Jim Henson's Return to labyrinth: Regreso al laberinto, Volumen 4

Return to Labyrinth #4

by Jake T. Forbes, Chris Lie

story Jake T. Forbes art Chris Lie cover Kouyu Shurei AUGUST 4 192 PAGES/ B&W $12.99 The Goblin King has kept a watchful eye on Toby: his minions secretly protecting the child... Legions of goblins work behind the scenes to ensure that Toby has whatever his heart desires, preparing him for the day when he will return to the Labyrinth and take his rightful place beside Jareth as the heir to the Goblin Kingdom... That day has come... But no one has told Toby. The final volume of the Return to Labyrinth saga! Everything that Toby has worked for is in peril. Will he be able to save the labyrinth and his kingdom?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Young Adult, Comics Manga, Graphic Novels Comics

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

I make digital games & comics, but my heart belongs to good old-fashioned analog books.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had the first 3 volumes of this manga series by Tokyo Pop on my library shelf for several years. I never could find a copy of Vol 4 at a reasonable price. Because this year I am challenging myself to read more books from my shelves, I decided to try one more time to find the final book. And, I did! I found a copy at a normal price (not $35 and up like on ebay). I expected to receive a mostly dead , damaged used copy, but that was fine with me. At least I would be able to read it! I was pleasantly surprised today when the book arrived. It's brand new & beautiful!!! I was SO excited to finally get to read the finale of this series! I've gone years now not knowing how the tale ends!

Toby has been named the new Goblin King, but he's completely unsure of himself. Jareth is trying to gain control over Sarah through a new character named Moppet, who unbeknownst to her, is key to Jareth's plans. And then there is Queen Mizumi who wants control over the Labyrinth. The clock is ticking. Jareth has to win a bet with the queen or lose his kingdom.....and time is running out.

I loved this book! As far as I am concerned, it ended perfectly. The art is wonderful. I like the combination of anime style characters and fantasy characters from the movie. This series is American style manga reading from left to right, not right to left as in the Japanese style. I don't mind the American style. I love Labyrinth, so I don't care if it reads one way or the other. I just want to enjoy the story! The cover is gorgeous. And, I finally have the entire series! Yay!

Now I will have all 4 books on my keeper shelf! :) Finally!!

[Marva Whitaker · Rating 1 out of 5]

What? I get all the way through Toby's coming-of-age, I'm-worth-something-even-if-my-mother-doesn't-love-me stuff, just to see Sarah and Jareth NOT hookup? Wow. ...Wow.

[Goblin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty lame and smooshed to contain it within 4 volumes. Over all it felt rushed, which made it silly. Which in turn left me quite disappointed. The first one was horrible, second and third volumes showed promise and were even good and entertaining. This last one just blah. Don't start a job if you cannot finish it right! Now the whole series is ruined, and I am left with a sad bitter taste. *sigh*

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't get much by the way of reviews if I split all of these up, plus there's more to comment on when targeted as a whole series instead of individual books so a combined review it is.

I read the first volume of this Labyrinth sequel while I was on vacation and pretty much as soon as I was done, I had to order the rest because I needed to see where these writers took the story and the world and I have to say, as a hardcore Labyrinth fan, I wasn't disappointed.

First a comment on the artwork. The covers are gorgeous. I don't think there's much denying that. The artwork within the pages itself, the one that tells the story, isn't as beautiful (I just don't think there was the room and I think it would have rocketed the cost of the book itself) but it really portrayed the world without being too angular anime-looking. The only characters that looked even remotely close to that angular look that kind of freaks me out was Toby, Jareth and that's pretty much it. The rest of the humans had some slight angles but nothing serious and the rest of the creatures, the goblins and faeries and whatnot, looked like they did in the movie which was all sorts of awesome. I liked how the artist didn't stray from that look too far.


As far as the story goes, considering the interest Jareth took in Toby and Sarah in the movie, I felt that it was an almost natural progression to go where it ultimately went. I could have lived without the Ice Queen spurned by the Goblin King but what fantasy story would be anything without some good romantic conflict? Actually, it wasn't all that great. It was okay and it served its purpose in the plot but really, I could have lived without it. I think the Queen consigned a little too easily at the end there, relinquishing her hold that she held so steadfastly to for so long. Maybe when she realized that she'll never have him she felt why bother anymore. Hey, at least she realized it. It's more than what a lot of chicks do in that situation.

