{Release Day Review} The Red Labyrinth by Meredith Tate (@mltate24 @FluxBooks)

The massive labyrinth was built to protect Zadie Kalver's isolated desert town. Unfortunately, living in the maze's shadow makes her feel anything but safe. Even without its enchanted deathtraps and illusions, a mysterious killer named Dex lurks in its corridors, terrorizing anyone in his path. 

But when Zadie's best friend vanishes into the labyrinth-and everyone mysteriously forgets he exists- completing the maze becomes her only hope of saving him. In desperation, Zadie bribes the only person who knows the safe path through-Dex-into forming a tenuous alliance. 

Navigating a deadly garden, a lethal blood-filled hourglass, and other traps-with an untrustworthy murderer for her guide-Zadie's one wrong step from certain death. But with time running out before her friend (and secret crush) is lost forever, Zadie must reach the exit and find him. If Dex and the labyrinth don't kill her first.

​Zadie Kalver is used to being an outcast.  She’s a “Blank” in a world full of those who are “Skilled.” From a very early age, she’s forced to toil in the mines outside the walls of Trinnea until her mother sacrifices everything to buy her freedom.  But all along, she dreams of the boy that always looked at her as if she really mattered.
 
Landon Everhart is a hero.  Known as “Limitless Landon” for his ability to endlessly gather new skills, he’s the one person that Zadie would lay down her life for.  So when he’s unexpectedly dragged into the midst of the Labyrinth, she’s determined to save him or do exactly that.

The silence makes me uncomfortable. With every passing second I’m more likely to blurt out something I can’t take back. 

I know what I want to say. I’ve rehearsed it a million times in my head. Hey, Landon, I know you’re the hero of Trinnea, and most of the girls and probably some of the guys would do anything to be with you, and I know you could have your pick, and I know I’m a Blank and you’re you, but you’ve always been here for me, and I think I’m in love with you.

Zadie has come face to face with Dex more than once.  “The Devil of Trinnea” is said to lure citizens into Labyrinth to steal their minds – or even worse. But she soon discovers that Dex is not the horror that he’s rumored to be. He too is trying to navigate the labyrinth to save someone. And the closer that they get to finding all of the answers, the more diabolical the questions become.  
 
Up is down and black is white.  The world as they know it is about to change – forever.

Maybe we’re all a little broken. We’re all a little bit selfish and evil and good and dark and light.

​The Red Labyrinth is a fast-paced odyssey into a realm where nothing is as it seems.  Meredith Tate once again taps into her world building savvy to create a landscape that is both bleak and imaginative.  Her characters are daring – regardless of their secret motives – (I might have a thing for Dex!) and the story has more twists and turns than a wild carnival ride.  
 
It’s everything that’s smart in YA fantasy.  And I can’t wait to see where the labyrinth will lead from here…

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