Pan's Labyrinth - The Labyrinth of the Faun (Paperback)

This enthralling novel, inspired by the 2006 film, illustrates that fantasy is the sharpest tool to explore the terrors and miracles of the human heart

You shouldn't come in here. You could get lost. It has happened before. I'll tell you the story one day, if you want to hear it.

In fairy tales, there are men and there are wolves, there are beasts and dead parents, there are girls and forests.

Ofelia knows all this, like any young woman with a head full of stories. And she sees right away what the Capitán is, in his immaculate uniform, boots and gloves, smiling: a wolf.

But nothing can prepare her for the fevered reality of the Capitán's eerie house, in the midst of a dense forest which conceals many things: half-remembered stories of lost babies; renegade resistance fighters hiding from the army; a labyrinth; beasts and fairies.

There is no one to keep Ofelia safe as the labyrinth beckons her into her own story, where the monstrous and the human are inextricable, where myths pulse with living blood ...

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Wed, 10 Jul 2019 | Review by: Breakaway R.

An excellent, dark fairy-tale with real-world horrors. Following the death of her father, young Ophelia is forced to move to a new home deep in the woods where her new stepfather, the vicious Captain Vidal, is hunting down the rebels fighting against the Francoist regime of Spain. With her cruel stepfather and sickly mother unable to entertain her, Ophelia begins to explore the labyrinth in the gardens where she meets an ancient and sinister faun, who claims she is the long lost Princess of his underground kingdom. The Faun sets Ophelia three dangerous tasks, which she must complete while avoiding the guerrilla warfare of the forest. ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ is a novelisation of the award-winning film by director Guillermo del Toro, written by the man himself alongside children’s author Cornelia Funke. I saw the film for the first time several years ago and really enjoyed it; thankfully the book is also a great read that immerses the reader in the dark, fairy-tale world and masterfully parallels the magic with the gritty, real-world horror of post-Civil War Spain. The first few chapters did feel slightly like a description of the film more than a story in its own right, but as I got further into the book it improved dramatically and it is a well written, readable story. The magic in the book is handled extremely well. The Faun is an exceptionally creepy character; we are never sure whether he is a trustworthy creature and his intentions are unclear throughout the book. The story uses a small cast of characters but each one feels important to the tale and the different themes that the book explores. The novel offers us the thoughts and perspectives of a lot of different characters which the film cannot, which works in a lot of cases but sometimes felt a bit unnecessary to me. There are some scary moments and adult themes so I wouldn’t recommend the book for children. Alongside the main narrative, the book also includes regular ‘fairy-tale’ chapters where the origins of creatures and concepts are explained. These chapters are excellent as they add depth and clarity to the world and subtly connect many characters with the magical kingdom in a very clever way. These sections are not in the film, so are perhaps the key draw for fans of the original. I was also impressed with the pacing of these stories, as they never felt unnecessary nor distracting from the main narrative. In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book to any fantasy fans, whether they have seen the film before or not. The story is concise, clever, thought-provoking, exciting and really very difficult to a fault! And if you like the book then watch the film too! Boromir Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

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