Tania's Book Review

The Angel’s Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Sometime during the last year, I gave a glowing review to Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s novel, “The Shadow of the Wind.” In that amazing book we first met the character Daniel Sempere of the Sempere & Sons Bookstore, and were introduced to the fictional Cemetary of Forgotten Books.

“The Angel’s Game” is sort of like a prequel, in that it takes place in the same Barcelona neighborhoods and we get to meet Daniel Sempere’s mother, father, and grandfather. However, they are sort of peripheral characters; the book’s narrator and central character, David Martin, is new and gets to tell his very own story.

Like its predecessor, “The Angel’s Game” is beautifully written with lovely, lyrical language - Zafon is a great writer. Another similarity is the dark, gothic vibe that runs throughout the book. However, while I still enjoyed this new novel a great deal, it was almost a little too full of darkness and despair – it lacked some lightness that could have been provided by a humorous character or perhaps something positive happening to the narrator once in a while. And while the book held my interest from beginning to end, its pace really started to slow about halfway through, and never really regained its momentum.

Overall “The Angel’s Game” was worth reading, especially because it sheds some light on Daniel Sempere’s family history. But it didn’t quite measure up to “The Shadow of the Wind.”

The verdict: 3 stars out of 5