About five years ago I read the novel ‘Shadow of the Wind’
by Spanish novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Whilst I can’t remember everything about
it off the top of my head, I do remember it being a brilliant story with great
characters, a plot with twists that caught me off guard and a suspenseful
narrative. In 2009, Zafon followed that book up with a prequel, ‘The Angel’s
Game’. Since I enjoyed Zafon’s first novel I thought about buying ‘The Angel’s
Game’ upon release, but after seeing some mixed reviews I decided to loan it from
the library instead. In retrospect, this turned out to be the better approach.
==---Plot---==
David Martin is a struggling author living in an abandoned,
mysterious mansion house in 1920s Barcelona. David writes stories for newspapers
under the pseudonym Ignatius B. Sampson but dreams of publishing his own novel-
if he can get the time and money first. Furthermore, the mystery of his rather
gloomy abode and a doomed romance with Cristina Sagnier, the secretary of
David’s best friend and mentor Pedro Vidal, bring him very close to breaking
point.
However, David then receives mysterious letters from a
French publisher, Andreas Corelli. When the two finally meet in person Corelli,
in exchange for a huge amount of money and promises of whatever David wishes,
wants him to write him a book- one about the creation of a new religion. Yet as
David gets himself deeper into his task, he soon discovers that there is connection
with Corelli’s request and the secrets of his home’s former inhabitants. Can
David discover the mystery and protect his friends before he gets embroiled in
the same fate?
==---Opinion---==
As with ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ I was hooked onto ‘The
Angel’s Game’ from the first page. Initially the story is very well-paced and
Zafon’s narrative (or the translator’s skill) really hooks you in with both
emotional and creepy moments. It is both
a thriller and mystery novel as David tries to get to grips with the past
owners of his mansion and how they relate to the project he has offered to do
now. He presents post-WWI Barcelona, in David’s own stories as well as his own
first-person narrative as a beautiful, elegant city with a seedy underbelly.
David Martin is an excellent protagonist. He is very well
developed with a troubled childhood – a mother who left him and a father who
was at odds with his love for literature- and so many up-and-down moments in
both his love life and writing career. There are moments where you really
sympathize with him as he spirals further into despair, so then you want to him
to ‘get the girl’. The supporting characters are also vividly portrayed.
Perhaps my favourites were the bookshop owner Senor Sempere- a character who
acts as a father figure to Martin, and the feisty aspiring writer Cristina, who
joins a rather reluctant David for inspiration at his house.
Unfortunately, while the first two acts are well-written
enough to keep me reading for hours, I was very disappointed with the third and
final part of the story for a couple of reasons. First of all, from about the
halfway point several characters Martin die for reasons related to his project
and his investigation into the demise of the former owners. The first couple of
deaths were moments that really catch you off guard in the novel, but by the
climax so many supporting characters have perished and their deaths just felt dull,
leaving little impact. Some characters are only introduced to us in person once
to solely give Martin their bits of exposition to the mystery- and then kick
the bucket!
Furthermore, during the climax David’s investigation became
very confusing. As I’ve said, Zafon sometimes had Martin search for people with
no preamble as to who it was until they answered/he broke down the door. With
plot twists and deaths in almost every other chapter, I found myself getting
confused as to whom David was chasing, why so-and-so was following him, and who
was real and who was actually someone else, etc. Generally, this section felt
anti-climatic as the final showdown finishes quickly and, to me, didn’t seem relevant
or tie up some of the loose ends at that point.
Nevertheless, the ending itself managed to cover some of the
patches and, although I still felt a little confused as to the course of the
past few chapters, it was very bittersweet as we find Martin has a price to
pay.
==---Overall---==
‘The Angel’s Game’ is a good novel, but definitely not as
strong as its predecessor. That said, it has more good points than bad points
and I’d still recommend it if you’ve read ‘Shadow of the Wind’ first (though if
you haven’t read that first even though this is a prequel; it’s excellent!). Just
don’t expect to be completely blown away by this offering. Hopefully Zafon’s
third novel in the ‘Cemetery of Forgotten Books series’ will be an improvement
and I look forward to buying it...well, looking for an actual hard copy in the
library. :(
3.5 out of 5.
Review of a library copy only. It may also be found on 'ciao!' and Dooyoo.
Image from Goodreads.
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