Customer Reviews

Labyrinth

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you liked the movie, then you'll love this book. I bought a mint condition copy for about seventy dollars last year, and I couldn't be happier with it.

Like the movie, the book tells of a young girl draw into a fantasy world by her own overactive imagination in order to save her little brother, who has been stolen by the goblin king, who says he is only seeking favor in her eyes, and seems to have fallen in love with her.

The book follows the storyline of the movie exactly, but offers more insight into the characters thoughts and actions. I can remember in particular that the ballroom scene was quite staggeringly more descriptive. A wonderful book, worth the price; espescially if you can find one in good condition.

There is no way I can write a review good enought for this novel. It is, hands WAY down, the best fantasy ever written. It is the biggest shame that it should be out of print, and that the only place to find it anymore is on the internet. There is no way that you can not fall in love with every single character, especially Jareth, the seductive, and evil, yet good Goblin King. It is the essence of magic, and everyone should read it. It is a definite yes for those who saw the movie and loved it, because it holds true to the script. I'm begging the publishers, on my hands and knees, no, lower, to please please please put this book back into print. No one should miss it!

gosh, i was six when i first saw the movie! now that i'm eighteen makes no difference how i love this enchanting story.

smith brings the story up to another level, as he dwelves deeper into sarah's feelings... and also jareth's. the chemistry between the two is undeniable. i would like to think that in another situation both of them would be together, albeit the fact that she's mortal and he a goblin prince.

smith's writing is of course, very detailed and deep, and he tries to explain all the different meanings and reads between the lines of the movie. he has us vying for the king, and rooting for the good guys, too. he makes us want jareth to have a happy ending, and perhaps one with sarah. he makes us want to see the movie.

well, maybe the movie IS old, and the special effects kind of horrid by today's standards, but truth be, enchantments are timeless.

This is a wonderful tale of love, infatuation, and family laced with adventure, friendship, hardship, and triumph. I first read this book in Junior High and later saw the movie. The book in my opinion was much better than the movie, but I found both exceptional.

Sarah made a wish she should have never made, and found out the had way that some wishes do come true. Her baby brother Toby is now missing and she is struggling to find him. She embarkes of a journey where she meets and makes friends who accompany her on her journeys. Just when she thinks she might just win the game, Jereth, King of the Goblins and Toby's captor, throws another wrench into the works.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone lucky enough to be able to find a copy. Not only does it stay true to the movie's plot, but the author's poetic prose and insights adds significantly to the depth and understanding. (The description of the ballroom scene is wonderful and adds a whole other level to the movie) This is excellent young adult fiction...

Yes, the book is out of print. Yes, It's a great novelization of the movie.
But certainly not worth $600.00.

I just replaced my copy I lost YEARS ago. I owned it back in the 1980's and I thought paying $45.00 back in October was a lot. It looks like I bought the last reasonably priced copy of a rather small papaerback novel. The price has skyrocketed.

No matter how much I adore this book and movie, price gougers SUCK.

My daughter has been waiting to read this book for months, maybe even a couple of years since she first found it on the web. When she finally got it, she read it and said that it's much better than the movie. She said it has insights to what some characters are even thinking, where the movie did not. I used to love to watch the movie and introduced it to her and it has become her all time favorite. She is always collecting whatever she can that has anything to do with the movie. This book is a must have for Labyrinth addicts!

You might think I'm a spoil sport giving this only three stars instead of 5 like everyone else here. It seems that there's some unwritten rule going about that it you grew up loving this movie you must, must, MUST give it 5 stars or else somehow that makes you less of a fan, I guess? Well I do love this movie, so rest assured that my rating is not me picking apart the film in any way. After all one would need to love this movie deeply to sit through this book.

I'm not sure what everyone else is on when they praise this novel because the bald truth is that it is not very well written. The writing is clumsy and at times if I hadn't already known what was happening I would have found myself completely lost. Yes, that's right, the writing is so muddy and clunky that even with a pre-scripted plot it becomes so threadbare it looses the reader. Oy vay!

And yet for anyone who loves the movie and wants to see an alternate vision of the same land this becomes, if not an entertaining, then at least an interesting version. For starters the whole thing is much darker than the original it was based off of. In light of the bad writing this seems a bit exploitative to me but the Henson company must have read it before it got the green light so I won't touch on that for now. For starters Sarah is more than just a dreamy girl having trouble connecting with reality - she's a downright little sociopath in the making. Parts in the film where she seemed to be interacting genuinely with characters, once retold in the book from her pov shows her faking reactions to get the desired results. There's an entire paragraph in the first couple pages about how she frightens herself sometimes when she thinks about actually physically *hurting* Toby, a secret she knows is so wrong and so dark she hides it from her father and friends at school because she knows that they'd think her a "witch" if they found out. Later in the chapter as she says the famous lines the scene is played out as such - "She held the baby in the above in the air, a sacrificial offering". Je-sus!

And this is to say nothing of the sexual vibes that saturate Jareth's scenes in the latter half of the book. We get it spelled out quite literally in the ballroom scene where Sarah is described as being "the picture of innocence" in a room that is filled with debauchery of every kind (although only briefly described in passing - this is still a tween book after all). The scene almost ends with Jareth grabbing Sarah and holding her against him while he tells her that she must let go and "trust him". Confused and still partially drugged she agrees before breaking free just in time and finding herself in the trash heap. Her first thought upon awakening? "Shame". I kid you not - quoting the book here. She feels shame and then berates herself for how the men in the dream grabbed at her, saying that if she had been more innocent surely they wouldn't have done those things to her.

Sound familiar anyone?

Oh well, it might not have been what I was expecting but if nothing else I can honestly say that my curiosity was satisfied and it *does* make for an interesting reinterpretation. I just can't help longing for a better writer to have been put on the job, maybe that way the darker edge to it wouldn't have seemed so exploitative.

I recently purchased a great quality one for a reasonable price and I was ecstatic! It was an amazing book. Sadly I lost it today because our house burned down :(. So now Im on a quest to find it, along with other posessions I used to own. I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan for sure! If you have a great copy for a reasonable cost let me know cuz mine burnt :(.

Basically it is a mix between the original 2 scripts for the movie, making it pretty much twice as awesome!

Those random small things that left you hanging in the movie such as where does the Left Knocker lead?

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!