Just as beautiful, terrifying, and heartbreaking as the film it's based off of. Though the book follows the movie close to a T, it's wonderful to see the film translated so well to print through Funke's insightful, yet curious prose. The darkness and wonder of the story is not lost, Vidal continues to be just as horrendously cruel and Ofelia ever the starry eyed girl hoping for a fairy tale. The incorporation of new fairy tales within the story were a wonderful way to add a bit more foundation to the world, while still keeping an air of mystery to it. 

Fans of the film may be curious as to how del Toro's dark fairy tale fairs as a book, but just know there really aren't any surprises with the main plot, as it's fairly faithful, but you get wonderful new short stories and illustrations out of it. Those that find the movie a bit too intimidating or scary may do better with this version, as you at least cut out the visual horror element, but I highly recommend listening to Javier Navarrete's beautiful score as you do.