Alma Daniel

Advantages: Original, gripping, scary, exciting.
Disadvantages: It ends, and you never want it to!

...I read rather a lot of fiction as I am a bookseller, so I like to keep myself up to date on what to recommend to customers. This is one of the most original and memorable books I have read this year. The main character is a ten year old boy, called Daniel, who lives with his father in Barcelona, under Franco's reign. The story starts with Daniel's father, a bookseller, revealing to Daniel the secret existence of a huge library entitled the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. In the ancient tradition of this labyrinth, when somebody discovers it, they must choose a book that they have to keep and protect forever, to bring the book back to life, so to speak. Daniel is strangely drawn to a particular title, "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax and instantly knows that this is the book that he will take home with him. As he is reading... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Well written, clever characterisation
Disadvantages: Got confused about who was who

...It has taken me at least a week to read it (unusual for me, I'm a quick reader) and I must say I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. The Shadow of the Wind is one of those books which I think is a slightly acquired taste, and you need to be in the right mood to read it. Perhaps a second read is the key. The story opens with the ten year old boy, Daniel, being shown a great secret by his father. A library of lost books, where the tradition is for new visitors, who only visit on invitation from another, to take a book. They then have a duty to keep it safe and prevent it being lost in the sands of time. Ten year old Daniel takes a book, Shadow of the WInd written by a man named Julian Carax. Little does Daniel know, his selection leads him down a path where there is no turning back. His curiousity gets the better of him and he sets... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent read
Disadvantages: None really

...“The Shadow of The Wind” is Catalan author Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s fourth novel but it has been his breakthrough novel in the United Kingdom. Reading the novel it is easy to understand why. It has all the makings of a “cult” novel whilst being accessible and easy to read for the average reader as well. The story centres around the life of a young boy who loses his mother at an early age. His father being a bookseller it is the love of books which becomes Daniel’s driving passion – although the love of women is a pretty close second. The young Daniel is taken to his father to a mysterious repository of books “the cemetery of forgotten books” and this is what gets the narrative moving. According to Daniel’s dad the idea is that everyone should remember one book, sort of sponsor it, because when a book is forgotten it dies. Same with people... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful