. That was a Hunger Games moment when President Snow just showed up on everyone’s screens, but in TRL, we’re never actually introduced to the Leader, only virtually.

The challenges in the maze weren’t significant at all, but I guess that was the only way that Tate could create a relationship with the two characters. The challenges they faced revealed their pasts and sides that they don’t show other people. Creative way but too long. 

I think power was an essential theme throughout the novel. As we read on, we believe the leader controls everything, but in Zadie’s eyes, she and the other Blanks are still traumatized by the Warden. There’s also the Skilled who rule Trinnea when the Leader isn’t present. They demand authority over the Blanks. It’s mostly shown in part three, for reasons I can’t explain but you’ll figure it out sooner or later. 

My favorite and most exciting part of all time, and I’m sure you know this by now…was Dex. Even though he’s the supposed villain, his story alone touched me. I sensed that there was something about him but not so much in a way that I preferred him than Landon. Trust me, by the start of part three you’d latch onto Dex immediately. 

Overall, I liked the idea of this book and how power is shown. Most of the characters weren’t to my liking, but their purpose and backstory kept me going. Even though I rated this 3/5 stars, I’m willing to read the sequel and see what happens to everyone...

An intriguing fantasy/YA novel which is fast paced and beautifully narrated. The story talks about prejudices and preconceived societal norms, isolation, abuse as well as family, love, friendship and bravery. The story is about Zadie who is not accepted by Trinnea, their country, because of being “unskilled” but still risks her life and her sanity, to help save her family and the same people who spurned her. She takes the help of the Devil of Trinnea to save the hero only to find, the devil is not as bad as he is supposed to be. Among all the lies and tricks of the maze, Zadie has to choose who to trust and how to save the people she loves.
Meredith Tate weaves an adventure through her words and makes us fall in love with the characters. I was in a trance while reading this because it was quite unputdownable. Even though it was a bit predictably cliché, the character development and the fast pace more than made up for it.
My Rating : 3.5/5

The idea of The Red Labyrinth intrigued me and while I was very interested in this booking going into it, it just didn’t quite do it for me. As a YA dystopian fantasy novel felt very reminiscent of other well known YA dystopian fantasy novels and at times the cliches were a little overwhelming.

The world building was interesting and I did enjoy a lot of the moments between Zadie and Dex. Seeing their relationship build kept me turning pages, but on the whole, this book just felt a little like a mash up of other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.