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The Labyrinth
Here Monsters are hidden ...
A lyrical anti-quest through a conscious maze without center, borders, or escape--a dark pilgrim's progress through a landscape of vicious Angels, plague houses, crocodile-prophets, tragic chess-sets, and the mind of an unraveling woman, driven on by the mocking guide who seeks to destroy as much as save.
Enter the world of the Labyrinth, where Doors do not wait to be opened, but hunt you in the night. This is Zarathustra in Wonderland, a puzzle which defies solution, a twisted path through language and madness...
But where will you hide?
A lyrical anti-quest through a conscious maze without center, borders, or escape--a dark pilgrim's progress through a landscape of vicious Angels, plague houses, crocodile-prophets, tragic chess-sets, and the mind of an unraveling woman, driven on by the mocking guide who seeks to destroy as much as save.
Enter the world of the Labyrinth, where Doors do not wait to be opened, but hunt you in the night. This is Zarathustra in Wonderland, a puzzle which defies solution, a twisted path through language and madness...
But where will you hide?
184 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2004
7 people are currently reading
1615 people want to read
About the author
Catherynne M. Valente
254 books7,774 followersCatherynne M. Valente was born on Cinco de Mayo, 1979 in Seattle, WA, but grew up in in the wheatgrass paradise of Northern California. She graduated from high school at age 15, going on to UC San Diego and Edinburgh University, receiving her B.A. in Classics with an emphasis in Ancient Greek Linguistics. She then drifted away from her M.A. program and into a long residence in the concrete and camphor wilds of Japan.
She currently lives in Maine with her partner, two dogs, and three cats, having drifted back to America and the mythic frontier of the Midwest.
She currently lives in Maine with her partner, two dogs, and three cats, having drifted back to America and the mythic frontier of the Midwest.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
February 6, 2023
figurative language 5/5
poetic sensibility 5/5
atmosphere 5/5
imagery 5/5
story 2/5
characters 2/5
dialogue 2/5
plot 0/5
The author succeeds at conveying a dreamlike aura with whorls of hallucinogenic prose. Many oblique references to Buddhist themes and Alice in Wonderland. The sinuous trills of her vocab-word-studded prose poetry cast a spell. As a quirky and distant narrator navigates a metamorphic maze of orphic elegance, she observes in turn the environment and her own amorphous body amid an onslaught of outrageous creatures, some of which are sentient beasts, and others of which cannot be easily defined. She is haunted by a preponderance of doors. Unaccountable jellyfish, and snails waft through her semi-conscious, wordy ramblings. Every type of bird and flower makes an appearance.
I was pleasantly reminded of Maze of Transparencies and Trafik - two of my favorite recent reads.
Incorporating a dearth of sense and opting for a blind groping through language, the act of reading it becomes the act of wandering through a mind so rife with imagery and explosive color that it is exhilarating, infuriating, humbling, and as impossible to remember as a disordered dream.
In later works, the author reined in her propensity to soliloquize, and retained an appreciation for her power to dream while awake. In pieces, she is a brilliant author. In toto, inconsistent. Yet, I prefer this style as compared to her commercial successes. Her homages, her short stories, and her breakneck comedic space opera all founder under the weight of their flimsy plots, cartoonish characters, and logic-less avalanche of pupil-dilating theatrics. Yet I'm still enraptured, engrossed, and enthralled by the page-by-page enthusiasm and experimentation she offers among so many of her literary forebears who stuck too closely to tradition without sufficiently engaging that elusive organ known as the imagination.
poetic sensibility 5/5
atmosphere 5/5
imagery 5/5
story 2/5
characters 2/5
dialogue 2/5
plot 0/5
The author succeeds at conveying a dreamlike aura with whorls of hallucinogenic prose. Many oblique references to Buddhist themes and Alice in Wonderland. The sinuous trills of her vocab-word-studded prose poetry cast a spell. As a quirky and distant narrator navigates a metamorphic maze of orphic elegance, she observes in turn the environment and her own amorphous body amid an onslaught of outrageous creatures, some of which are sentient beasts, and others of which cannot be easily defined. She is haunted by a preponderance of doors. Unaccountable jellyfish, and snails waft through her semi-conscious, wordy ramblings. Every type of bird and flower makes an appearance.
I was pleasantly reminded of Maze of Transparencies and Trafik - two of my favorite recent reads.
Incorporating a dearth of sense and opting for a blind groping through language, the act of reading it becomes the act of wandering through a mind so rife with imagery and explosive color that it is exhilarating, infuriating, humbling, and as impossible to remember as a disordered dream.
