Superbly atmospheric
5 stars
I'm not a great fan of film versions of books so I wasn't sure how I would get on with a book version of a film. However I am such a fan of del Toro's work that, when I spotted Pan's Labyrinth on NetGalley, I knew I had to give this a try. I'm so glad I did because I absolutely loved losing myself in this story. The novelisation does, obviously, follow the film's storyline, but reading it never felt as though Funke was just recreating the film in prose. Instead this is a wonderfully dark adult fairytale creation in its own right. The melding of callous wartime violence with fantasy themes works brilliantly well. The most evil actions here are certainly carried out by humans although I don't think anyone can be said to be completely evil or completely good. I loved the emotional depth achieved which is unusual …
I'm not a great fan of film versions of books so I wasn't sure how I would get on with a book version of a film. However I am such a fan of del Toro's work that, when I spotted Pan's Labyrinth on NetGalley, I knew I had to give this a try. I'm so glad I did because I absolutely loved losing myself in this story. The novelisation does, obviously, follow the film's storyline, but reading it never felt as though Funke was just recreating the film in prose. Instead this is a wonderfully dark adult fairytale creation in its own right. The melding of callous wartime violence with fantasy themes works brilliantly well. The most evil actions here are certainly carried out by humans although I don't think anyone can be said to be completely evil or completely good. I loved the emotional depth achieved which is unusual for a fairytale-style narrative, and the setting portrayals are superbly atmospheric. I don't know if I could say that I now prefer the book to the film, but Pan's Labyrinth will certainly be a contender for my Book of the Month!
