Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Das Labyrinth des Fauns by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke

16 reviews

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

---

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Cursing

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

---

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.

---

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

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

---

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

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.

---

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

ocean_in_a_teardrop's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Child abuse

readingduckling's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I don't think, that I would have bought this book under normal circumstances, because I'm not big on horror/thriller story's. But I found this book, a bit beat up for one euro, and because I recognised the Author and liked the artwork, I decided to buy it anyway. And I am so glad, that I bought it, because the book was amazing. 
I know the book is connected to the movie pan's Labyrinth but I can't compare it to one another, because I can't watch horror movies. But the book is also amazing as a standalone. 
It's the story of a young girl in Spain douring the 2. World war. She and her extremely pregnant mother move in with her mother's new husband. Who is a very sadistic person, he isnt interested in his new wife, let alone her daughter, he is just interested in the baby she is growing. His child. 
The girl, Ofelia, is learning in the beginning of the book, that she is the princess of the underworld, who went missing many many years ago. 
Now she has to complete 3 challenges to come back. 
The book is incredibly well written. And filled with literary pictures, real pictures, emotions and so much more. I was a little bit sad about how much time I needed to read this book, would have preferred to just read it in one sitting it was certainly interesting enough to do that. But the book was also in parts triggering, so I needed breaks to process it. 
But I really loved this book and the messages especially the anti fashist one. It's so important to keep in mind how bad right wing politics are. 
The book is brilliantly written all characters who are ment to be likable are very likable and the villans in the story are not. 
It's definitely a book I will some day reread.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: War

spacepandita2022's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

aquamarinecadet's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

A terrifically gruesome children's book. I would not recommend gifting this book to children who still believe in Santa, fairies or the sort, it would quite literally break their dreams into brittle little pieces and pound them into bloody ashes :) 
Which makes this book a great read for 10+ year olds who know a bit about WWII, and who used to like fairytales (or maybe still do)
I for one, liked this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, and War