A review by robertrivasplata
The Labyrinth by Simon Stålenhag

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Dystopian dark vibes piece dealing with the morality of building a refuge for the few in the face of environmental catastrophe. Seems relevant for a Scandinavian author. Feels similar to The Buried Giant in the way it is about a society built upon a crime. That & the pubic execution hinted at in the beginning make me think of Graeber & Wengrow's comment in Dawn of Everything that mass executions in the archaeological record are signs of state-building. Artificial habitats, a deadly & depopulated surface world, ruins old & new, unspoken memories of before-times, etc all echo 12 Monkeys. Creepy, almost photo-realistic visuals, with the human figures being the creepiest of all, perhaps because it takes more than half of the book to get to where we even see anyone's face. Before then, the faces of all of the characters we see are hidden or masked. The interiors & objects have a kind of retro-80s-90s-institutional-futurist aesthetic. I think I'll look for more by Stalenhag.