Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Das Labyrinth des Fauns by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke

22 reviews

lillyskyemily's review

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

jollybaboon's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Torture

Moderate: 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

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

alex_wordweaver's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Two of my favorite creators joining together to create this novelization of the movie is just--*chef kiss* Guillermo del Toro's world with Cornelia Funke's writing--and the artwork! Just...oh my god. The only nitpick I have is that Funke wrote that the bottle broke during That Scene, where del Toro specifically mentions in interviews (and it's seen in the movie itself) that the bottle didn't break. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Vomit

thomastopo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, and War

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

xiggy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War

Minor: Drug use, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Alcohol