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A review by mediaevalmuse
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
3.0
I absolutely loved Shadow of the Wind and have been meaning to make my way through the rest of Zafón's bibliography. The Angel's Game is a companion of sorts, set in the same universe (though it's not a direct sequel). Thus, I had high hopes. While I did like a lot about this book, I wasn't quite as hooked as I was for Shadow; the writing is still eerie and atmospheric, but the plot less satisfying. Thus, I can only give this 3.5 stars.
WRITING: Zafón's prose is incredibly atmospheric, painting a picture of early 20th century Barcelona that feels both timeless and trapped in the past. I loved the descriptions of the buildings, the streets, and the mists that hang over everything, and Zafón excels at establishing mood.
I do think, however, that the pacing of this book tended to be a bit wonky and there were some sentence-level quirks that irritated me. Zafón's chapters are short which means that scenes fly by pretty fast; but also, I felt like there were moments when time moved by too quickly and other areas where the scene was dragged out. I also noticed that a lot of the sentences began with "I," making chunks of the book feel repetitive. Granted, I read the English translation of this book, so it may read differently in the original Spanish.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows David Martín, a struggling writer in early 20th century Barcelona who is offered the deal of a lifetime from a mysterious foreign publisher: write a book on the subject of the publisher's choosing, making amends when directed, and be paid one hundred thousand francs. Martín agrees and begins writing while holed up in his dark, drafty old house, and soon, he discovers that the deal he has accepted is tied to the previous owners of his abode.
I love the way Zafón unsettles the reader with this plot. Things get weirder and weirder until they fall apart completely, and the Gothic tones of the story are delicious. I loved watching Martín unravel the mystery of the house and I was disturbed by the mysterious deaths that seemed to keep happening; it was enough to keep me interested and charging through until the end.
I do think, however, that the story ended in something of a mess. It didn't exactly tie together in a way I found satisfying, so I ended the book feeling a little hollow. Perhaps the reason for this is because a lot of the emotional drive of the plot hinges on Martín's feelings for a woman named Cristina - feelings that felt shallow and under-developed. If we were shown why Martín is so devoted and obsessed with her rather than told, I think I might have felt differently, but as it stands, it was hard to connect with the drama of the story because I felt held at arm's length.
CHARACTERS: Martín, our protagonist and narrator, is a little hard to connect to, in part because despite being stuck in his head, I didn't feel like he was really obsessed or emotional about the people in his life. The strongest friendship he seemed to have was with his assistant Isabella, which was itself very good. We see the two poking fun at each other and scheming and fighting, so their connection felt the most real and grounded.
Supporting characters such as Sempere the bookseller and Vidal the rich benefactor were well-developed and portrayed as having genuine affection for Martín. They also interact with Martín quite a bit, but they also disappeared for long stretches at a time, so it was difficult for me to see them as consistent presences in Martín's life.
Corelli, the foreign publisher, was adequately mysterious without being overtly sinister or threatening. I liked that I couldn't guess as to whether or not he could be trusted, and as Martín becomes more and more obsessed, it's clear that Corelli was entangled in the drama in some unspecified way. I also appreciated that he wasn't an off-page villain lurking in the background; he arranges to meet Martín periodically, and I liked seeing his face as opposed to him being faceless and vague.
Perhaps the least developed character, in my opinion, was Cristina. Without giving any plot details away, I will say that Martín's love for Cristina is supposed to give the story some emotional thrust. However, I never quite understood why Martín was in love with her; I felt like I was told about his feelings but never really felt like the two had a connection. As a result, when things start to fall apart, I'm less invested in Cristina's fate than I think I could have been.
TL;DR: The Angel's Game is moody, atmospheric, and weird, but doesn't quite live up to the brilliance of its predecessor.
WRITING: Zafón's prose is incredibly atmospheric, painting a picture of early 20th century Barcelona that feels both timeless and trapped in the past. I loved the descriptions of the buildings, the streets, and the mists that hang over everything, and Zafón excels at establishing mood.
I do think, however, that the pacing of this book tended to be a bit wonky and there were some sentence-level quirks that irritated me. Zafón's chapters are short which means that scenes fly by pretty fast; but also, I felt like there were moments when time moved by too quickly and other areas where the scene was dragged out. I also noticed that a lot of the sentences began with "I," making chunks of the book feel repetitive. Granted, I read the English translation of this book, so it may read differently in the original Spanish.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows David Martín, a struggling writer in early 20th century Barcelona who is offered the deal of a lifetime from a mysterious foreign publisher: write a book on the subject of the publisher's choosing, making amends when directed, and be paid one hundred thousand francs. Martín agrees and begins writing while holed up in his dark, drafty old house, and soon, he discovers that the deal he has accepted is tied to the previous owners of his abode.
I love the way Zafón unsettles the reader with this plot. Things get weirder and weirder until they fall apart completely, and the Gothic tones of the story are delicious. I loved watching Martín unravel the mystery of the house and I was disturbed by the mysterious deaths that seemed to keep happening; it was enough to keep me interested and charging through until the end.
I do think, however, that the story ended in something of a mess. It didn't exactly tie together in a way I found satisfying, so I ended the book feeling a little hollow. Perhaps the reason for this is because a lot of the emotional drive of the plot hinges on Martín's feelings for a woman named Cristina - feelings that felt shallow and under-developed. If we were shown why Martín is so devoted and obsessed with her rather than told, I think I might have felt differently, but as it stands, it was hard to connect with the drama of the story because I felt held at arm's length.
CHARACTERS: Martín, our protagonist and narrator, is a little hard to connect to, in part because despite being stuck in his head, I didn't feel like he was really obsessed or emotional about the people in his life. The strongest friendship he seemed to have was with his assistant Isabella, which was itself very good. We see the two poking fun at each other and scheming and fighting, so their connection felt the most real and grounded.
Supporting characters such as Sempere the bookseller and Vidal the rich benefactor were well-developed and portrayed as having genuine affection for Martín. They also interact with Martín quite a bit, but they also disappeared for long stretches at a time, so it was difficult for me to see them as consistent presences in Martín's life.
Corelli, the foreign publisher, was adequately mysterious without being overtly sinister or threatening. I liked that I couldn't guess as to whether or not he could be trusted, and as Martín becomes more and more obsessed, it's clear that Corelli was entangled in the drama in some unspecified way. I also appreciated that he wasn't an off-page villain lurking in the background; he arranges to meet Martín periodically, and I liked seeing his face as opposed to him being faceless and vague.
Perhaps the least developed character, in my opinion, was Cristina. Without giving any plot details away, I will say that Martín's love for Cristina is supposed to give the story some emotional thrust. However, I never quite understood why Martín was in love with her; I felt like I was told about his feelings but never really felt like the two had a connection. As a result, when things start to fall apart, I'm less invested in Cristina's fate than I think I could have been.
TL;DR: The Angel's Game is moody, atmospheric, and weird, but doesn't quite live up to the brilliance of its predecessor.