More reviews on Maji Bookshelf 
 ICONS started off in a weird way, but it still kept me interested. I just felt like a person who was dropped in the middle of a story, someone's life, without any clue on what the hell is going on. See, this could go both ways, either it makes the readers excited and want to read more to figure out what's going on, or the reader loses interest. Fortunately, the first half of the novel managed to keep me interested. I am not one to give up easily, especially when it comes to dystopian novels. However the second half.. and especially towards the end, I started to grow restless and praying for when the book would just end. 
 Even now, I just don't really get the whole point behind the Icon's children. Dol, the main protagonist, along with Ro, Tima, and Lucas each have a specific powerful feeling they can tap into or channel. I personally don't know the point of the whole feelings.. it does not contribute one bit to the plot or make them any special. Yes, these traits make them have some powers, but why did the author make us read countless pages about their feelings when the feelings themselves don't contribute to the plot? I know there is the possibility of Dol's use of sorrow that can allow her to read people's minds, but she never really uses it, also the author doesn't really explore that point. Something I also have to point out is the mislabeling of the novel, yes the alien invasion mark it as sci-fi or post-apocalyptic, but possessing power obviously puts it under fantasy at least right? or paranormal? I don't like being mislead by the genre categorization. 
 This is another one of those hefty books I've been reading lately, and it is also a book that would have been better off reducing the page numbers by at least 100. Almost 450 pages is a bit too long for a book I could personally explain in a page or two. There were too many unnecessary things that made the whole plot slow down. Also the romance, while it barely took up much space in the plot, was a bit too insta-love for me but with a side of angst because of Dol's friend Ro. To wrap this up, this book didn't impress me in the slightest bit. I have tried reading Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures but also found the same slow pacing problem there. It seems that Stohl's writing doesn't appeal to me. However, I do recommend you guys to at least pick it up and try reading it, especially fans of her previous work.