Kids Book Review - The Labyrinth of Doom by Stuart Gibbs

The Labyrinth of Doom (2022) AMZN

157 Pages, for ages 7-10

by Stuart Gibbs, illustrated by Stacy Curtis

Today I review The Labyrinth of Doom by Stuart Gibbs and Stacy Curtis, which is the second book in the "Once Upon a Tim" series. The story follows Tim, a knight-in-training, and his best friend Belinda, as they embark on a quest to save Princess Grace. The princess needs rescuing again (also in book 1 of the series), and Tim and Belinda must face a series of challenges as they traverse a labyrinth, including menacing beasts like the minotaur and treacherous obstacles like chasms filled with cave sharks. Yes, cave sharks. I enjoyed the writing style a lot (maybe I like kids books ?) and found the story to be engaging. The illustrations are also fun by Stacy Curtis.

This is a great book for kids, that I recommend.

Other blog posts you might like:

The 12 Best Maze and Labyrinth Movies Of All Time

Watchmojo's Best Maze Movie Scenes

How to make over 40 types of mazes

A Review of 5 Maze-themed Books for 7-10 year olds

I wanted to pull together a collection of maze books that are perfect for kids aged 7-10 years old. None of these are traditional maze books but have mazes as part of the plot. We get Batman and Robin, Scooby-Doo, the boxcar Children and 2 Christian books. 2 corn mazes, 2 hedge mazes and a colorful labyrinth.

Scarecrow's Nightmare Maze (2016) 88 Pages AMZN

by J. E. Bright, Luciano Vecchio

Ages 7-12 years old

If I’m being honest when I saw this book I thought it was a comic. But it is not a comic, it is a young adult book of 88 easy to read pages. I found digitally from my local library. Our antagonist is Scarecrow and his very effective fear gas. In this story we have Scarecrow using a maze to confuse and scare his victims when it is effectively combined with his fear gas. Batman and Robin are on his trail and are trying to catch him and return him to Arkham Asylum. There are only a few illustrations in the book, but I think the few that there are are very good (Check out Batman and Robin walking in the corn maze below!). The story is good and reads like a Batman comic although the vocabulary is targeted at a younger audience. Overall, If you are fan of Batman and mazes, you will like this book.

Batman and Robin in a corn maze !

If you are a fan of Batman, check out my review of a maze centric episode from Batman the Animated Series called If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? from way back in 1992.

The Mystery of the Maze Monster (2014) 112 Pages AMZN

by John Sazaklis

Ages 7-11 years

First I need to mention that this is different from “choose” books I have read in the past. To me this this has longer passages between decisions, so you get more story before making that decision. As you can tell from the cover there are 10 different endings ! Personally I did the book 4 different times and I never caught the villain ! This is a Scooby-Doo book. I thought I would catch them each time like on the cartoon ! It is not a bad thing, just surprising.

This book is fun and does take you in many different directions after the initial set-up. That set-up is what made me read and do a review of the book. A minotaur appears to have stolen some valuable items and has escape into a hedge maze. Can the gang catch it ? (As I said before I went 0 for 4).

There are some nice illustrations in the book that made me nostalgic for the tv show. I also found myself hearing the different characters voices in my head as I read. I enjoyed the book and think you would too !

One other thing of note - If you enjoy this book, there appear to be a total of 14 Scooby-Doo ‘You Choose’ books available !

The Clue in the Corn Maze: The Boxcar Children Mysteries, Book 101 144 Pages AMZN

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

from Albert Whitman & Company, for Ages 7-10 years

I am really glad that I decided to read this book. Of course I picked it up because I knew the story included a corn maze, but I was pleasantly surprised by the story. Yes, this book is meant for children 7-10 years old and I am an adult. I still appreciated the simple way the story was told. I am currently learning how to speak a second language and would love this kind of book in that language.

The story takes place on a farm that has a festival for the town which features a corn maze. Someone is vandalizing the maze each night and leaving notes to not hold the festival. Along the way a variety of people are shown to have motivations that may mean they are the perpetrators. The feel of the story reminded me of a Scooby-Doo episode. The short chapters pace in story just right and this is a good read. I also noticed some words that were meant to expand the vocabulary of the young reader which I liked. I don’t give a score for books, but this book is recommended.

Molly's Maze Discovery (2021) Own Image 57 Print Pages AMZN

by Carmen Allen Ages 6-10

Part 2 of the Molly Greenwood Adventures series

I came across this book, Molly's Maze Discovery, while browsing for something to read from the library. You know I can’t pass up a maze book no matter what age it is intended for. This book is about Molly (Greenwood) and her friends as they are tempted to enter a hedge maze despite being told they are not old enough by the King. I should mention that Molly is a princess (see book 1, this is book 2 in the series), thus the King.

After finding a map of the maze with an X hidden inside the children give in to their temptations and enter the maze. What follows is an adventure that includes 2 men chasing the children to try to get them into an orphanage. We have secret trap doors and secret rooms and a nice adventure for the kids. Without giving away too much of the story, we get a nice message (and a hidden message). This is a Christian book and suitable for ages 7-12.

You can find information on the complete series at the author’s website.

