(Re-read) Book Review: The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #2)

My re-read for The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series took me to The Angel's Game. This is the 2^nd installment in the cycle. This book is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind, and it differs to the previous book by a great deal. When I read this book two years ago I thought the ending was a bit confusing. It was too abstract, but I liked 80% of the book. This re-read has changed my opinion about the book, and I came away with an understanding of its significance in the entire series.

Synopsis:

In the vibrant city of Barcelona stood an abandoned tower house, its walls and bricks echoed with the memory of a tragic past. Meanwhile, David Martin, a budding novelist, took residence in this forsaken mansion and made a living by writing penny dreadfuls under a pseudonym.

David was struggling with an impossible love, and he was also tormented by the memories of a troubled childhood. Not even his beloved books could shelter him from the onslaught of despair. When David's world reached the point of collapse, he received an invitation from a French publisher, Andreas Corelli, to write a book so powerful that can change hearts and minds.

My thoughts on this book:

The Angel's Game is a Faustian journey where the readers and the book's protagonist descend into a world of mystery and ambiguity. This is a story about the tragic consequence of love turning into obsessions, and I especially like the book's meditation on myths and the nature of belief systems, it is profound and thought provoking. Meanwhile, the story's theme reminded me of Dorian Gray and the works of Edgar Allan Poe, it blends mystery with romance, with splashes of horror in between.

The book is well written just like The Shadow of the Wind even though it is an English translation. In fact, the entire series was translated from Spanish into English by Lucia Graves. This opens the question whether if the excellent writings testify the skills of the author or the translator. A lady from my book club has a friend who can read Spanish, and according to her, the English translations are very faithful to the Spanish originals.

The worldbuilding in this book is superb. In this re-read, I took my time with the book and I noticed details which I didn't see before. Zafon's Barcelona is a living and breathing city with shadow-haunted mysteries and deep intrigues. Many secrets and plot twists were hidden in the story, but Zafon kept them close to his chest and revealed them very late in the book. There are multiple story threads in this book and the transitions were seamless. The Angel's Game introduced David Martin, a new protagonist who plays a central role (minor spoiler) in the rest of the series. The story narrates David's rise and fall in the literary world after he took on a strange contract to write an unusual book. The story kept me guessing whether if David's ordeal was supernatural or the product of his own imaginations, and there was a good tension between these two possibilities. Other than David, the book also introduced Isabella, a support character whose identity, when revealed in the end, will shock veteran readers of the series, while also setting up the premise for the follow-up story. This also means one can enter The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series from The Angel's Game instead of The Shadow of the Wind.

Out of all characters who appeared in the book I like Isabella the most. She is charming and her qualities left a deep impression on my mind. As for David, I feel sorry for this ill-fated novelist, especially since the ending left rooms for doubt whether if his ordeal wa a result of a mental illness or that of a supernatural encounter. I have already read the 3rd book, The Prisoner of Heaven, and I am currently reading The Labyrinth of the Spirits, which is the final installment in the series, I can see the ambiguous ending in The Angel's Game was intentional. I can also assure you, my gentle readers, that the next two books answer the mystery about David. Therefore if you are confused by the final chapter in The Angel's Game, then make sure to continue and read The Prisoner of Heaven.

I still prefer The Shadow of the Wind to The Angel's Game, but after this re-read I see the book in a different light. The first time I read The Angel's Game I liked 80% of it but I found the ending confusing. In this re-read I came to appreciate those 80% even more, and most importantly now I understand the ending was written in a manner, not only for the book to be a stand-alone story, but it is also a connecting piece to a grand narrative and the theme in the series, it is very clever and intricate. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books is a series for lovers of stories, and it is a place where I will revisit time and again in the future.