I loved the tie-in between Moppet and Sarah. I don't want to spoil it because I was pretty shocked to find out just what Jareth did (I'll give you a hint, it's along the lines of Spike's Buffy-bot, but not quite) but it suits his persona and the world as a whole. Yeah, as the Goblin King who totally doesn't like getting pwned by a 15 year old girl, I could see him holding a grudge and taking it out on her like he did. I wish Sarah was a stronger character within the series, though. I kind of get why she wasn't up until the end, but the correlation between the why there and her personality originally, they don't match up. She was such a strong character that barely even considered taking the King's offerings in the movie (she barely paused a second when he offered her his balls . . . er . . .). But in the story, she damn near concedes. I found that out of character for her even outside of her character transformation.

As I said above, I could have lived without the Queen being there, especially her two daughters, although I liked what they ended up being. And associated to that, how they were their own individuals despite the circumstances (read the books, you'll know what I'm talking about, I'm trying not to spoil). The chubby one was just obnoxious and I was kind of glad when she was taken out of the picture. The emo one, I kind of like the 180 she did but ultimately, I didn't feel her being there all that important to the story as a whole except functioning more as a guide. And there are plenty of other creatures in the Labyrinth that could have done that. I did like how the story branched out beyond the Labyrinth and created other kingdoms but I think it could have been melded together differently.


At the end of the day, Toby's story was the one I kept pushing to the side because I wanted to know more about Sarah and Moppet. All of the teasers that centered around them were just too juicy to resist. I mean, it's not that I didn't like Toby's tale, but it's a pretty standard one. A hint of Chosen One Syndrome with a bit of coming of age mixed in. His surroundings were kind of cool but other than that, I wasn't too interested. Let's face it: I wanted more Jareth and Sarah. So I kept reading for that.

While I think I would have liked to have seen actual novelizations over manga, I still liked the visuals and I was able to follow along with the story just fine. These books are a definite keeper if you're a Labyrinth fan. And you'd better hurry up. Pretty soon they'll be nothing but a dream (or a costly keepsake) soon enough. No, really. BN doesn't list them at all and Borders only has the last two in the series. So snag them while they're cheap. You'll be kicking yourself if you wait and end up paying $200 a pop like the movie novelization is.

[Keith Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the movie that this series is based on, but the plot of this follow up/spin-off just didn't cut the mustard. This movie will remain one of my favorites, mainly due to the serene lack of Computer Graphics, but this series is only good for those people who are REALLY into the movie. The love of the movie is what kept me from putting the book down in frustration, simply because the plot started to unravel and then it was as if the author just decided to stop, like he'd had enough or got bored. I felt this kind of series deserved a bit more attention to detail and maybe a longer plot. I saw it becoming an epic (maybe 12 volume) series, but then it went flat, fast.

Please don't misunderstand me though. I will still recommend this to die hard fans of The Labyrinth, but not to general readers who kinda-sorta liked the movie. Kinda-sortas should just go watch the movie again, and learn to love it more, THEN come and read this series.

[Jamie R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very hard to rate this series.

The first volume wasn't great, but the story got more absorbing as it progressed through further volumes, and it felt like being taken on a fun ride. But, it didn't wrap up well in the end -- there were some loose threads, the end was forced, and throughout all the volumes the whole thing was so busy that it was a bit hard to tell what was going on.

Bits:

-It was interesting how the creator mixed Labyrinth with Japanese-style characters.

-I could have done without the overly large breasts on the female characters (especially the fairy).

-I also liked that there are no cut and dry villains.

-I didn't like the use of a fat woman as a ridiculous character who eats everything and uses her weight to attack.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in the last volume of this manga series. I had gotten quite involved in the plot and characters introduced in this sequel to my favorite childhood movie. But the ended felt rushed and forced. I felt like the characters had been taken to quite a complex place but the ending brushed much of that aside. I'm glad there is a bit of openness to the ending, though. Overall, I would definitely recommend this series to any Labyrinth fan, despite my disappointment in the ending. It's a good sequel and advances the world of the movie quite a bit. Plus, it's nice to have Jareth/Sarah be canon, at least a bit.

[Erin Cataldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sad this series had to end after four volumes, I want more! I need to investigate if there is fan fiction for this. If so I obviously have to read it! I love this world and Jake Forbes take on it wasn't bad. It was neat to see Toby and Sarah all grown up and to revisit characters that I had grown up loving as a child. This is probably a series that I will buy and re-read every few years. I didn't love how Jareth was portrayed but I loved being back in that world. All the feels!!!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume IV (the final volume) in Return to Labyrinth graphic novels.

