I’m really not sure what it is about rich, dark fantasies not getting much press. Sure, Harry Potter became a worldwide phenomenon, and the Percy Jackson series is now being made into a movie—both are excellent beyond what I can describe, by the way—but when it comes to deep, dark fantasies that really push the envelope, break through barriers and create something incredibly new (no, I’m not talking about Avatar), they simply don’t receive enough exposure or support.

Having waited for over a year to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, I was crushed to find that it wouldn’t be playing near me at all. The same went for the film Mirrormask years earlier, an incredibly groundbreaking Jim Henson film that was written and directed by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, respectively—the same dynamo team that created the amazing Coraline.

Mirrormask, if you missed it, is a beautifully haunting tale about a girl who works in the circus with her parents and, after a horrible fight with her mother—followed by her mother becoming ill and being hospitalized—is launched into a mystical, terrifying fantasy world which she, mistaken for the world’s missing princess, must save from certain doom.

An allegory for her relationship with her mother, her life at the circus, and the guilt and responsibility she feels for her mother’s hospitalization, the adventure is full of the kinds of creatures, monsters, riddles, and twists you’d expect from Neil Gaiman. The team dramatized their movie—which, despite mixed reviews, some critical acclaim, and award nominations, flopped at the box office (it’s no wonder if you’re not going to play it in my hometown, I say)—into a storybook featuring the same title, which is a thoroughly enjoyable read complete with some movie pictures and other illustrations.

Like Gaiman’s children’s books (The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Wolves in the Walls, etc.) the writing is a mixture of fonts and sizes, and as such serve as part of the illustrations themselves. If you like Gaiman’s children’s books you will certainly like this one as well; it’s very enjoyable to read and you likely won’t be able to put it down until it’s finished.

At least half of the film’s appeal stems from its stunning visuals, however, which are, naturally, missing from the book. Though the appeal of the story remains, it’s one of very few works from which I’d choose the movie over the book. That said, it’s a lovely collector’s item for fans of Gaiman or Jim Henson films.