Review: Icons by Margaret Stohl

Icons by Margaret Stohl

Publisher- Little Brown Books

Release- May 7th 2013

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Your heart beats only with their permission.Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.She's different. She survived. Why?When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths.

My Thoughts:
Already a fan of Margaret Stohl's  Beautiful Creatures series that she shares with Kami Garcia, I've always been curious to see when these two would branch out and write their own novels. So, Icons was one of my most anticipated, but sadly it wasn't what I was expecting. 
I enjoyed this story, but I wish I could have loved it the way I wanted to.

I've been reading a lot of sci-fi alien invasion reads lately, but I'd have to say that this one seems very different compared to the rest. For one, there weren't any aliens. Or well, none that we see anyways. This story is really centered around a group of four teenagers who are called the Icon children. They possess powerful abilities that are based around a specific kind of individual emotion, something they believed was their weakness is actually their greatest strength. They eventually are apart of rebellious group to take down 'The Lords' that are responsible for shattering their lives since they took over earth on, The Day. 

Stohl's is a wonderful story-teller with fascinating and unique ideas.

The concept is actually very interesting and I liked how original it felt compared to other stories in this genre, but I think that it may have been a little to plot driven. There is a lot that happens and the world building is very intricately detailed, but it felt overloaded and overwhelming at times. Lots of information and not nearly enough action till almost the end.

However, the characters are very easily liked and quite incredible once we learn more about them and what they're abilities stand for. The minute you meet Dol and Ro you can feel a very strong connection between them that is bonded by friendship and fate. 

Dol is a great protag, but I think she's a little naive and a little to trusting. She may be seventeen, but she feels younger somehow. Ro is my favorite character. Fiercely protective, strong and loyal. Tima comes later in the story, but she's the only one I didn't feel connect with. And as for Lucas? He rubs me the wrong way. He's hard to trust at first and given his...emotional abilities, it made this particular love triangle feel forced. I usually don't mind triangles in books, but for some reason this one rattled my nerves. Maybe it's because I already have my favorite and it seems so clear who the obvious choice should be and it's frustrating when the character doesn't cooperate. Just saying;)

All in all, this turned out to be a decent read. Icons is a good start to a promising series and a very unique spin in the world of sci-fi fantasy/dystopian escape that fans will surely want to check out. It was an intriguing and entertaining experience that left on a good note, but there's still a lot of room for the story to grow. So, I'm looking forward to seeing what Stohl's has in store for these characters and this world next.

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