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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
A young man working in his father's antiquarian bookshop attempts to track down other works written by a mysterious author. The premise hooked me, it's not a stretch to say my life's dream would be to work in an antiquarian bookshop solving book-related mysteries. Perhaps that's why I was so disappointed by how melodramatic this tale turned out to be.
Zafon is an energetic writer, and my opinion is clearly in the minority here, as the book boasts a 4.3 rating from a staggering 670k reviews. Nonetheless, there were too many distractions, plot holes, and eye-roll-inducing lines for me to be able to recommend this one.
Zafon is an energetic writer, and my opinion is clearly in the minority here, as the book boasts a 4.3 rating from a staggering 670k reviews. Nonetheless, there were too many distractions, plot holes, and eye-roll-inducing lines for me to be able to recommend this one.
truly at a loss for words— one of the most captivating, unique and immersive stories I’ve come across in a long time; books usually don’t elicit physical reactions for me and parts of this had my heart POUNDING. I personally felt like meandered too much toward the end and had a lot of details that didn’t necessarily add to the story, but if you’re someone who enjoys lots of twists & turns & mystery would definitely recommend!
I really enjoyed this book in translation. The mystery didn't feel as heavy as I expected and the plot a bit more predictable than I would have expected for a true mystery. But as a story about Daniel and his coming of age while looking into the life of an author was interesting. And of course, a book about books is always fun!
I'm a bit conflicted on this one. I loved the first half of this book. I think it lost its way after that and then found it again at the end. But as much as I loved the writing and the story I don't really want to continue with the series. I feel like I got everything I want/need out of this series. Well worth the read, but not an easy one to recommend.
This was on 1001 Books to Read before You Die. A novel in the noir style, it is dark and mysterious with shady characters and beautiful women and more beautiful prose even in translation. It hooked me from the first since the whole story revolves around a book that the young protagonist passionately loves and his quest to find more books by the author which leads him places he would have never imagined.
Wonderful engaging story. It is a fabulous tale and interesting one that starts about a book. Characters are rich and three dimensional.
I started reading this book 2 years ago on my honeymoon and was so bored because the pacing was truly terrible for the first 300 pages. Put it down for 2 years and finally, by page 300, it became enticing. The main mystery of Lain Courbet’s identity was not difficult to deduce, I guessed it upon the first introduction, but the revelation shared by Julian’s mother threw me for a loop. Once that plot twist was shared it was all uphill. The prose of this book is stunning, and I genuinely liked the plot and the moody gloomy atmosphere, but the pace was just so inconsistent that I couldn’t love it.
I loved this. The characters were interesting and thoughtfully written. The storyline is suspenseful and intriguing. There is love, drama, mystery, murder, grief, bad guys, and personal demons, all combined well into a story that makes you want to keep reading. Highly recommend.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
With The Labyrinth of the Spirits sitting in the pile of books ready to go, I decided to go back and read the three previous novels in Ruiz Zafon’s Cemetery of forgotten books series. The first time I started The Shadow in the Wind I couldn’t get into it and put it down. The second time I devoured it and couldn’t work out what was wrong with me the first time. I absolutely love this book.
The story barrels along at pace, the young protagonist, Daniel, becomes more reckless as it progresses as he tries to discover more about the writer who wrote The Shadow of the Wind. The reason the book is so important is because after fearing he would one day forget his late mother, Daniel is taken to the cemetery of forgotten books by his father where he picks (or is picked by) the book. It is this longed for magical place that anchors the series from Ruiz Zafon, and captures the imagination of book lovers everywhere.
The author of the book in the book is something of a mystery and the deeper Daniel dives the less he seems to discover. He only knows that someone is intent on destroying all the copies of the authors books, and Daniel has one of the last known copies in his possession.
His adventures take him all over the city, and The Shadow of the Wind is filled with Barcelona, the other recipient of this love letter from the author, who paints the city in all it’s colours, light and dark, and if you have been to the city, you will be picturing the avenues and alleyways depicted, the bustling cafe’s and deserted residential avenues, even though it is a long time since Daniel was running around them.
I realised coming back to the series that these are in fact gothic novels in content, reaching out, but never quite touching the supernatural (at least here anyway) but also what I loved about Shadow is that there are some hilarious moments in it. The introduction of Fermin Romero de Torres is wonderful, and he provides the light relief throughout with comments that made me laugh out loud. There is in fact a rich cast of characters, including Barcelo, Daniels father and the dark inspector Fumero who are painted in full that bring the story and Barcelona to life.
I took this on holiday with me, and after one stupid 20km walk in the blazing sun that left me with burnt feet, I pretty much finished this in a couple of days. There was a lot I had forgotten which enabled me to enjoy it fresh a second time, and I can’t wait to get through the rest of the series.
(blog review here)
The story barrels along at pace, the young protagonist, Daniel, becomes more reckless as it progresses as he tries to discover more about the writer who wrote The Shadow of the Wind. The reason the book is so important is because after fearing he would one day forget his late mother, Daniel is taken to the cemetery of forgotten books by his father where he picks (or is picked by) the book. It is this longed for magical place that anchors the series from Ruiz Zafon, and captures the imagination of book lovers everywhere.
The author of the book in the book is something of a mystery and the deeper Daniel dives the less he seems to discover. He only knows that someone is intent on destroying all the copies of the authors books, and Daniel has one of the last known copies in his possession.
His adventures take him all over the city, and The Shadow of the Wind is filled with Barcelona, the other recipient of this love letter from the author, who paints the city in all it’s colours, light and dark, and if you have been to the city, you will be picturing the avenues and alleyways depicted, the bustling cafe’s and deserted residential avenues, even though it is a long time since Daniel was running around them.
I realised coming back to the series that these are in fact gothic novels in content, reaching out, but never quite touching the supernatural (at least here anyway) but also what I loved about Shadow is that there are some hilarious moments in it. The introduction of Fermin Romero de Torres is wonderful, and he provides the light relief throughout with comments that made me laugh out loud. There is in fact a rich cast of characters, including Barcelo, Daniels father and the dark inspector Fumero who are painted in full that bring the story and Barcelona to life.
I took this on holiday with me, and after one stupid 20km walk in the blazing sun that left me with burnt feet, I pretty much finished this in a couple of days. There was a lot I had forgotten which enabled me to enjoy it fresh a second time, and I can’t wait to get through the rest of the series.
(blog review here)