Description: The task is simple: don a disguise. Survive the Labyrinth. Best the boys.
In a thrilling new fantasy from the bestselling author of the Storm Siren Trilogy, one girl makes a stand against society and enters a world made exclusively for boys.
Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port have received a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. The poorer residents look to see if their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father’s microscope.
In the province of Caldon, where women train in wifely duties and men pursue collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands—through the annual all-male scholarship competition.
With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm’s labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone is ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives the deadly maze.
Welcome to the Labyrinth.
My Thoughts: This is definitely my favorite book of Weber's so far. The mix of science and magic is just what I love in this sort of story and I could have read a book that just focused on Rhen curing diseases while running away from ghouls and sirens. These mythical beings brought the story to life in a way that would have been sorely missed had the world building leaned in more of a steampunk direction.
Yet the main purpose of the story was for Rhen to beat the boys in the labyrinth rather than find a cure. While the competition is mentioned from the beginning, it doesn't come into play until around the halfway point and then ends with nearly a quarter of the story left. And since this aspect of the story was so important, I would have liked for it to take up more of the actual plot.
The story is fun, even with Rhen experiencing realistic hostility to her interests in science. I liked the variety of friends she was able to have and that most of them were males who treated her as an equal. While Rhen's goal was to "best the boys", it was never to prove herself as better, only equal and deserving of the same opportunities. And she wasn't the only one competing for that.
Overall, I do think there are portions of the story that could have been stronger. The Labyrinth could have been more of the story, as could the history of relationships between most of the characters. However, most of the interactions between characters within the story were strong and I appreciated Rhen's goals and motivations. I loved the story world's atmosphere and wouldn't mind another story where Rhen goes to university and then returns to be with Lute and help the people she grew up with.
I have provided an honest review after receiving a copy of the book through the Fiction Guild.
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