In later works, the author reined in her propensity to soliloquize, and retained an appreciation for her power to dream while awake. In pieces, she is a brilliant author. In toto, inconsistent. Yet, I prefer this style as compared to her commercial successes. Her homages, her short stories, and her breakneck comedic space opera all founder under the weight of their flimsy plots, cartoonish characters, and logic-less avalanche of pupil-dilating theatrics. Yet I'm still enraptured, engrossed, and enthralled by the page-by-page enthusiasm and experimentation she offers among so many of her literary forebears who stuck too closely to tradition without sufficiently engaging that elusive organ known as the imagination.
May 29, 2012
'... my book is so much cheaper than LSD, and nearly twice as legal' - says the author.
Like an early Delany - The Einstein Intersection or The Jewels Of Aptor, or even like Crowley's debut novel, The Deep, this book is an enigma. There's something going on, but like Mr. Jones I don't know what it is.
No, actually, I do. It's magic. Magic with words, magic with meanings. A Zen/Buddhist parable about a woman on a quest through a maze, the meaning of the parable is that there aren't always easily reducible meanings, quests don't always have objects and doors always have keys, even when they don't.
Is that clear enough? Probably not. Anyway, this was just the right book for me to read right now and I'm glad I finally found it.
Like an early Delany - The Einstein Intersection or The Jewels Of Aptor, or even like Crowley's debut novel, The Deep, this book is an enigma. There's something going on, but like Mr. Jones I don't know what it is.
No, actually, I do. It's magic. Magic with words, magic with meanings. A Zen/Buddhist parable about a woman on a quest through a maze, the meaning of the parable is that there aren't always easily reducible meanings, quests don't always have objects and doors always have keys, even when they don't.
Is that clear enough? Probably not. Anyway, this was just the right book for me to read right now and I'm glad I finally found it.
December 22, 2011
While the language is rich and poetic, I wouldn’t recommend this particular title to just any fantasy reader. Instead, I’d recommend it to any reader who has a love of poetic language, a love of metaphor. It’s hardly a fantasy so much as it is a myth, a fairy-tale (which is a fantasy in some regards, but not traditional). The chapters are short and grouped together in Cantos (see? Big!Long!Prose!Poem!). This is something I’d recommend to lovers of myth and fairytale, philosophy and metaphor, and most important, lovers of language. You can’t help but feel a little smarter, more enlightened, after reading this.[return] [return]I definitely plan on reading more of Valente’s work, particularly her latest release. It’ll be interesting to compare her other books to this, especially the style and use of language. And I’d really love to hear her read The Labyrinth out loud. As with anything poetic, one feels as though they’re missing something while reading it silently. This book demands to be heard. [return][return]And an aside: this book also begs to be a painted narrative by someone as surreal and talented as Dave McKean. Everything from the Labyrinth itself to the chameleon colors of the narrator…I’d love to see what an artist like him could do with this book.[return][return]For a full review, which may or may not include spoilers, please click here: http://calico-reaction.livejournal.co...
February 25, 2012
This was, I think, Valente's first book. It's probably my least favourite of hers that I've read. It's very classically her work -- her motifs and preoccupations, her way of plotting, her half-poetical writing -- but it just didn't get hooks in me like Deathless or The Grass-Cutting Sword. There's amazing imagery and I actually liked the cyclical nature of the story, but...
If you tend, like me, to be most drawn by strong, well-delineated characters, and a plot which moves from A to B with some resolution, this probably won't be a book for you. I enjoyed the imagery, the well-crafted-ness, but there wasn't enough to make up for the fact that this is an Anti-Quest narrative.
If you tend, like me, to be most drawn by strong, well-delineated characters, and a plot which moves from A to B with some resolution, this probably won't be a book for you. I enjoyed the imagery, the well-crafted-ness, but there wasn't enough to make up for the fact that this is an Anti-Quest narrative.
July 16, 2012
The books of Cat Valente's that I've loved, I've REALLY loved. The Labyrinth does not fall into my "I will adore it forever" pile.
The Labyrinth struck me as a collection of run-on sentences and purple prose - quality purple prose, but purple nontheless. This is the writing of a self-indulgent wordsmith, still honing their craft and dazzling both themselves and their readers with the sheer quantity. The words could be beautiful, but lose their meaning and impact without any relief from the overwhelming ornateness. Like a medieval mosaic, all gold and precious gems, I find that much of the impressiveness of Valente's writing here is how overwhelming it is at times, like drowning in words.