4 stars for the story and characters, and 3 stars (my opinion) of how it ended. It certainly did not end how I wanted it to- with Jareth and Sarah together. *sigh* I guess some romantic HEA’s just have to exist in your own imagination.

Hana, Stank, and Moulin team up to find Moppet (who is trapped in a dream world after she ate a magic apple that Jareth had told Spittledrum to give her if she started to remember anything) and keep her safe. Esker is perusing Moppet to kill her on the Queen of Cups, Mizumi’s command.

Mizumi’s put Toby in an oubliette. Toby begs to be released after he thinks he has started to go crazy (and it had only been 3 hours). Toby is taken to see Mizumi. She kisses him, which changes Toby, Mizumi basically gives Toby her word (that was originally to Jareth) that she wouldn’t harm the Labyrinth, that she would do anything to protect and preserve it. Now that is not ingrained in Toby. Mizumi tells Toby a story of how the love between Jareth and her died. Mizumi, after years of being with Jareth, asks for his heart. He doesn’t want to give it to her. He said he put his heart in the Labyrinth and if she finds it she can keep it, in return she gives her word to Jareth that she would never harm the Labyrinth. After weeks of searching she never finds it, and then she leaves.

Toby has realized that the Labyrinth is starting to break apart. There is a schism where Hana, snub, Moulin, and Moppet are trying to fight off Esker. Toby comes and stops the schism and “imprisons” Hana, Snub, Moulin, and Moppet in order to keep Moppet, and thus his sister, Sarah, safe. Toby needs direction, he takes out his circular pendant that the two strange lizards gave him. The pendant transforms into the two lizards, who start running and Toby chases them. They lead him to a fountain. At the fountain Toby says: “I wish you’d get out of my life.” (In reference to Jareth). Magic starts to happen and the fountain basically gets drained and absorbed into Toby. Toby returns to Mizumi where she tells that that the goblins need something to do. He says that the Labyrinth was forged out of arrogance and fear and Toby wants to tear those old walls down (since that’s not who he is) and re-build it, and he’ll need the goblins help to do that.

Sarah is walking into Jareth’s “trap.” What she sees is a puppet show of her time in the Labyrinth. The puppet show helps her to remember what happens. Jareth is quick to appear and coax Sarah to go with him, to be with him as he creates a new world just for them and to make her his Queen.

Moppet finally breaks free of her dream and is determined to find Sarah for she knows that if Sarah doesn’t have Moppet’s strength then Jareth will prevail. They receive help from some of Sarah’s old friends, Hoggle (Prince of the Land of Stench) and Ludo. Arrow signs with Jareth’s face on them magically appear so Moppet, Hana, Stank, Moulin, head and that direction. Moppet sends Hoggle Ludo back to the Labyrinth to help rescue Sir Didymus and others trapped in Mizumi’s spell and most of all to help Toby. The crew comes across a door, they get threw and they come to the next section, which demands a sacrifice. Since Moppet can’t sacrifice anything of herself, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to help Sarah, Moulin decides to sacrifice herself. Mizumi comes and doesn’t let her ablation- Moulin sacrifice herself. Moulin makes Mizumi feel regret, however Mizumi still kills Moulin, which counts as a sacrifice and Moppet is able to move forward to find Sarah, which ends up being a dead end. Mizumi helps Moppet find Sarah through her ablation bond. Mizumi thinks that if Moppet fails then Jareth will be lost forever , and if she wins then Sarah/Moppet is only mortal (and she, meaning, Mizumi, can always wait for Jareth…)

Skub and Spittledrum are together and persuade the other goblins to revolt against the Goblin King. They don’t feel like they should take orders. So, they basically lay siege (a food fight) against the Queen of Cups, in a very humorous way, with quick-setting porridge and extra quarry scones. Hoggle frees Sir Didymus. Toby tells Mizumi that she has to do something about the goblins revolting and the Labyrinth falling apart. She tells him, basically, that it’s not her probably anymore because she canceled the contract that she has with Jareth (thus releasing her hold on the King of the Goblins and the Labyrinth itself). Mizumi still admits that she will always want Jareth’s heart, but “he has won this round.” Toby asks her what he should do. Mizumi tells him that he needs to start asking a different question in order to find his own path/destiny and then she disappears. Toby throws the Labyrinth pendant on the ground and gives up being the Goblin King.