Baby's Labyrinth (2022) 44 Pages AMZN

by Bobby Holley

from Christian Faith Publishing, For ages 3 months to 10 years

The book is a bedtime story for kids about a book of bedtime stories that is lost. It is a quick read of 44 pages ( although that may depend on just how sleepy your children are!). The story is composed of 8 chapters and follows a group of five babies and their mother.

After the initial set-up we get into the main part of the story, and the part we are most interested in in Chapter 2, titled Into the Labyrinth. The kids have found their way into a colorful labyrinth (details are saved for the book). This starts our quest to find the book, and we meet a variety of characters along the way. It is in Chapter 4, titled Magic of the Maze where we learn that the children won’t be able to fall asleep without their book (oh no !). The quest continues and we eventually reach our conclusion (spoiler….any guess?). The book has a few illustrations, but is really a story to be read ( versus a bedtime story book that uses pictures and reading together). I would have liked more illustrations, but overall, a nice story.

Maze Comic Book Reviews - Theseus And The Minotaur

If you are a fan of mazes and the mythology behind them you know the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Most people know the core portion of the story where Theseus meets the Minotaur in the middle of the maze. Today I will review 4 different comic adaptions of the story, show you some illustrations and hopefully help you pick the comic you want to read most. Or, you know, read them all.

Theseus And The Minotaur: A Graphic Retelling (2015)

from Capstone, 32 Pages

by Matt Chandler ; illustrated by Estudio Haus

The first comic is a quick read (32 pages) about the entire story of Theseus.

The comic is broken into five chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus from birth, to growing up, to his quest-like journey and finally his meeting with the Minotaur and return home. All of this happens in 32 pages. The illustrations are good.

Chapter 4 is my favorite chapter, called The Labyrinth, and is the showdown between Theseus and the minotaur in the labyrinth (which is actually a maze as you can see in the comic panel below).

And of course part of the story is the fact that the maze is very challenging and has never been exited before. This Greek myth originally was written by Apollodorus in his book The Library of Greek Mythology. Part of me loves that he has his own Amazon author page, and part of me hates it. Anyway, this story survives from this book.

Comic strip from the book

This is a good telling of the Greek Myth, and a fast read with nice illustrations. 7.8/10

Theseus And The Minotaur (2009) AMZN

from Capstone, 72 Pages

by Nel Yomtov ; illustrated by Tod Smith

The comic is broken into six chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus. If you compare to the 32 page version above, you get a longer and more detailed story. An event that was 5 separate panels in the first comic is now 10 panels, etc. The additional space also makes the quest portion of the book much longer and I think that helps tell the story.

Chapter 5 is titled The Labyrinth and this is the portion of the story I am most interested in. One thing that disappointed me about the book was there was no large illustration of the labyrinth, just the slender picture below.

One thing this comic does well is illustrate the battle between Theseus and the Minotaur and expands that to multiple pages. Here is the initial meeting in the labyrinth.

Overall, if you want a bit more to the story, read this version.

This is a nice telling of the Greek Myth, and has good illustrations. 7.2/10

Kill The Minotaur (2018) AMZN

from Image Comics, 184 Pages

by Chris Pasetto, Christian Cantamessa ; illustrated by Lukas Ketner

This version has the most recent publication date (2018) and is from Image Comics. It is also our longest version of the story at 184 pages.
Of the 4 different comics I review on this topic, this has the most unique story. The other three basically told the same story of Theseus from birth, growing up, a journey, meeting the king, the minotaur in the labyrinth, and his return. This is really focused on the Minotaur and the labyrinth, and I would say 80+ percent of the story takes place in there. This is also the only book to feature curse words and adult situations (this comic is not for kids IMO).

This version also tells a slightly different story than the previous versions, although with the same basic characters and themes. We also get a Minotaur that is deformed and has magical properties, roaming a labyrinth that also has some unique characteristics. I enjoy this version of the story because it takes place in the setting I am interested in, the labyrinth.

From an illustration standpoint the longer length also means more larger landscape artwork. Check out this large format illustration of Crete and this drawing of Theseus overlooking a portion of the labyrinth.

Different than the other versions, so worth it’s own read even if you know the story, you do not know this one ! 7.5/10.

Theseus Battling The Minotaur (2007) AMZN

from Lerner Publishing Group, 48 Pages

by Jeff Limke ; illustrated by John McCrea

Like our previous review, the comic is broken into six chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus. The extra few pages mean an expansion of the story from previous versions. We even get introduced to a few more characters that didn’t fit into the shorter versions.

Chapter 5 is titled Into The Labyrinth and if there is one thing this is missing is an illustration of the actual labyrinth. But there is a reason for this - in this version the labyrinth is underground ! So while I could show you a panel of Theseus in the labyrinth, it will just be a picture of him in a dark cave. Not very exciting. What IS exciting is the battle as shown by the panel below.

This is a nice version of the story, I just wish we could have seen the labyrinth. 7.0/10

So there you have the 4 different books. All are similarly rated by me it just depends how much time you want with the story with 32, 48, 72 and 184 page options available. I liked the short and long versions best, but none is a bad read.