Fans can say that I "don't get it." I'm fine with not getting it. If "getting it" involves slogging through what I consider immature writing to get to the point, I'll pass.
I like much of what Valente has written since this book. In Orphan's Tales and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, she balances her prose with more traditional narrative writing, creating novels that are beautiful, moving, and coherent. That combination, in my opinion, is real great writing.
The Labyrinth struck me as a collection of run-on sentences and purple prose - quality purple prose, but purple nontheless. This is the writing of a self-indulgent wordsmith, still honing their craft and dazzling both themselves and their readers with the sheer quantity. The words could be beautiful, but lose their meaning and impact without any relief from the overwhelming ornateness. Like a medieval mosaic, all gold and precious gems, I find that much of the impressiveness of Valente's writing here is how overwhelming it is at times, like drowning in words.
Fans can say that I "don't get it." I'm fine with not getting it. If "getting it" involves slogging through what I consider immature writing to get to the point, I'll pass.
I like much of what Valente has written since this book. In Orphan's Tales and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, she balances her prose with more traditional narrative writing, creating novels that are beautiful, moving, and coherent. That combination, in my opinion, is real great writing.
July 24, 2011
This is not a book for people looking for a quick easy read, or for those that are looking for a sharply defined, concrete plot. It is a book for people who can appreciate complex, beautiful language surrounding a mythological tale. The book tells us about the Seeker in the Labyrinth, who no longer seeks the Center. She has swallowed the Compass Rose which helps her direction. She has been here a long time and has learned to avoid the snapping jaws of doors and other dangers. Along her journey she meets a dark angel who nearly destroys her, a curious lobster who provides her a key, and a monkey guide with his own agenda.We follow her though her changing person and personna as she travels. I enjoyed this book and appreciated the author's gift for poetic language. For those who might want a book with equally wonderful language, but with a plot more easy to follow, I would highly recommend her book, Palimpsest.
July 13, 2009
I absolutely adored Catherynne M. Valente's In the Night Garden, so picking up The Labyrinth was a no-brained. However, it proved out to be a very different creature.
The flowery, metafora heavy writing style is there, but the story itself is more of an exercise of a literacy student. Symbolic, poetic, sometimes utterly bizarre, it went from absolutely charming to not-quite-following-you-here along the way. In both situations, however, the language itself was enough to keep the experience pleasant.
Unfortunately I had to deduct one star for the ending. For all the effort put into the story, I just found the ending too predictable, easy, and unimaginative, almost literally groaning in disappointment when I was reading it.
The flowery, metafora heavy writing style is there, but the story itself is more of an exercise of a literacy student. Symbolic, poetic, sometimes utterly bizarre, it went from absolutely charming to not-quite-following-you-here along the way. In both situations, however, the language itself was enough to keep the experience pleasant.
Unfortunately I had to deduct one star for the ending. For all the effort put into the story, I just found the ending too predictable, easy, and unimaginative, almost literally groaning in disappointment when I was reading it.
January 2, 2009
This was a very interesting book. Really, it was. It's told in the first person and is about a woman who's trapped in a Labyrinth. She's being chased by doors and we follow along as she searches for the mythical center. But it's the writing and the way the story is structured that makes this book so interesting. The writing is painfully structured, as if every word was CAREFULLY chosen. In some places the story reads more like a poem than modern-day prose. The structure, folds in on itself and doubles back... as if it were the labyrinth itself. I chose to read this book because it fits into my goal of reading more fiction than non-fiction.
December 20, 2024
Visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem amirite fellas?
December 29, 2010
I really enjoyed Catherynne Valente's book Palimpsest, as well as the short story she contributed to Troll's Eye View. So I was eager to read more of her works. I am so glad I did, I absolutely loved this book, it read more like a gothic epic poem than an actually book but was absolute enrapturing. The content is very dreamy and may not be for all readers; those readers who don't enjoy abstract stories and poetry should probably stick with something else.
This book tells the story of a girl stuck in a Labyrinth. She is a Wanderer and wanders through the Labyrinth fighting madness the whole way. She complete various tasks and meets strange creatures all in a quest to escape the Labyrinth. She is constantly trying to outrun Doors, that threaten to devour here.
This book reads like a crazy dream. At some times you get caught up the beautiful and poignant descriptions and loose the storyline for a bit, but Valente always tugs you back to the story at hand. I can't say enough how beautiful, artistic, and wonderfully abstract the language throughout this novel is; I absolutely loved it.