Sarah is heavily under Jareth’s influence. He and Sarah dance after she tells him she always had a crush on the Goblin King. Jareth tells Sarah that she is his and he won’t let her leave again. Moppet finally finds them. Sarah says she wants to stay with Jareth… until Moppet asks her about Toby and her friends. Sarah has Jareth show her what is happening. She sees her brother and her friends, and the Labyrinth crumbling all around them. Sarah tells Moppet and Jareth that she needs Jareth AND everyone else- her brother and her Labyrinth friends. Sarah tells him that with Moppet’s help her will is strong enough to keep the Labyrinth together. Sarah’s final wish is for Jareth to take back his Kingdom. He agrees if she will grant him his wish in return… and Sarah kisses Jareth’s forehead.

Jareth picks up the Labyrinth pendant that Toby discarded. Jareth grants Toby one last wish as well, which he whispers in Jareth’s ear. Jareth gives Hana back her wings, except Stank eats the magic at the last second and he gets the wings instead. Hana is cool with it. Sarah’s friends are all there to greet her and they assume she is going to stay and start making plans to prepare a place of her. Jareth tells Sarah: “You gave your word, [Sarah:]. I cannot maintain this world without you. It is your destiny.” Toby gives a nice inspiring speech that everyone has to follow their own destiny (or path) and no one else can make it for you, that there is no “only way.” Sarah tells Jareth that she lost her path once, but she will find it again, but it doesn’t mean that her path won’t cross with Jareth’s again. Sarah and Toby say goodbye.

In the Epilogue we find Sarah sitting at her computer writing the Labyrinth story. The last two lines read: “You have no power over me.” And then Sarah adds: “But that, of course, was only half true…”
Toby is back at school, meets a girl, probably a potential love interest, who tells him that he really sucked in the play. We see everyone safe in Labyrinth land: Jareth, Spittledrum, Skub, Stank, Hana, Sir Didymus, Hoggle, Ludo, both of Mizumi’s ablations, and of course… Moppet.

This is a very hard graphic novel for me to rate. I love this story, world, and characters. However, being a hopeless romantic myself I had always envisioned Sarah and Jareth together. Mr. Forbes leaves that possibility up to the reader to interpret the ending how they wish. At a later date do Jareth and Sarah have their HEA, Mr. Forbes doesn’t write it that way, but her certainly leave it open to the reader to imagine that happening after his story ends. In my mind Sarah and Jareth do leave happily ever after…

[Mellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boy oh boy this series really took a big ol' steaming one on the movie. Can you imagine watching it, and then deciding that Sarah and Jareth should have had a long distance relationship? Or positing Jareth as willing to come to a compromise instead of needing to be defeated by the rules of his game? And I still can't get over BDSM fairy. Just like Jim Henson used to make, right folks? If this were someone's AO3 fanfic, I'd just close the tab and be done with it... But the fact that this was licensed and published for 4 books is so disappointing.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those goblins sure are unpredictable.

I forgot I was reading Return to Labyrinth online in my haste to get into the Avatar graphic novels. I found a tab open with the fourth volume and I remembered, teehee.

[AE · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't feel like writing 4 reviews (and also don't remember the individual volumes that well anymore) so here is one for the series as a whole.

I read this when it was releasing and went from feeling like it was mediocre but being interested enough in elements of the plot, to being just bored and disappointed. I was also very into the movie already, and that certainly doesn't help.

This series feels a bit like crunchyroll putting out an original anime. A US company gets big translating and reselling Japanese content, then going on to make their own amateurish "original" content that misses a lot of the qualities that make the Japanese stuff popular. Just like crunchyroll's original anime had a lot of animation problems, a very cartoony American art style, and a story that didn't appear particularly well thought out, Return to Labyrinth has the equivalent problems as a manga.

I also think think this manga missed a lot of what made the movie so beloved as a cult classic, but we'll talk about that more as I go through the different elements.


Art

As many people have said, the covers were designed by a different artist (Kouyu Shurei) who I actually followed through her original manga Alichino. The actual art in the manga itself is very cartoony and American, and is not nearly as pretty. This is an element where I think the manga fundamentally misses some qualities that make (Japanese) manga work - the cover art should be an advertisement for what is inside, rather than treating the cover like that of a novel. The effect is that I, and many other people, were disappointed when realizing that the art inside is not only different, but also significantly less pretty.

