Reviews

Das Labyrinth des Fauns by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke

violet_ivory's review against another edition

5.0

Beautifully constructed. Magical, creepy, violent but never pointlessly. Kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Would've finished it in one sitting but unfortunately the plane I was reading it on landed before I could.

mdevlin923's review against another edition

4.0

Ofelia and her mother are being moved to an outpost for the Spanish war with Ofelia's new husband, Vidal. Ofelia's mother is pregnant and suffering, but Vidal cares only about his unborn son. Ofelia knows this. She can tell that Vidal is a terrible man by looking at his eyes. So she begins exploring her new home. She comes across an entrance to a labyrinth...and begins a dark and mysterious adventure.

Such an intricate and beautiful fantasy! Fables and short stories are woven in to the story of Ofelia to create an entire world and rich backstory. The perfect blend of fantasy, fable-like lessons, and horror.

miranda_crawford's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

floralvarezr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As beautiful as it is macabre, this book mixes the darkest aspects of Franco's dictatorship with the childlike wonder of fairytales. A true dark fantasy read. It has beautiful descriptions, the prose makes this a very pleasurable read. I questioned many times if the magical aspects weren't in Ofelia's mind, a much needed escapism from the horrors of her daily life. Ultimately, I always choose fantasy, although the realistic aspects are amazingly chilling and almost horror in their brutality. I loved it as much as I love the movie. Guillermo del Toro's mind is a wonderful thing. 

elsepopelse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

4.0

shelbymarie516's review against another edition

5.0

What I would give to have a meal with Guillermo del Toro! This man is incredible. A dark, twisty tale with such fantastic monsters. The scariest monsters are normally humans with hideodorous habits.

hungrynagini's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

felifirefly's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

sierraxwriterland's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This dark and gritty book is beautifully written with a little girl protagonist you are absolutely rooting for in the violent and male-obsessed society that she moved to.

hlflosser's review against another edition

3.0

I usually love this author an she did write beautiful quotes with in this story. But I was not expecting the gore with in this story.