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martha_is_reading 's review for:
The Midnight Palace
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
This was a toss up between 3 and 4 stars.
On the one hand, I'm a big fan of [a:Carlos Ruiz Zafón|815|Carlos Ruiz Zafón|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1444199853p2/815.jpg]. I love the way he writes, particularly the love he gives to the cities where he sets his books. [b:The Shadow of the Wind|1232|The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)|Carlos Ruiz Zafón|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344545047s/1232.jpg|3209783] is one of my favourite books and had me falling in love with Barcelona a decade before I visited it for the first time. Zafon gives the same treatment to Calcutta, painting a picture of exotic beauty with both light and shade.
Zafon is also one of the only authors I'll stick with even when he's throwing out ghosts and gouls and all manner of malevolent beings that would normally send me running for the hills (I'm a wuss okay, don't judge). He's shows a lot of skill in creating villains that blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality; good and evil; terrifying and not - admittedly this might not be of interest to other readers who like horror/ghost stories, where Zafon might not be creating beings that are scary enough.
It was interesting to see themes that Zafon later incorporated into the Shadow of the Wind. I mentioned his love of beautiful cities, but there's also his use of fire, his love of books and his creation of villains who may once have been good, but whose souls have been distorted by the evil encountered in their lives.
I couldn't quite give it four stars because it wasn't his usual brilliance - but then perhaps that's to be expected as this was a few years before Shadow of the Wind. The story was a little more childish, but again this was YA whereas his later works are not. Overall, I enjoyed the story, it was an absorbing read but one I'd be unlikely to read again.
On the one hand, I'm a big fan of [a:Carlos Ruiz Zafón|815|Carlos Ruiz Zafón|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1444199853p2/815.jpg]. I love the way he writes, particularly the love he gives to the cities where he sets his books. [b:The Shadow of the Wind|1232|The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)|Carlos Ruiz Zafón|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344545047s/1232.jpg|3209783] is one of my favourite books and had me falling in love with Barcelona a decade before I visited it for the first time. Zafon gives the same treatment to Calcutta, painting a picture of exotic beauty with both light and shade.
Zafon is also one of the only authors I'll stick with even when he's throwing out ghosts and gouls and all manner of malevolent beings that would normally send me running for the hills (I'm a wuss okay, don't judge). He's shows a lot of skill in creating villains that blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality; good and evil; terrifying and not - admittedly this might not be of interest to other readers who like horror/ghost stories, where Zafon might not be creating beings that are scary enough.
It was interesting to see themes that Zafon later incorporated into the Shadow of the Wind. I mentioned his love of beautiful cities, but there's also his use of fire, his love of books and his creation of villains who may once have been good, but whose souls have been distorted by the evil encountered in their lives.
I couldn't quite give it four stars because it wasn't his usual brilliance - but then perhaps that's to be expected as this was a few years before Shadow of the Wind. The story was a little more childish, but again this was YA whereas his later works are not. Overall, I enjoyed the story, it was an absorbing read but one I'd be unlikely to read again.