On top of that, the artwork that IS in the manga is not that good quality and just not that detailed. While a manga doesn't have to be pretty, one thing that really worked in the film is the level of fantastical detail throughout, even if some elements were pretty and others not. The manga art is not that, which is especially noticeable because the cover art is very detailed. So the designs don't even really feel true to the original movie.

Still, I was initially willing to tolerate the artwork, because I was curious about the story. I think it really broke down for me when I realized I wasn't enjoying the story, and then didn't even have pretty art to look at as consolation.


Characters

Toby was just not that interesting as a main character. Sarah had a great setup in the movie as being your typical fantasy nerd girl who just wants to cosplay her favorite character, but also has relatable real life problems. Toby...feels like a bad copy of that.

There were also too many new characters with not enough development. - I didn't care about Moppet or the goblin friend whose name I can't remember, Jareth's alternate love interest felt kind of contrived, the two sisters were a little enjoyable but didn't get much to do. I was reminded there was also a fairy that joins Toby, but I remember feeling like this was a super edgy choice, like they just put one in because Hoggle dismisses them in the movie. This kind of goes against what I felt like was the point of that film scene, which is that pretty doesn't equal good/nice.

Sarah's status didn't really make any sense with the end of the movie, and also felt to me like a direct contradiction of the movie's attitude that fantasy/fun isn't necessarily bad and she can always come back to it, while simultaneously accepting she has other responsibilities too. Her appearance felt like they put her in just to generate hype/shock/nostalgia, but she barely did much.

Jareth was probably the least bad of the characters, but he also seemed weirdly powerless in increasingly contrived ways. He was okay, though.

And finally, the old cast is brought back for...I assume nostalgia? I felt like they didn't actually have much of a role either, and just made this already overstuffed cast even more overstuffed.


Story

The story was very muddled and needlessly complicated. We were simultaneously trying to follow like 3 different characters' arcs, plus then Jareth also gets added in. It never felt like we knew exactly what Toby's goal was, compared to the movie where Sarah's goal was always very clear.

I didn't like Moppet's story, or the big reveal about her, or her crisis about being not a real person. I didn't get the point of the queen that wanted to marry Jareth, other than to create a villain. Overall, a lot of the story elements didn't feel like they had that much to do with each other, and many of them were pretty cliche and just not interesting.

It also felt like a lot of story choices were just done to be different from the movie, or purposely to show that the writers knew better than the fans. I know a lot of fans (me included) really liked Sarah and Jareth as a couple in the movie, and wanted her to go back grown up and develop an actual relationship with him. I didn't mind that this in and of itself didn't happen, but in the movie this is made much more palatable by the framing of Jareth as exerting power over her in a controlling way, and Sarah ultimately declaring herself more powerful than him. While we regret that the romance didn't work, the ending is compelling in that a) Sarah gets to assert herself, which is empowering and enjoyable in a different way, and b) there is an openness to the ending that doesn't preclude all of us having our own ideas of what happens in the future. In the manga, they explicitly state that Jareth is interested in Sarah, but then very intentionally do not have a romance happen. Simultaneously, this isn't Sarah's story and the way her story is handled felt like the authors not wanting to commit either way. I think I would have minded the lack of a romance arc less, if there had been more to Sarah's story that made it clear why that wasn't happening, and also if it didn't feel like the authors were purposely avoiding that topic while still baiting us.


Overall, I will say the first couple volumes were...okay. There is a definite fun to going back to the Labyrinth world, but unfortunately I don't think this series does a great job of delivering the return we wanted or deserved. I think we were all anticipating Return to Oz (the old live action movie) and got Legends of Oz (the animated movie) instead.

I would only read this if you either really love Labyrinth to the point where you don't care what the content is, or you aren't actually that familiar with Labyrinth and won't be disappointed with what you get.

[Alisa Kester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geez...really? It had to end that way...again? Come on, Sarah was an idiot for not staying with Jareth the first go around, and this time she's had time to see what a sad mess her life in the real world is, so yeah. Disappointed. Who would *really* choose to stay here in the 'real world' if they had a choice between here and a world where they could have everything? Guess I shouldn't say that, since it's basically the choice people *are* given, and far too many of them choose this world over the world they could have. So glad I know the truth, and for me, this 'real world' is only a place I'm visiting.

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/J...

