Helen Fayle

Author at The Book of Taliesin http://www.sff.net/people/hsfayle/.

Dark Labyrinth (Labyrinth)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 11th October 2004 (2)
Tags: Novel
(328K)

Yes, this is a Labyrinth story. I didn't know there was a thriving Labyrinth fandom out there, with awards and stuff, but this one was apparently a big winner in a number of categories in 1999. And it deserved it. Jareth has been ousted from his own Labyrinth, and needs help in overcoming the usurper. And who does he turn to but.. Sarah.

This captures the characters nicely, with an enigmatic Jareth and a brave Sarah (and some good original characters too). The Labyrinth is given a wider context, and other players in the drama. One warning, this should be rated M (but I tended to skip over those bits).

One thing that did tend to wear thin after a while was their repeated saying "this is too easy" -- that only rachets up the tension once or twice, and one has the expectation that the author is then going to produce something which isn't too easy, but instead one got the impression that the author hadn't been able to think of something hard.

Despite that, though, the denoument was satisfactory, with action and bravery and cleverness, so this is all to the good.

(Also at http://www.marysia.com/labyrinth/labauth.asp?letter=H)