Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by paienpoesie
El juego del ángel by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Francisco Rivela
4.0
I have always been hard on Ruiz Zafon's plots since I didn't feel like he was offering me something new to read. Maybe the first time he did, but not after you have read a couple of his novels. He always writes about the same lonely corrupted characters, who talk about heartbreaking nonsense while suffering for hundreds of Barcelonan pages. And that really pissed me off, because I think he's fooling us selling the same to us over and over again. His magisterial formula.
But I had to read The Shadow of the Wind for school long ago, and I really liked it. Maybe I am so easily sold to beautiful atmospheres or I am an tough romantic, but the inevitable happened. It was more complex, and I really enjoyed the book. Despite of that, so many years have passed since I read The Shadow of the Wind without the intention of reading The Angel's Game. I had the good taste of those pages still on my mind, and I didn't want to ruin it (with a 2nd part, which is even worse as we all know).
I can't tell what drove me to read The Angel's Game now, but again, something incredible happened: I liked this book much more than its predecessor, although I never thought that possible.
Maybe because I felt irremediably in love with his main character, David Martín. He was so harsh, so natural and such a loser. Why someone on Earth would not love him. The book wouldn't work as well as it does if the main character were different. He simply fits so well in everything in this damn book.
I heard such bad reviews of this book, maybe that was a point too.
Also, I have found serious improvement in Ruiz Zafon's style. He was used to write for children, and the lack of resources was easily discovered through the pages of his previous novel, thing that doesn't not happen in this one. I really like the way Ruiz Zafon writes now.
And well, the plot. Stuck on his traditional ones but I am kind of flexible now about this. The supernatural mixing up with the mundane is always fascinating, although I always ended up complaining. I really love to complain, as you can see. Maybe because it wasn't too trasngresor I don't put the 5-star-thing on it.
But I had to read The Shadow of the Wind for school long ago, and I really liked it. Maybe I am so easily sold to beautiful atmospheres or I am an tough romantic, but the inevitable happened. It was more complex, and I really enjoyed the book. Despite of that, so many years have passed since I read The Shadow of the Wind without the intention of reading The Angel's Game. I had the good taste of those pages still on my mind, and I didn't want to ruin it (with a 2nd part, which is even worse as we all know).
I can't tell what drove me to read The Angel's Game now, but again, something incredible happened: I liked this book much more than its predecessor, although I never thought that possible.
Maybe because I felt irremediably in love with his main character, David Martín. He was so harsh, so natural and such a loser. Why someone on Earth would not love him. The book wouldn't work as well as it does if the main character were different. He simply fits so well in everything in this damn book.
I heard such bad reviews of this book, maybe that was a point too.
Also, I have found serious improvement in Ruiz Zafon's style. He was used to write for children, and the lack of resources was easily discovered through the pages of his previous novel, thing that doesn't not happen in this one. I really like the way Ruiz Zafon writes now.
And well, the plot. Stuck on his traditional ones but I am kind of flexible now about this. The supernatural mixing up with the mundane is always fascinating, although I always ended up complaining. I really love to complain, as you can see. Maybe because it wasn't too trasngresor I don't put the 5-star-thing on it.