Pan's Labyrinth
The Labyrinth of the Faun
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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- £8.49
Publisher Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
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 ...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this dark fantasy, Funke (the Inkheart trilogy) revisits Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro's acclaimed 2006 film in which a girl undergoes a series of fairy tale inspired tasks set against the backdrop of 1944 Spain. Ofelia, 13, must adjust to her new surroundings after she and her pregnant mother move to the north of Spain to live with her new stepfather, the evil Capitan Vidal, who is obsessed with hunting down local resistance fighters. Then, the mysterious Faun visits Ofelia and informs her that she is the long-missing daughter of the Underworld's king. In order to return home, she must prove her worth by completing three tasks. The film's storyline interwove Ofelia's challenges in a mythical labyrinth with scenes in the real world, and Funke's expansion reveals further backstory through a series of fairy tale vignettes touching upon relevant people, items, and themes, including the enigmatic Faun who sets everything in motion and Capitan Vidal's prized razor. Fans of the film will enjoy this in-depth exploration and reimagining of the source material, while newcomers will have no trouble getting into the story, though its dark themes and occasional gruesome scenes aren't for the fainthearted. Ages 14 up.
