The Shadow of the Wind By Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This book was so incredibly good I can't even explain. I am such an avid reader, and to be completely honest, a very hard critic in my own right, but there was absolutely nothing that I didn't like about this book. I loved the Gothic-mysticism this book exuded, and the characters were so vivid. The story line is so amazing and how it ends is unbelievably perfect.
In a nut-shell: Young Daniel lives with his father in post-Spanish Civil War Barcelona atop their small bookshop business that barely keeps them afloat. One night, Daniel's father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books- an old library containing single editions of long-lost novels. Daniel picks a book titled The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax, and soon becomes enraptured by both the intriguing storyline and of the author himself. As Daniel begins searching both about the life and other works by the young author, he becomes the target of a haunting and disfigured man named Laín Coubert, who happens to share the same name of a sinister character in Carax's novel. Daniel suspects Coubert has a history with Carax, as the troubled man has been left faceless from severe burns and has one goal in his mindset: to collect all of Julián Carax's novels and burn them.
Soon Daniel learns that his copy of The Shadow of the Wind is the sole remaining novel by Carax in existence, which increases the tension between him and Coubert. As Daniel learns more about the life of Carax, the striking parallels that are drawn between him and Daniel is startling, and the reader fears Daniel will end with the same fate as the young author.
This book is amazing, and definitely worth the read! It literally transforms you into another world and you become enraptured by the storyline. Zafon is such a talented author and when I learned he has another novel titled The Angels Game, I was ecstatic! If you love books as much as you do, this one will be on your All-Time Best lists, that's guaranteed!
