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Book Review: Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Allen Williams

Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Allen Williams.

Katherine Tegen Books, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-0062414465

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD

 

 

Who better to take Pan’s Labyrinth, Spanish filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed dark, surrealist fairytale of a film and translate it into a children’s book than German children’s fantasy author Cornelia Funke? Ofelia isn’t your ordinary princess in a tower with a life under the control of a vicious, dictatorial stepfather: she is a child caught in the middle of a revolution in Fascist Spain, who discovers she is also the main character in a mythical story.  Although she is the protagonist, the film was not a children’s movie, and the story is framed by adults’ actions and points of view (specifically, the sadistic Captain Vidal, who is Ofelia’s stepfather, and Mercedes, their housekeeper, who is a rebel spy).

The book alternates between Ofelia’s view of the world as a magical place; the story of her family (including mother, stepfather, and new brother) and the battle between the soldiers (headed by Captain Vidal) and the rebels; and intertwined fairytales that touch on their reality. All three of these together lead Ofelia to take on a magical quest at the entrance to an ancient labyrinth on their property at the urging of the elemental, Pan, a faun who tells her that she is really a princess, the daughter of the king of the underworld.  The faun tells her she will have to undertake three tasks in order to rejoin her parents in the underworld. The obstacles presented by dinner parties, a sick mother, a baby brother, an angry stepfather, the violence of the Fascists toward the rebels, and Mercedes the housekeeper’s subterfuges, all must be navigated in order for Ofelia to sneak off and try the terrifying tasks for a faun she isn’t exactly sure she can even trust.

Cornelia Funke’s poetic and fantastical language and style of writing perfectly suits the fairytale nature of the story.  Yes, Ofelia’s story takes place in a specific historical setting, but the reader doesn’t have to know the history of the Spanish Civil War to fall in love with this tale (although I wouldn’t have been averse to a historical note). Due to its being based on a film targeted to adults, however, there are some disturbing moments of violence and implied torture and cannibalism, as well as a significant amount of bloodletting. There is plenty of foreboding and horror in play here, even presented as a children’s book.

Allen Williams’ illustrations really make the book work. Many pages are framed with bending tree branches around the text, giving the reader a feeling of really traveling through a portal into an ancient forest. The individual fairytales are printed on gray paper and have a full page black-and-white pencil illustration facing them, bringing the fantastical to life. The drawing opposite the story “When The Faun Came To Life” is strikingly similar to the creature in the film. I strongly recommend that if you choose to purchase this, you spend the extra few dollars for a hardback for the pleasure you’ll get from the combination of text with illustration.

This isn’t a simple novelization. Cornelia Funke has created something special here, making del Toro’s darkly magical film and narrative accessible to young people.  Highly recommended, especially for del Toro and Funke fans, for ages 12+.

 

Contains: violence, blood, murder, brief scenes of torture, implied torture, death in childbirth, implied cannibalism

Teen Read Week Giveaway Winners!

I had no entries in the giveaway for Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston.  You still have a chance to win– just leave a comment!

 

The winners for the other three giveaways:

Extremities: Tales of Death, Murder, and Revenge  by David Lubar goes to MusicGurl8192

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs goes to Darith

Reckless and Fearless (books 1 and 2 in the Mirrorworld series) go to Cordelia

 

Email me at monsterlibrarian@monsterlibrarian.com with your address and I’ll get those in the mail to you as soon as I can! Thanks!

 

 

 

Teen Read Week Giveaway #4: Reckless and Fearless by Cornelia Funke

And it’s time for another Teen Read Week giveaway! This time we have the first two volumes in Cornelia Funke’s Mirrorworld series, Reckless (in paperback) and Fearless (in hardcover), both reviewed here. While Funke is widely known for her children’s books (and especially for Inkheart)he Mirrorworld books are dark fantasy and meant for older teens.  Jacob Reckless is able to travel back and forth between our world and an alternate, highly detailed fantasy world through a mirror he discovers in his father’s study. There is an incredible app based on these two books as well, also highly detailed and with truly amazing additional content written specifically for it (unfortunately, there’s no Android version). That, I can’t give away. But if you love fantasy or Dungeons and Dragons, you can easily get lost in Funke’s Mirrorworld. There’s a free preview of Reckless for Kindle, if you want to try it out and see if it’s for you. Leave a comment telling me what you’re going to be for Halloween this year and these could be yours!