Other blog posts you might like:

Jim Henson’s Labyrinth Comic Reviews

Neverwhere Comic Review by Neil Gaiman

A Review of 4 Comic Books that Feature Mazes and Labyrinths

I am back with another comic book review that involves either a maze or a labyrinth. Today I take you through 4 different stories, 2 that I highly recommend you check out. We get a warrior that can’t die, a creepy horror story, a secret society of magical families and a young adult fantasy book series that was made into a few movies.

Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior Vol. 2: Labyrinth (issues 5-10) AMZN

from Valiant Entertainment, 176 Pages

by Robert Venditti ; illustrated by Raul Allen, Juan José Ryp

This comic has a body count that is high and very bloody. Our main character is a warrior who cannot die which means when he does battle others there is a lot of bloodshed and it is rarely his. If you are looking for some background on the story I suggest you start with Volume 1, but if you jump into Volume 2 to start you will be fine to follow along.

The comic begins with the left of the Eternal Warriors child, named Kalam while he is away doing battle and the subsequent quest to get him back. From there we begin the Labyrinth portion of the story. A mysterious man has captured the Eternal Warrior and is hoping to test him and figure out how he heals himself and can never die. The testing zone is an enormous high tech labyrinth (actually a maze) where he tests him with a variety of deaths/healing scenarios. That is the comic.

Of all the comics I have reviewed this has the most extensive artwork of mazes and labyrinths. Really great work by the illustrators. Here are a few of the covers/alt covers:

And here are some additional scenes of the labyrinth itself:

Comic strip from the book

If you like blood and destruction this is the comic for you. Excellent illustrations. I recommend. 8.5/10

Check out information on all 14 Eternal Warrior comics.

Ice Cream Man #30 (2022) AMZN

from Image Comics, Part of TPB: Ice Cream Man, Volume 8: Subjects & Objects 136 Pages

by W. Maxwell Prince (Author), Martin Morazzo (Artist), Chris O'Halloran (Artist)

I have read each issue of Ice Cream Man. It’s a twisted horror comic that isn’t afraid to try interesting story formats. When I was reading the TPB and I flipped to Chapter 30 and saw the cover above I knew I was going to enjoy it ! Two mice making their way through a maze, one black and one white. What happens if they meet since they seem to be trying to get to the other side ( ones start is the others end ?). And you get the theme of the Chapter from the title, “Experimental Storytelling”.

This particular story is about a medical test. One patient gets a pill while the other gets a placebo, typical in a controlled experiment. Except this, like most stories in the series has a Twilight Zone experience to it. Everything is not what it seems. And more information would require a SPOLIER alert….which I am not giving. This is a solid sci-fi book and I recommend it. How does that make you feel ?

Read it. 8.7/10 !

Excellence #12 (2022) AMZN

from Image - Skybound, 31 Pages

by Brandon Thomas (Author), Khary Randolph (Cover Art, Artist), Emilio Lopez (Cover Art, Artist)

Excellence is a comic series that ran from May 2019 - Jan 2022 and had a total of 12 issues. I enjoyed the story, which is about a group of magical families and a secret society that controls them. It has a strong father / son relationship dynamic and deals with a new generation rebelling against an older one.

The final issue, features the cover you see above of a maze so I wanted to give you a review of the series. There is no real maze, per say in the issue, just the culmination of a mystery as the characters figure out what is going on. This is an isolated story that will not make sense solo, so read Volume 1 & Volume 2, a total of 304 pages which concludes with this arc.

Overall a good story. 6.8/10.

Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Battle Of The Labyrinth (2018) AMZN

from Disney Book Group, 131 Pages

by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti ; illustrated by Orpheus Collar, Antoine Dodé

This is the comic book version of the original book you may have read before. You could also be familiar with the 2 movies that were made in 2010 and 2013 but generally were poorly reviewed, ending the making of future movies.

This comic is all about a quest. If you like quest stories then you should enjoy this comic. From an overall story standpoint this is the 4th of 5 books that make up the Percy Jackson stories. For this reason, if you jump into this book you will not be familiar with the characters. I will say you can still enjoy the story, but you will not have the investment in the characters to really completely enjoy and understand what is happening. The bad guys won’t seem as bad, the good guys trials and tribulations will mean a little bit less.

Now about the quest. As you may have guessed, it takes place in a labyrinth hidden within the world. It you are not familiar with Percy Jackson, there are hidden worlds within our world that are used by the children of gods and half gods (like Camp Half Blood in Long Island , NY). One thing you will notice if you read this comic is that they interchangeably use the words maze and labyrinth (something I believe is incorrect). Anyway, our group led by Percy makes a journey, overcomes difficulties, meets interesting people along the way, engages in overcoming obstacles, and it all culminates in a final battle. I could have written the same sentence about any quest movie.

If you know the characters, you will enjoy this comic much more than just picking it up as a maze lover. I give it a 5.5/10.

While this was only book 4 of 5, if you are interested you can check out all 5 books:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 books)

Other blog posts you might like:

The 12 Best Maze and Labyrinth Movies Of All Time

Watchmojo's Best Maze Movie Scenes

How to make over 40 types of maze