Reviews

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

sbn42's review against another edition

5.0

I don't want to move for fear of leaving the world I have spent 5 days in. I was sucked into this story that winds around a story. I'll have to finish this later when I dare to return to reality.

jon288's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very atmospheric and gothic, the uncovering of the mysteries of the past was done really well. Strange and compelling characters, and an evocative setting 

she_reader's review against another edition

4.0

Clever concept but a lot of exposition and a drawn out ending that somehow didn’t feel finished, not to say I wanted to read more

lakmus's review against another edition

This book /looks/ like it'd tick all the boxes, but as of page 200 I officially give up. So far it's been all aesthetic and no oomph - awesome aesthetic, mind you, but something is just not clicking.

leastsquares's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

amgbskate26's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

4.0

mairelon's review against another edition

4.0

A friend of mine gifted me a copy of this book for my birthday and insisted that I'd love it. I absolutely did but oh my goodness was it a stressful experience. I have never before been so mad at a character's world or circumstances as I have with this book. And to be honest the things that stressed me out the most weren't the fantastical elements like the mysterious figures and the haunted mansion, but more the true to life struggles of war and corruption. I would rather take on a ghost any day of the week than a corrupt policing system.

There were two lines within the book that felt like they were written to make the reader shut the book in disbelief and I'm not ashamed to say I had just that reaction. Some of the endgame reveals were made fairly obvious from the beginning, there was enough there that I found the ending to be truly shocking. The entire final third of the book had me white-knuckling it as you're hit with revelation after revelation but it all feels earned after all our characters went through.

There are still a few plot threads left dangling tantalizingly

Spoiler

GHOST HOUSE GHOST HOUSE

and I hope these are explored in more depth in later books.

paperbackscorpio's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

undersea's review against another edition

I couldn’t with the misogyny in this book. I can’t tell you what any man, including the MC looks like in this book, but I can tell you what the women look like, down to bra & waist size. Not to mention “yummy” thighs & “quivering” breasts 🤮 I don’t know how this gets such high praise. 

mariannelwnicholson's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Finally finished! This book is LONG and it took me a while to get into it if I ever did. I feel like maybe I wasn't in the right place when I started it and that didn't help. To be honest, I don't think it's that amazing and clever but would happily listen to someone else tell me why it is.