The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon | BOOK REVIEW

TITLE: The Angel’s Game (Book 2 Of  Cemetery of Forgotten Books series) AUTHOR: Carlos Ruiz Zafon ( Spanish) TRANSLATOR : Lucia Graves PUBLICATION YEAR: 2008 GENRE: Literary Fiction (Mystery, Thriller) PAGE COUNT: 504 FORMAT: Paperback AVAILABLE  AT : amazon

 The Shadow of the Wind (see review here) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon featured in my favourite books list of last year. I remember buying the next book in the series The Angel’s Game almost immediately after finishing it. I was so impressed by the writing and plot that I had to read all the books from this author- translator duo. Considering this being a part of series called Cemetery of Forgotten Books, I was under the impression that this book was either a prequel or sequel to The Shadow of the Wind. But after reading a few chapters , I realised that although the story was set in Barcelona and features the infamous Cemetery of Forgotten Books (which was also a part in The Shadow of the Wind) , it definitely reads as a standalone. I may call it a companion series but in no way is it a continuation of any kind.

I was super excited going into this book obviously. I read the first couple of chapters and I knew it was going to be a favourite. I was getting the same vibe that I was getting while reading The Shadow of Wind. Just like the first book, it was also set in Barcelona with the main protagonist being obsessed with a certain book and its characters. The writing style was beautifully atmospheric which took me back to that era in which it was set. I was happily enjoying the ride when somewhere approaching the middle I started feeling bored. I had such a hard time keeping up with the story and the innumerable cast of characters. I was soon losing interest and in order to  make sure that I don’t quit , I was desperately trying to find reasons on why I should continue it. Honestly, the only reason that I could come up with was its beautiful writing .

The story is set in Barcelona  and follows a young man named David Martin who makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. He had his share of ups and downs in life since childhood. Eventually a rich man named Pedro Vidal took him and gave him an opportunity to work as a journalist. There he started writing sensational stories for the newspaper and  That is how he ended up becoming a writer for a hugely popular crime series. Things started getting messy when he discovered that he had tumour. It was at this moment when  a French publisher Andreas Corelli asked him to write a controversial book on religion. In exchange Andreas was willing to not only cure his illness but also offered a huge sum of money. Unable to resist such a lucrative offer, he starts working on the novel but soon finds himself muddled in a deep dark mystery which could potentially harm his soul.

Reading the above synopsis , it is pretty apt to say that the story is undoubtedly intriguing . I thought the same and found the premise of the book extremely fascinating . The first half was fast paced and things were happening left , right and center. I was thoroughly enjoying it . However I couldn’t find any substance once the synopsis /premise part was over. It started getting messy and confusing.
The characters were also not up to the mark. A majority of them were so forgettable that I had to go back and check their names while writing this review. The  main lead David was a writer and we were told that he was a book lover , but seldom do we see him devour a book or even write a page.  Correct me if I am wrong but the only time that I can remember him talking immaculately about books was when he was describing a bookstore where he says ,

“One of the peculiarities of Barcelo’s bookshop was that books were spoken about as if they were exquisite wines , catalogued by bouquet, aroma, consistency and vintage.”

The only side character that I truly loved was a teenage girl named Isabella . She was funky , cool and I adored her banter with David.  I also loved the friendly dynamic between David and a bookshop owner named Sempere. The conversations between these guys filled my heart with warmth and joy. I was secretly hoping to see more of these two side characters. The antagonist Andreas was so clichéd and ridiculously boring.

The writing was the only saving grace for me . As mentioned before , I finished it solely for the writing style. The descriptive writing managed to give me the chills at the right time. The narrative was peppered with beautiful quotes such as this- "In this rotten world nothing is worth a single centimo if there isn’t someone to share it with.”

I know it is unfair to compare this book with The Shadow of Wind but hear me out- just like this one, The Shadow of Wind also had complicated plot and a huge cast of characters which could have potentially made it a confusing book . But what worked for it were the endearing characters and a believable plot. This one however, lacked amazing characters and the open-for-interpretation climax managed to leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

Overall it was a disappointing read for me probably due to my high expectations . But it isn’t  a bad book in any way . It is a well written book with a superb premise but unfortunately for me , the bad outweighed the good at the end. If you like historical fiction with some mystery/ thriller elements or if you are a big fan of the author’s previous work , this one’s for you.

RATING- 🌑🌑🌑 (3/5)