Product Description

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man - David Martin - makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books, and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city's underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner. Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Then David receives the offer of a lifetime: he is to write a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realises that there is a connection between this haunting book and the shadows that surround his home...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Carlos Luis Zafon was born in Barcelona and is the author of six novels, including THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, the most successful novel in Spanish publishing history after DON QUIXOTE. His work has been translated into more than 35 languages and has received numerous international awards. His books have sold over 15 million copies worldwide and THE ANGEL'S GAME was the fastest selling book of all time in Spain.

Customer Reviews

A book about books
Once more author Carlos Ruiz Zafon has produced a magically brilliant book about books with `The Angel's Game' being a supernatural saga, an action-packed thriller, a detective novel and a love story. - and perhaps even a philosophical or religious treatise. It tells a dark and gripping tale with narrative moving at a cracking pace and introducing something new on almost every page. Though a stand-alone novel `The Angel's Game' (about writers) follows from Zafon's first book `The Shadow Of The Wind' (about readers), but for me it is not quite as good. This is partly because, in spite of its compelling nature, it reads as though at least two translators were employed with varied language that is generally elegant and stylish yet sometimes colloquial and abrupt. However the main drawback is the book's proliferation of sub-plots (of which some are left unexplained) and their complicated inter-relations. This complexity undermines any possible plausible solution and for me it leaves the ending somewhat weak. I suspect author Zafon is deliberately provoking readers to use their imaginations and to arrive at their own conclusions. I discussed this with my wife and we had both interpreted things differently - so read it yourself - you won't be disappointed.

Disappointing
I loved Shadow of the Wind and wondered if The Angel's Game could live up top it - it didn't. The writing style is flawless as are the descriptions of old Barcelona and for about three-quarters of the book I was hooked. The last quarter stretched my credulity to breaking point with the main character brushing off numerous attempts on his life by armed and very tough police officers, leaving a higher body count than a Dirty Harry movie as the story degenerated into a series of chases and killings. I found the resolution clumsy and it did not explain the various mysteries which had been so beautifully set up earlier in the story.

A mixed bag of a book
I really loved the Shadow of the Wind and was really looking forward to this book. For the most part of the book it was again really interesting and atmospheric. However the plot was quite complicated and my impression was the author did not know how to finish the book. The Amazon reviews are interesting as alot of people have given it 5 stars. This surprises me as the ending is full of holes, the chase scenes with the police were not in keeping with the rest of the book, the whole ending of the book was complicated and not in the spirit of the main portion of the book.
I think there was a number of options open to the author as to how to end the book but he looked as if he kept changing his mind. To some this may look like keeping the reader guessing but in a book so large when you keep redirecting the readers suspicions the reader just loses faith that the author knows themselves how to finish the book.
There are some lovely sentences in the book and some lovely philosophies. Parts of it are extremely well written.
I can see why some people like it and some people don't rate it all.
This is because it is not a perfect novel but it could have been.
Isabella is a lovely character as is Sempere. The cemetry of books reappears which is a good connection to the Shadow of the Wind.
However David Martin is hard to like, so is Cristina its hard to know why he loves her. This whole twist with the previous owner of the house is completely illogical and underexplained and really grated for me as I finished the novel.
If I was the writer I would have finished the book about 100 pages earlier with a neat ending. Ending seem to be the hardest part for all authors. They get an idea for a novel but have to think as they write how to finish it.
I look forward to his next book I hope its more like Shadow of the Wind which was far more together and wrapped up at the end nicely with everything fitting into place.