This is one super good, dark fantasy/fairy-tale.

Set in 1944 at the end of the Spanish Civil War, with Franco's troops continuing their brutal repression of anyone and anything that stood in their way.   It gets rather violent, brutal and nasty, and caught in amongst all of this is our protagonist, Ofelia, a young girl who has grown up with the horrors of war all around her.

This is not a book for children, or for the faint of heart looking for a nice fantasy/fairy-tale read, but it's certainly worth a read if you can handle a fair bit of brutality. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on audiobook from my library.

Thoughts: I wasn't a huge fan of this and struggled to finish it. I listened to this on audiobook which was part of my issue; it was hard to tell when we were leaving the main story and jumping into a side fairy tale. It came off as very wandering and a bit hard to follow.

The story jumps between the story of Ophelia, a sad young girl whose father has died and whose mother has decided to marry an evil commander, and other random fairy tales. Ophelia's mother is pregnant with the commander's child. Ophelia gets lured into performing some crazy tasks to prove to a fawn that she is a lost princess. In between these tasks we follow the day to day drudgery of Ophelia's existence and also hear fairy tale like stories of the history and past of the world (both imaginary and real).

This was okay. I liked the concept. This was written after the Pan's Labyrinth movie was released and does a good job of filling in some of the background that was missing in the movie. I really enjoyed the fairy tale like feel to portions of the story. Unfortunately, I had a hard time following the story at times. We jump from Ophelia's story, to some tale from the past, to the rebel soldiers, to various people around Ophelia and it was a bit erratic. I think listening to this on audiobook contributed to my confusion because the transitions weren't very clear.

The writing was okay. I didn't really enjoy the characters all that much, you just bounce around too much to engage with them. The story is dreary and dark and depressing. Description is lacking throughout, so it's hard to picture places and settings. This is one I probably could have skipped.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay but not great. The story felt fractured and it was hard to follow as it jumped between Ophelia, past tales, and other characters. It was fairly depressing and just not that interesting. I would have preferred to be listening to something else. This is a book I was really looking forward to so I pushed through but it wasn't really my thing and I would recommend skipping it. ( )

A novelization... normally, I would shy away from a book like this, but somehow I didn't realize that's what it was until I had started reading it, and by then I was enjoying it so much, I didn't care! I love the film, and this book was very true to the plot of the movie, while also adding backstory that wasn't in the movie, but that adds to the richness of the story itself. This is the perfect kind of story for me: whimsical, fairy tale-like, but with just enough horror to remind you that it's not a children's story. ( )

Novelizations of movies are never as good as the movie itself, and Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun is no exception. While the essence of the movie is there, the artistry is not. ( )

I try to express only my most honest opinion in a spoiler free way. If you feel anything in my review is a spoiler and is not already hidden in spoiler brackets please let me know. Thank you.
Ofelia and her mother is moving to be with her new step father. A horrible man who only married her mother so that she would give him a son. When Ofelia is lead to Faun by a fairy he tells her that she is a long lost princess and she has to pass 3 trials to come home. I would just like to note that there is a second plot to this story with a war and rebels but I didn't catch where and the book did not interest me enough to take the time to go back and find out.
2.5 stars. I just can't give it a higher rating than that. Honestly I only finished it because I forced myself to. It did get interesting near the end there. However I found this book dull for the majority of it. The ending was just bad and confusing. As I understand it, the movie came first and then the book. But I have never watched the movie so this is all about how I feel about the book. Also this book is marked as young adult, but I feel this is more a middle grade book but with adult violence. When I picked it up I thought it showed so much promise, but I am disappointed. It was one of those books that you are glad ended so you don't have to read it anymore. I'd also like to point out the war stuff was really not in my interest range.
How I choose my rating:
1* Did not finish, or hated it but forced myself to finish.
2** Didn't really like it. Didn't hate it but not sure why I finished it other then for some closure.
3*** I liked it. I had some issues with it, but as a whole it was good. I probably won't reread again ever, but there is a chance I might finish the series. (If part of one) But if not it's not a huge loss.
4**** I really liked this book. Maybe not a work of genius, but highly entertaining. I might reread this again, and I will finish the series. (If part of one) I would recommend to those I know hold interest in this books content.
5***** I loved this book. I found little to no issues with it at all. I will definitely be rereading this and probably more than once. I will finish the series and reread it multiple times. (If part of one) I will recommend this book to EVERYONE!!!! ( )