Pan’s Labyrinth by Cornelia Funke and Guillermo del Toro || Review

Title: Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
Author(s): Cornelia Funke & Guillermo del Toro
No. of pages: 260
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publication date: July 2nd 2019
Date read: August 7th
5/5 ★

It’s the year 1944 and Europe is still being invaded by the Nazi’s. Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in Spain, where captain Vidal is sent to a remote forest with his troop of soldiers. With him are his pregnant wife Carmen and her daughter from her previous marriage Ofelia. Ofelia isn’t happy with Vidal, a sadistic man, as her stepdad and tries to escape the real world, by reading about other worlds in her fairy tale books. Soon her own life seems to be part of a fairy tale, when she finds out about Pan’s Labyrinth and the history of the mill where they are staying.

When I got asked if I wanted a (Dutch) review copy of Pan’s Labyrinth, I immediately got excited! The Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke was my top favourite read as a kid, so I was curious about her latest work. I have to admit that I’ve never seen the movie of Pan’s Labyrinth before, so the story was still one big surprise to me. I loved it! It was mysterious, it dealt with important topics like courage, true friendship, love and family, and I just couldn’t put it down once I started reading it!

The book is for 15+ young adult readers and I totally agreed with that. There were definitely some parts that made even my skin crawl, and I’m an avid horror and thriller reader of 24 years old.

This book is a new favourite of mine and I can’t wait to watch the movie!

I was sent a review copy of this book by the Dutch publisher, Querido kinderboeken, in exchange for a post. All opinions are my own!