[Julie Akeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started this last night and finished it this morning and forgot I didn't even put it in on Goodreads. Very well done graphic series and would make an excellent movie but perhaps with voices to an animae since the timeline has the actors at a younger stage than currently present. The artistry is lovely and I love the storyline, the puns, the cool way it refers to the classic plus a few added surprises that tips the hat to Jim Henson which I appreciate. It is a very cool series.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book #: 44
Title: Return to Labyrinth Vol 4
Author: Jake Forbes
Popsugar Category: Basic: A book you think should be turned into a movie
A-Z Title: R for Return
A-Z Author: F for Forbes
Format: Graphic Novel, Second hand book sale
Rating: ***** five out of five stars

It's twenty years later. Toby, the babe with the power, is now the young man with the power. Jareth wants Toby to be his successor as the King of Labyrinth, leaving him free to marry Sarah. But his ex-fiancee, Mizumi, wants to rule Labyrinth herself... and she'll kill anyone who gets in her way.

Dear Ghods! If there was EVER a book that should be turned into a movie, this is it! It has everyone from the original movie; The Worm, Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus and his faithful steed, the Fireys, the goblins and their steampunk weapons of war. All the magic crystal globes, the mazes, the panoramic views (Seriously! The artwork is incredible!) My only complaint is that it's a four volume set and I only found the fourth volume at the second hand sale. How did I not know this existed?!?! You better believe I'm going hunting for the first three volumes!

[Andrés · Rating 5 out of 5]

Al fin terminé esta saga de cómics y valió totalmente la pena. Al principio empecé a leerlo por la nostalgia de ver a los personajes de la película Labyrinth, un trabajo de un genio como fue Jim Henson y que siento no ha sido suficientemente reconocido. Y en vez de eso, me encontré con una historia que brilló por si sola.
La historia de Toby y Sarah llegó a su fin, pero las enseñanzas dejadas en el cómics quedaron dentro de mí. La historia toca temas como la importancia de los sueños, de la fantasía y del destino, pero también de la voluntad requerida para buscarlos. Es como una expansión a todo lo que quiso transmitir Jim Henson con la película original.
Los personajes lograron evolucionar, especialmente Toby, Sarah y Moppet. El autor creo personajes tremendamente adorables, a la vez que tan raros, como son Skub o Moulin, que se ganaron nuestros corazones totalmente. Y aunque el final (centrándose en los villanos) no fue tan satisfactorio como esperaba, me gustó esa vuelta al "felices para siempre".
El final fue lo suficientemente satisfactorio para que lo recuerde con de buena manera y con cariño. Estoy feliz de haberme leído esta serie de cómics este año fue de lo mejor del año.

[Colin Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic.

Four books that I have waited for a long time to finish. Fantasy isn't my favourite genre but I was always entertained by Labyrinth, 1986 after watching it in the cinema all those years ago. Return to Labyrinth took me right back to that place and I think we all need to dream of other worlds once in a while but for now, time to head back into reality. 10/10

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Skimmed most of this one, too. I was just curious enough to want to know the end. I think for all these 4 books, I just didn't care for the plot line. Also, these books were the first manga I've read, and I just don't care for that format. I'd rather have a novel to delve into.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see why many people were disappointed in the end. I felt like the story got too busy and was going too many places. I think the author should have just focused on two threads and went back and forth between them.

[Valleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bittersweet ending to a beloved piece of my childhood, this book was the best of the 4 Return to Labyrinth books. Remaining always there, should we need them, these fantasy characters breathe new life into the human relationship with books and the stories we take to heart.

[Patrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was really good. I wasn't sure what I expected when I started. but it really tied up the story well. Despite a precarious beginning, it really came together. I enjoyed it and am interested in reading the Dark Crystal prequel now.

[Sparrow]

Not gonna give it a star rating because I honestly don't know what I'd rate it. The characters felt really misrepresented and like they were being pulled to do things they didn't want for the sake of plot

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, a disappointing series. It could have been worse, but it was unnecessary to make anyway, and doesn't really fill the nostalgia void people would look for in these books. Skip it.

[Nuemiel Mangas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una historia bastante decepcionante :(
Me quedo con el recuerdo de la película

[KT H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Series culminated in a jumbled mess.

[🌟Star🌟 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story and the cover art of the volumes are beautiful but the art of the comic itself was pretty bland. It definitely could have been better.

[Kerry-Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad that it ended but the whole series was very good! Makes me want to go back to the labyrinth!

[Searska GreyRaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished the series. Loved it. ^_^

[Gary Bake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would recommend. As awesome as he movie.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid conclusion, with the right amount of loose ends vs. settled plots.