There are times where you can get a bit confused about what is happening, most of these times coincide with the dream-like periods of madness that the main character goes through. The first madness period had me befuddled, but after the second bit of madness I figured out what was going on and then was struck by how cleverly Valente is representing this character's insanity. The story snaps back to a more traditional form as the character meets up with and is forced to converse with various strange creatures in the Labyrinth. These portions of the story are written just as beautifully but less abstractly and take the reader through a more traditional fairy tale like plot.
I was struck by how this story reminded me both of The Jabberwocky (in the somewhat made-up words that were used throughout) and also of Alice in Wonderland (as the main character struggles through a world that doesn't make sense).
I love different things and beautifully dark stories and this book was both of those things in spades. That is not to say this story will be for everyone. If you don't like poetry or abstractness in your stories I wouldn't read this book. A lot of the story is woven of analogies and words that don't make clear-cut sense. If you are the type of person who likes absolutes and well-defined stories and characters this probably won't be your cup of tea. I can see how this story and the writing style would be just plain too strange for some folks.
Overall a beautiful, creative, and different read that I found to be exquisite. Valente is quickly turning into one of those authors that can do no wrong in my eyes. I feel like everything I read from her is strange, wonderful and absolute golden.
This book tells the story of a girl stuck in a Labyrinth. She is a Wanderer and wanders through the Labyrinth fighting madness the whole way. She complete various tasks and meets strange creatures all in a quest to escape the Labyrinth. She is constantly trying to outrun Doors, that threaten to devour here.
This book reads like a crazy dream. At some times you get caught up the beautiful and poignant descriptions and loose the storyline for a bit, but Valente always tugs you back to the story at hand. I can't say enough how beautiful, artistic, and wonderfully abstract the language throughout this novel is; I absolutely loved it.
There are times where you can get a bit confused about what is happening, most of these times coincide with the dream-like periods of madness that the main character goes through. The first madness period had me befuddled, but after the second bit of madness I figured out what was going on and then was struck by how cleverly Valente is representing this character's insanity. The story snaps back to a more traditional form as the character meets up with and is forced to converse with various strange creatures in the Labyrinth. These portions of the story are written just as beautifully but less abstractly and take the reader through a more traditional fairy tale like plot.
I was struck by how this story reminded me both of The Jabberwocky (in the somewhat made-up words that were used throughout) and also of Alice in Wonderland (as the main character struggles through a world that doesn't make sense).
I love different things and beautifully dark stories and this book was both of those things in spades. That is not to say this story will be for everyone. If you don't like poetry or abstractness in your stories I wouldn't read this book. A lot of the story is woven of analogies and words that don't make clear-cut sense. If you are the type of person who likes absolutes and well-defined stories and characters this probably won't be your cup of tea. I can see how this story and the writing style would be just plain too strange for some folks.
Overall a beautiful, creative, and different read that I found to be exquisite. Valente is quickly turning into one of those authors that can do no wrong in my eyes. I feel like everything I read from her is strange, wonderful and absolute golden.
February 6, 2012
This is a difficult read, heavy in language and word accretion, an interior monologue wrapped like a Quest through a Labyrinth at times fantastical, other times not unlike a journey through a deranged mind. It is Cat Valente's first novel, possibly her most poetic and lyrical, but also raw like an unpolished gem - full of whatever it could be, but not quite there yet. And as hard as it is to talk about the plot of a novel which doesn't have much of one, the ending left me quite cold.
I admit it, if this had been my first Valente novel I'm not sure I would've bothered with a second one, or even to the end. It is however a very interesting read as part of an author's journey, compared to her more recent writings.
I admit it, if this had been my first Valente novel I'm not sure I would've bothered with a second one, or even to the end. It is however a very interesting read as part of an author's journey, compared to her more recent writings.
Read
June 26, 2008Labyrinth is like a lace-work of words. It's definitely surreal, and there are explosions of paragraphs that describe nothing so much as madness. It a story of a quest that isn't, a journey to a center that's not there. It's slightly insane and cyclical, but it's beautifully wrought. The plot is certainly secondary to the tale-telling, and the times that the book drops out of the narrator's head and dips into dialogue serve as resting points for your sensory-overloaded brain. At times, it can be a little bit hard to slog through the metaphors and find the meaning behind it, but it's rewarding in the end.
November 30, 2009
Despite some well-turned phrases, half of the book was incoherent internal monologue. It had the effect of obscuring the story for pages at a time. This was disappointing after being wowed by Palimpsest.
September 19, 2012
CMV's first book. Probably not as impressive as her later stuff but still a fun read. You can get it for free from CMV's website.
