Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Das Labyrinth des Fauns by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke

27 reviews

lillyskyemily's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Way more gruesome and tragic than I expected it to be. Very heavy topics, maybe not the ideal bedtime read. Still a beautifully written story with interesting themes explored in front of a sobering historical context.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty

violarosa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Awesome book, a bit gruesome at times and a bit too graphic for me personally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Murder, and War

uselesspirateraven's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

tealattes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

I haven’t watched the movie so I cannot compare it to del Toro’s original work. Assuming not much was changed in the written version, I think del Toro’s story of Pan’s Labyrinth is uniquely dark and captivating, balancing fairytale elements while studying the many facets of human nature (hope, motivation, cruelty, desperation, will, how one is shaped by their upbringing, etc). Cornelia Funke was successful in relaying this story, especially in capturing the mindsets of the three main characters Ofelia, Vidal and Mercedes, a dark mood, and both realistically vivid and fantastical imagery. However I didn’t enjoy her writing style and it felt awkward; only until I was well into it was I able to ignore it.

The story is about a girl named Ofelia who moves to a mill with her widowed but newly married mother. Ofelia is still grieving over the loss of her father. All her life she has found solace in fairytales, so she is not surprised when she finds her own. A fairy  leads her to a labyrinth where a Faun tells her she is a lost princess, and gives her three tasks which must be completed if she is to return to the underground kingdom. While Ofelia is completing these tasks, her stepfather Vidal is running a terrorizing operation in the forest. Ofelia’s stepfather is Ernesto Vidal, the capitán of a military group sent to the forest to weed out and kill resistance members to Franco’s fascist government regime. This historical element runs in the background and is not a central focus but provides an interesting setting for Ofelia’s fairytale and the birthplace for people like Vidal, whose actions supply most of the dark content of this novel as he is nothing shy of a sadistic villain. 

What I enjoyed most were the woven in tales that provided lore to the world and linked all the magical elements that Ofelia was encountering. It was definitely easy to read despite the dark themes, and it felt realistic despite the magic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, and War

Minor: Cursing

krossi's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

thepinkladylazarus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kaziaroo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I'm going to put this one down as "not for me". The fairytale style of writing grated on and frustrated me, as I constantly wanted more detail and depth but instead the narrative just glossed over descriptions and interspersed them with pretty platitudes. It felt like the author's only input in adapting the film for the page was to explain all the metaphors and leave nothing to the reader to deduce by themselves – for example: "The music Vidal listened to was playful and strangely different from the razor and the boots. It gave away that cruelty and death were a dance for him" (p. 56). It was as if the author thought they were writing for a child and needed to explain everything, but at the same time the book showed scenes of torture and death that are definitely not suitable for children.

The adult characters were well drawn but mostly one-dimensional. Oddly, the realistic scenes with Vidal and Carmen were much more impactful than the fantastical scenes with the Faun and the Pale Man. I've only seen clips of the film it's inspired by but I get the impression that the fantasy scenes that would have been chilling or even scary in the film were almost boring in the book. 

I went in not knowing much about either the book or film and wasn't expecting so much direct portrayal of real-life war and fascism; judging from the cover (which has an image of Ofelia serenely hugging the Faun), I was expecting the fantasy to be more important to the main story rather than a series of possibly-imagined side quests that distract Ofelia from the awful events of her wartime life. I almost feel like the book shouldn't really be shelved in the fantasy section for that reason.

Overall, I was disappointed by this and would have DNFed if it had been any longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, and War

Minor: Rape and Alcohol

jenny_d's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

aneanara's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is one of my favorite movies so I was excited to see it in book form. Love the cover! It's dark and beautiful just like the film. This is a great companion novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gore and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Abortion