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literarymystique 's review for:
The Midnight Palace
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Discovering a new author and reading his works is always an exciting adventure to me. It's always such a mystery about his/her writing, the plot, and this case, even the genre he deals with. I know nothing about Carlos Ruis Zafon's books except he deals with mystery. The only reason why I picked it up is because of the hype surrounding the author.
The Midnight Palace talks about the life of Ben and his twin sister Sheere, separated at birth and reunited with each they turned sixteen. A madman is searching for them to murder them and their grandmother died everything to save them. What follows is an adventure along with Ben's six friends to hunt down this murderer and finish this business forever.
One thing that I have to say is The Midnight Palace is an enjoyable read. The story will keep you in suspense for half of the story. But my problem with this book started after about 50% mark. Everything was pretty clear by then, and the story became predictable. The plot twists stopped surprising me and after that, I was reading only to finish it. By the end, I was sure I could have just written the ending myself and it would have hardly made a difference.
Having said that, I loved the first half of story. The story which unfolds is mysterious and it keeps you guessing.
I wish the author has maintained that streak because it would have been a really good mystery for me.
But what is much more important and what might be the only reason why I will go back to this author's works is that I loved the writing, and probably the way each character sounded different to me. I love reading books with multiple readers and if the author can write in such a way which distinguishes each character, I'm coming back to that author some day or the other.
And I loved the setting. Calcutta has always been a mysterious setting for me. Some of my favorites (The Lowland, The Hungry Tide) was set in various parts of Bengal. Every adventure becomes even more interesting if it is set in Calcutta. In this story particularly, the setting contributed a lot to how the story was handled and presented.
Yet, I don't know if I can recommend this book. This was enjoyable, but there are far better books out there which might attract you more as a mystery. And plus, I haven't read any other works by him. But, once I read his other books, I can get a better picture.
The Midnight Palace talks about the life of Ben and his twin sister Sheere, separated at birth and reunited with each they turned sixteen. A madman is searching for them to murder them and their grandmother died everything to save them. What follows is an adventure along with Ben's six friends to hunt down this murderer and finish this business forever.
One thing that I have to say is The Midnight Palace is an enjoyable read. The story will keep you in suspense for half of the story. But my problem with this book started after about 50% mark. Everything was pretty clear by then, and the story became predictable. The plot twists stopped surprising me and after that, I was reading only to finish it. By the end, I was sure I could have just written the ending myself and it would have hardly made a difference.
Having said that, I loved the first half of story. The story which unfolds is mysterious and it keeps you guessing.
I wish the author has maintained that streak because it would have been a really good mystery for me.
But what is much more important and what might be the only reason why I will go back to this author's works is that I loved the writing, and probably the way each character sounded different to me. I love reading books with multiple readers and if the author can write in such a way which distinguishes each character, I'm coming back to that author some day or the other.
And I loved the setting. Calcutta has always been a mysterious setting for me. Some of my favorites (The Lowland, The Hungry Tide) was set in various parts of Bengal. Every adventure becomes even more interesting if it is set in Calcutta. In this story particularly, the setting contributed a lot to how the story was handled and presented.
Yet, I don't know if I can recommend this book. This was enjoyable, but there are far better books out there which might attract you more as a mystery. And plus, I haven't read any other works by him. But, once I read his other books, I can get a better picture.