April 2, 2018
(2.5 stars really)
This was Valente’s first novel: previously, she was a poet, which may perhaps be the reason, or at least part of the reason, why the focus of this book seems to be more on words and images than character or plot. (Further evidence: the book is split into cantos, rather than chapters.) The titular labyrinth has no beginning and no ending, and hence no real room for story or character development: instead of inner change, the main character literally changes color to match her surroundings as she passes through. Indeed, at the end we are back precisely where we were at the beginning, the last chapter repeating the first one word-for word, with only a slight addition to the never-named narrator and main character’s self-description, an addition which gives no real indication that she’s any different than she was before. The adventures she goes through, we are told, are ones that she has gone through before and will go through again: hence the other characters don’t really have much of an independent existence, being only props in the narrator’s ever-repeating story. The one hint of a real story are the memories that surface occasionally of a life before the labyrinth, but nothing ever comes of these and we never learn how the narrator arrived or if it is indeed possible to leave. Things do happen, to be sure, but since we know that the narrator will be running the labyrinth forever they can only do so much to hold our interest. Mostly what we have is the language, words thrown wantonly about with the intention of producing an almost psychedelic effect: an overflowing richness of description. Sometimes it’s enough, but mostly it’s not.
This was Valente’s first novel: previously, she was a poet, which may perhaps be the reason, or at least part of the reason, why the focus of this book seems to be more on words and images than character or plot. (Further evidence: the book is split into cantos, rather than chapters.) The titular labyrinth has no beginning and no ending, and hence no real room for story or character development: instead of inner change, the main character literally changes color to match her surroundings as she passes through. Indeed, at the end we are back precisely where we were at the beginning, the last chapter repeating the first one word-for word, with only a slight addition to the never-named narrator and main character’s self-description, an addition which gives no real indication that she’s any different than she was before. The adventures she goes through, we are told, are ones that she has gone through before and will go through again: hence the other characters don’t really have much of an independent existence, being only props in the narrator’s ever-repeating story. The one hint of a real story are the memories that surface occasionally of a life before the labyrinth, but nothing ever comes of these and we never learn how the narrator arrived or if it is indeed possible to leave. Things do happen, to be sure, but since we know that the narrator will be running the labyrinth forever they can only do so much to hold our interest. Mostly what we have is the language, words thrown wantonly about with the intention of producing an almost psychedelic effect: an overflowing richness of description. Sometimes it’s enough, but mostly it’s not.
August 23, 2025
“One feather-fanned mark in the Road drags more than the other, the thorn in my heel pulling back towards the little patch of grass, back towards those endless roses. The alexandrine tooth of a hare embedded in that hollow where skin is a papery wing over quivering bone, thorn-chaining me into stillness. Checking my movements—black queen to e4.”
Kaleidoscopic. Loudly psychedelic. Valente’s prose is a rippling vision of constant change, unstable and hazy. Look into the mirror. Remember the girl you once were. Stare until you don’t recognize what you see.
Valente is willing to abuse words well past their breaking point. The artistic exuberance would be embarrassing if it wasn’t also often quite affecting. Early on, our author establishes a habit of reusing extremely specific words– sometimes only a page or two from one another– an artefact perhaps of her need for precision in phrasing (no other word will do). As the book progresses these become poetic little callbacks, threads poked through early pages stitching them to later ones, like a dream half-recalled in the cold light of morning.
Intentional homages are paid to Dante's Inferno and Alice in Wonderland, and I could identify possible shared DNA with the Velveteen Rabbit and Journey to the West. For a story that so radically others itself from its peers, it also communicates a deep reverence and dependence upon the larger body of work it emerges from.
Well worth a read if your inner child needs to feel herself expressed.
Kaleidoscopic. Loudly psychedelic. Valente’s prose is a rippling vision of constant change, unstable and hazy. Look into the mirror. Remember the girl you once were. Stare until you don’t recognize what you see.
Valente is willing to abuse words well past their breaking point. The artistic exuberance would be embarrassing if it wasn’t also often quite affecting. Early on, our author establishes a habit of reusing extremely specific words– sometimes only a page or two from one another– an artefact perhaps of her need for precision in phrasing (no other word will do). As the book progresses these become poetic little callbacks, threads poked through early pages stitching them to later ones, like a dream half-recalled in the cold light of morning.
Intentional homages are paid to Dante's Inferno and Alice in Wonderland, and I could identify possible shared DNA with the Velveteen Rabbit and Journey to the West. For a story that so radically others itself from its peers, it also communicates a deep reverence and dependence upon the larger body of work it emerges from.
