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Book Review: The Labyrinth by Catherynne M. Valente
Title: The Labyrinth (published in Myths of Origin)
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Published: Stirling: Wyrm Publishing, 2011 (2004)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 147
Total Page Count: 155,215
Text Number: 453
Read Because: fan of the author, from my personal library
Review: A timeless, endless journey through a labyrinth metamorphosizes into a quest to find its center. This is classic early Valente, prose poetry, mythpunk, an intentionally anachronistic mishmash of imagery swathing a powerful metaphor. I found it more successful than Yume no Hon—partially because I prefer its metaphor, but also because the labyrinth as metaphor works so well: it justifies Valente's unspooling, claustrophobic prose; the cyclical plot may be frustrating, but it has a sense of inevitability and necessity. Perhaps The Labyrinth could benefit from paring down, and there are better Valente novels (objectively, and as starting places) than this first work. But I adored it just as it is: unsubtle and unrestrained, ornate, messy, magical, inspired, driven, powerfully imagined.
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Published: Stirling: Wyrm Publishing, 2011 (2004)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 147
Total Page Count: 155,215
Text Number: 453
Read Because: fan of the author, from my personal library
Review: A timeless, endless journey through a labyrinth metamorphosizes into a quest to find its center. This is classic early Valente, prose poetry, mythpunk, an intentionally anachronistic mishmash of imagery swathing a powerful metaphor. I found it more successful than Yume no Hon—partially because I prefer its metaphor, but also because the labyrinth as metaphor works so well: it justifies Valente's unspooling, claustrophobic prose; the cyclical plot may be frustrating, but it has a sense of inevitability and necessity. Perhaps The Labyrinth could benefit from paring down, and there are better Valente novels (objectively, and as starting places) than this first work. But I adored it just as it is: unsubtle and unrestrained, ornate, messy, magical, inspired, driven, powerfully imagined.