The middle one is probably my least favorite. Things get more muddled and suddenly the the cowardly husband is involved again and we find out that the goblin who has been assisting Maria, might have some dark secrets that he is hiding. I like the little worm and that storyline, but there is just a lot of moving pieces to this story. ( )

Holy cannoli. When I first picked up this series, I was worried it might ruin my childhood. And while it did not do that, it didn’t make it any better.

This is a story within a story. Most people picking up this read are children of Bowie who dreamed of joining him in the labyrinth as a goblin, or a Sarah to take their place beside Jareth as queen of the Underworld. The books pick up as Sarah enters the labyrinth to rescue Toby. One of the goblins who is tasked with caring for Toby decides to tell a story. A story of the great owl Goblin King and quest for a successor.

This story is quite different from the original Labyrinth story but feels very repetitive. Plus, you get now and then pages, and the now pages paint Jareth as an a$$hole. I don’t like him at all. In the movie he seems sexy, mesmerizing. Even to adult eyes 30 years later, I see the problems with the movie, but I fall under Jareth’s spell every time. Magic Dance is my bad day song. It can get me dancing and smiling every time. But in the print story Jareth is mean. You see some of it in how Jareth treats Hogle in the movie, but it is made 10x worse in the story for the goblin.

A baby has been taken by the Goblin King because the rich aristocratic father is afraid of the grandfather taking away his easy lazy life. But mom, a farmer barmaid will do anything for her son, including entering the labyrinth to bring back the stolen child. Her adventures in the Labyrinth are completely different than Sarah’s which is nice. And they are not as fun inducing. There are som new characters I really like, and others that are not bad, but they will never be Hoggle, Sir Diddimus, and Luto.

To be honest these stories were nice, but not great. I was left feeling ehhhh. Especially how book 3 ended. It was just a “what the heck” moment that just didn’t sit well. It didn’t retain the magic and the happy thoughts, and the realization of growing older and growing from a kid to an adult like the movie did. I used to think the graphic novel Return the the Labyrinth was ehh, but I can honestly say I liked those more than I liked them. ( )