Well worth a read if your inner child needs to feel herself expressed.
October 4, 2018
The Labyrinth is a linguistic gem; I am truly in awe of the author's use of language and her descriptive powers, because her simile and metaphor combinations are an eternal well of wealth.
The story is piece of art. One of my favourites for the risks and pure command of the English language the author has, using it to its full potential and some. Sometimes the narrative is confusing, and you wonder at times if there is indeed one, but I think that is the beauty of it. You are Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Sarah in Jim Henson's Labyrinth, a child of Valente's poetic maze. The sentences swallow you whole as you traverse the various Cantos and characters, and you, like the heroine, get lost in its immensity.
There was one section where the dramatist in me could see it being used for an audition monologue. I could envision the scene and voice inflections so clearly in my mind, I almost got up to act it out. That is what is so refreshing and mind boggling about this book; it is narrative, poetry, verse, and script all rolled into one.
I can see this being a marmite type of book, as the poetic narrative is so lush that it can almost be suffocating at times. However that is exactly why I enjoyed this book: it requires your full attention as you pick your way through the language to decipher the story, mirroring our heroine as she travels through the labyrinth.
The story is piece of art. One of my favourites for the risks and pure command of the English language the author has, using it to its full potential and some. Sometimes the narrative is confusing, and you wonder at times if there is indeed one, but I think that is the beauty of it. You are Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Sarah in Jim Henson's Labyrinth, a child of Valente's poetic maze. The sentences swallow you whole as you traverse the various Cantos and characters, and you, like the heroine, get lost in its immensity.
There was one section where the dramatist in me could see it being used for an audition monologue. I could envision the scene and voice inflections so clearly in my mind, I almost got up to act it out. That is what is so refreshing and mind boggling about this book; it is narrative, poetry, verse, and script all rolled into one.
I can see this being a marmite type of book, as the poetic narrative is so lush that it can almost be suffocating at times. However that is exactly why I enjoyed this book: it requires your full attention as you pick your way through the language to decipher the story, mirroring our heroine as she travels through the labyrinth.
February 7, 2019
Oooh, what it is to read a book when the author is WRITING. Everything is wrung out here, every word and paragraph and page. Images are inside out, especially the entire very masculine idea of a labyrinth. What takes things down a notch is that it's a first book, so Valente is very much in the mode of, "Hey, look! I'm doing the serious work of WRITING, I'M A GODDAMN WRITER LOOK WHAT I CAN DO." Her later books, particularly "Palimpsest", demonstrate that confidence, but it's just not there yet. All you can do is revel in the potential and fall into this world.
May 19, 2017
I was really excited to find this book because I love "The Girl Who..." series. Alas, the first chapter was too much for me. By the second chapter I was skimming heavily. At the start of the third I was done. It's just not what I needed to read right now.
I'm taking to the library where hopefully someone will find it who will enjoy it.
I'm taking to the library where hopefully someone will find it who will enjoy it.
July 12, 2017
A highly poetical book where the allusions come think and fast. Valente's signature style is already very evident. Her later novels show a stronger attention to plot, this novel, or novella, is very lyrical and slow moving. This book doesn't need a stronger plot, it is what it is and it's beautiful, but that may be a factor for some people.
January 9, 2018
Definitely a book to let the words wash over you and not seek out specifics and a plot. Beautiful use of language, extremely vivid. Stay in the present of the book while you're reading it and don't get distracted by the Why. Done like that it's like a brain massage of beautiful and sometimes disturbing images.
January 13, 2022
Beware! This is an idea-giving book. The tangle paragraphs will cause your subconscious to come up with ideas for novels, D&D adventures and comics. You mind will wander when you want it to pay attention.
September 19, 2023
And here I thought she got more self-absorbed and more pretentious as she went on. I was wrong. She reined it in from this crackfest of a book.
Honestly, after the first two fairyland books and the two orphans tales, the rest of her oeuvre is...audience dependent.
Honestly, after the first two fairyland books and the two orphans tales, the rest of her oeuvre is...audience dependent.
July 13, 2020
Ice-floes of imagery, monsoons of metaphor, swamps of surrealism. Unfortunately, no story. Even though it's short I couldn't be bothered to finish it.
March 7, 2021
You can find a narrative thread if you squint really hard, but this is mostly a very beautifully written word salad.
November 9, 2022
It came together in the end, but it is pretty noticeably one of her beginning novels, complete with a bit overly-wordy language.
