ETA 15/06/20: I obviously rated this still high on the hype and my love for the Goblin King because I was just rereading my kindle highlights and notes and NOPE.

I'll start this by admitting that Labyrinth is one of my obsessions - I saw it for the first time when I was a kid, and even then I thought that Sarah was an idiot for not staying with the Goblin King. So when I read the blurb for this book I thought I had died and gone to nerdy heaven :)) This is like the adult version of the movie, and makes no effort to try to disguise it.

If I had to describe this book with one word it would be sensual. The first part is absolutely perfect, the story is well-paced and the sexual tension between Elisabeth and the Goblin King reached Mulder/Scully levels. But then Elisabeth makes her vow and things get duller, sometimes confusing and even more frustrating.

I didn't always like Elisabeth, which made her more interesting in my eyes. She is selfish and selfless, she's petty and vengeful, she's no damsel in distress but no self-sacrificing hero either. And even the Goblin King admits she's plain-looking, not 'beautiful in her own way' or some other nonsense - it's her strength and passion he loves. Elisabeth yearns for recognition of her musical talent, and the way her father dismisses her work because she is a woman plays an important role in the book.

The Goblin King is everything I expected him to be: beautiful, charming, cruel, dangerous and so, so appealing. You know this is someone you shouldn't love, shouldn't even like, but you really can't help yourself (at least I couldn't!!). Then in the second half of the book he's more human, more tortured and while I still loved him, I missed my trickster terribly.

The plot is exactly like the movie - the Goblin King has kidnapped Elisabeth's sister and she has to enter the Underground to save her,

Spoiler

but to do so here she finally accepts to become the Goblin King's bride.

This was the half I loved. The second half is about Elisabeth finding out who she really is. I would have liked to know more about the other Goblin Kings and the past of the current one, but I suppose we will learn about that in the second book,

Spoiler

since I assume it will be about Elisabeth trying to rescue him from the Underground.

Their relationship is all about sensuality and longing and I truly loved it. Another fundamental thing in their relationship and the book is music, and while it was cool to see their feelings expressed through their music, the technical talk got boring after a while.

The writing was good, subtle and sometimes lyrical. My only complain is that some expressions were repeated so much that I was getting really annoyed (the austere young man, anyone? >_<)

In the end I decided to rate it 3.5 stars because, although the first half was almost a 5 for me, the second dragged too much, and evil-Goblin King was so much better than tortured-Goblin King :P