The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

"A beautiful and haunting mystery of a young boy's quest to find out more about the author of his favorite book. A quest that is far more intricate, sinister and deadly than he ever could have possibly imagined."

4 Stars.

Pros: Fermin is a great character/The language of the book, some of the quotes, they are truly remarkable and beautiful.

Cons: The mystery of Julian Carax is intriguing but there are a LOT of twists and turns and people to keep track of/Everything that happens is just a little too "convenient."

Full Review:

As I sit here trying to think of what to write without giving anything away, I feel that the task is impossible. From the moment that Daniel visits the Cemetery of Forgotten Books with his Father and chooses his novel, The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, the plot explodes. Everything that happens, every character that Daniel meets is important, down to the watchmaker who lives on the same street as Daniel. The mystery behind Julian Carax and Daniel's obsession with finding out what happened to the author is so extremely intricate and involved that, I can't go into detail for fear of giving something away.

Suffice it to say, this book was engrossing. You followed Daniel on his mission of finding out more about Julian Carax and you were a spectator as he went from a ten year old boy to a nineteen year old man. The book follows him through his first crush of the blind niece of Gustavo Barcela, to his fateful meeting with a beggar named Fermin. Every step that he takes is important and every mystery that he solves is eye opening.

The real zinger came three quarters of the way through the novel and it left me stunned. I wasn't sure how Ruiz Zafon was going to handle that but with everything in this book, he did so with grace and elegance. It took me longer to read this book than most others because I've been catching up on a Comic Book series at the same time. But every time I turned back to this novel, I picked it up and had to fight to put it down. It was truly beautiful and the ending, like the beginning, left the reader intrigued and excited for what would happen next.

Comments

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