July 25, 2023
I enjoyed this but it definitely read like a debut!
October 30, 2020
I so wanted to love this. I enjoy Valente's works so much, and Labyrinth stories (particularly those based on the Greek myth) are among my favorite tropes.
But reading this was such a challenge that I can't even say I truly enjoyed it. The language is dense, often more poetry than prose, and the e-book version has a great deal of missing punctuation and typos where words are missing or similar words (like 'one' for 'once') are used instead of the intended word.
As a novella, this is already a shorter work, but it might have been better off as a short story instead.
But reading this was such a challenge that I can't even say I truly enjoyed it. The language is dense, often more poetry than prose, and the e-book version has a great deal of missing punctuation and typos where words are missing or similar words (like 'one' for 'once') are used instead of the intended word.
As a novella, this is already a shorter work, but it might have been better off as a short story instead.
November 17, 2012
Um…
*stares at The Labyrinth for a while*
Right.
I originally picked this up because one of the Q&A’s answers in the back of one of her YA Girl Who books. Valente said something along the lines of how she would want to be the Goblin Queen and meet Jareth. (Jareth is from the 80’s movie Labyrinth and is the Goblin King.) Having seen the movie I was like, “Cool. That movie was somewhat cheesy, but I’ve enjoyed Fanfiction from that world. Oh, she has a book called the The Labyrinth! Maybe it influenced her a lot before she wrote the Girl Who series!” So I picked it up eagerly, expecting something that perhaps had an adventure type story with the Labyrinth movie themes to it and with her lovely style from the Girl Who books. Honestly, I was excited. The Labyrinth movie was a little cheesy, like I said before, and it’s an old movie. You can tell too, by clothing style, acting and special affects. So I was somewhat looking to this book as the remake of that movie.
Only it wasn’t like that at all. That’ll show me to ignore the warning voice in my head. I think I’ve been reading too much Fanfiction.
This is Valente’s first novel and you can tell at points. I spotted a handful of spelling mistakes and, as descriptive as all of her writing was, it tended to ramble and run-on. After reading very little of it, I found myself thinking, “So this is what purple prose looks like.” Did it fit the story? Yes, but it also made my eyes glaze over once or twice or me go, “What?” in confusion to some description she threw out. I can’t deny she has a… unique way of writing and describing things but sometimes the rule of KISS (keep it simple, stupid) is a good thing to write by. I feel like the story line would’ve been more poignant with about half of the descriptions cut out so we could get to the meat of the story which was, in my opinion: Kore. And the very meat of the story was also chapter 29. 29 - with it’s “you precious thing” vibe and very darkened themes of The Labyrinth movie (or perhaps I’m seeing things?) - was very enlightening. It made me see what plot (philosophical journey?) the entire story was enough so that I saw how it would end. I was correct, too, as to how it would end. Otherwise, I had no clue what to expect - and not in a good way - up until chapter 29.
Overall, I didn’t think it was a terrible story. I don’t feel quite equipped to write a review for this, mainly because I feel like I might’ve missed some of Valente’s more subtle - or very obvious and I’m oblivious - messages. I had visions of “ism” words dancing through my head, though I can’t give an example that was in this book. (Example of “ism” words: feminism, nihilism, agnosticism, etc.) There’s probably some big message or overarching theme that Valente had, other than Kore’s classic Greek myth. To me, this was just a fantastical, darker version of a mix of movies and myths (Hades and Persephone, The Labyrinth movie, etc.) that I found fascinating in a weird way. I can’t recommend this to people because I don’t think this is the most amazing book out there, but I won’t deny it was an interesting read.
That being said… Would I recommend it? No.
Warning/heads up/what’s in this book - the language Valente uses to describe things is or sometimes borders on sensual that might make some people (very distinctly) uncomfortable. Some events too border or are sensual in nature though nothing “happens.” (Chapter 29, for example, might be found disturbing.) There are two - not romantic that I can tell - kisses between the main character (female) and another woman who plays something of a role as a villain. Generally, I would say read with caution and I wouldn’t recommend this to the YA age group.
http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/nov...
*stares at The Labyrinth for a while*
Right.
I originally picked this up because one of the Q&A’s answers in the back of one of her YA Girl Who books. Valente said something along the lines of how she would want to be the Goblin Queen and meet Jareth. (Jareth is from the 80’s movie Labyrinth and is the Goblin King.) Having seen the movie I was like, “Cool. That movie was somewhat cheesy, but I’ve enjoyed Fanfiction from that world. Oh, she has a book called the The Labyrinth! Maybe it influenced her a lot before she wrote the Girl Who series!” So I picked it up eagerly, expecting something that perhaps had an adventure type story with the Labyrinth movie themes to it and with her lovely style from the Girl Who books. Honestly, I was excited. The Labyrinth movie was a little cheesy, like I said before, and it’s an old movie. You can tell too, by clothing style, acting and special affects. So I was somewhat looking to this book as the remake of that movie.
Only it wasn’t like that at all. That’ll show me to ignore the warning voice in my head. I think I’ve been reading too much Fanfiction.
This is Valente’s first novel and you can tell at points. I spotted a handful of spelling mistakes and, as descriptive as all of her writing was, it tended to ramble and run-on. After reading very little of it, I found myself thinking, “So this is what purple prose looks like.” Did it fit the story? Yes, but it also made my eyes glaze over once or twice or me go, “What?” in confusion to some description she threw out. I can’t deny she has a… unique way of writing and describing things but sometimes the rule of KISS (keep it simple, stupid) is a good thing to write by. I feel like the story line would’ve been more poignant with about half of the descriptions cut out so we could get to the meat of the story which was, in my opinion: Kore. And the very meat of the story was also chapter 29. 29 - with it’s “you precious thing” vibe and very darkened themes of The Labyrinth movie (or perhaps I’m seeing things?) - was very enlightening. It made me see what plot (philosophical journey?) the entire story was enough so that I saw how it would end. I was correct, too, as to how it would end. Otherwise, I had no clue what to expect - and not in a good way - up until chapter 29.
Overall, I didn’t think it was a terrible story. I don’t feel quite equipped to write a review for this, mainly because I feel like I might’ve missed some of Valente’s more subtle - or very obvious and I’m oblivious - messages. I had visions of “ism” words dancing through my head, though I can’t give an example that was in this book. (Example of “ism” words: feminism, nihilism, agnosticism, etc.) There’s probably some big message or overarching theme that Valente had, other than Kore’s classic Greek myth. To me, this was just a fantastical, darker version of a mix of movies and myths (Hades and Persephone, The Labyrinth movie, etc.) that I found fascinating in a weird way. I can’t recommend this to people because I don’t think this is the most amazing book out there, but I won’t deny it was an interesting read.
That being said… Would I recommend it? No.
Warning/heads up/what’s in this book - the language Valente uses to describe things is or sometimes borders on sensual that might make some people (very distinctly) uncomfortable. Some events too border or are sensual in nature though nothing “happens.” (Chapter 29, for example, might be found disturbing.) There are two - not romantic that I can tell - kisses between the main character (female) and another woman who plays something of a role as a villain. Generally, I would say read with caution and I wouldn’t recommend this to the YA age group.
http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/nov...
December 1, 2015
File under "Books That Defy Things Like Categorization and Easy Star Ratings." This may be the most abstruse sf/f books I've ever read: abstract, non-linear, and incredibly dense with metaphor and allusion. In a way, it's so out there that it hardly seems genre to me. There's little to distinguish it from non-genre, similarly Joyce-ean literary fiction. It reads to me as more mythological than fantasy. So for people who enjoy the crunchy challenge of dense prose, I would highly recommend this book even if they are not typically sf/f fans. Conversely, I would not recommend it to sf/f fans who prefer more traditional stories or even a *little* more grounding than this books offers.
I found it thought-provoking, utterly original, delicious in certain turns of phrase, and definitely outside my comfort level. I'm glad it was a relatively short book because eventually I fear I would have thrown it across the room. Certain descriptions and words did get recycled, and I couldn't tell whether that was intentional or whether those particular words (I finished this awhile ago, but "diamond," for instance, comes to mind) are the author's favorites that could have been varied just a bit.
I'd love to find other works by this author that offer a little more plot and character and traditional story-telling. Her prose is gorgeous, and I suspect I would have a wonderful time reading something that more closely resembled an sf/f story by her.
I found it thought-provoking, utterly original, delicious in certain turns of phrase, and definitely outside my comfort level. I'm glad it was a relatively short book because eventually I fear I would have thrown it across the room. Certain descriptions and words did get recycled, and I couldn't tell whether that was intentional or whether those particular words (I finished this awhile ago, but "diamond," for instance, comes to mind) are the author's favorites that could have been varied just a bit.
I'd love to find other works by this author that offer a little more plot and character and traditional story-telling. Her prose is gorgeous, and I suspect I would have a wonderful time reading something that more closely resembled an sf/f story by her.
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