New Releases: The Eye of Zoltar and Marina

Even though I bought The Eye of Zoltar a couple of months ago from the UK (it doesn't release in the US until October), I didn't read it immediately because, once again, it would leave me without an unread Jasper Fforde book on my shelves. But I recently needed a comfort read and nothing works better for that than Fforde so I had to give in. This is the third Last Dragonslayer book and it was surprisingly sad in parts. It was also surprisingly good, possibly the best of the series -- despite not having the Quarkbeast in most of the story. The development of the characters (especially Jennifer Strange) is coming along nicely and there was a great addition who I hope will at least have a minor role in the next story. I look forward to rereading all three when the fourth (and the last, according to Fforde) book comes out. I don't know how long I will have to wait though. His website also mentions a "standalone thriller of some sort" as his next book.

I also didn't want to read Marina right away, mostly because Carlos Ruiz Zafón's books are perfect fall reads and we're so close to RIP season -- but then I couldn't leave this gem sitting on my review shelf. It has a gorgeous cover and it is the final book in a loose collection of YA horror tales, following The Prince of Mist, The Midnight Palace and The Watcher in the Shadows. He wrote all of these books in the 1990s, before he wrote Shadow of the Wind.

I could actually see some of the seeds of Shadow in Marina. It was creepy and quite gothic and was another of CRZ's love letters to Barcelona, a city that I'm now equally excited and frightened to visit. It's the story of fifteen-year old Oscar, who is drawn to what he believes is an abandoned house, only to then be drawn into the quiet, mysterious lives of Marina and her father. Marina and Oscar are also dragged into a much more sinister mystery that begins in a graveyard and ends in flames. This book had a heartbreaking ending but the journey was well worth it. It had a slightly slow start but then it picked up and I couldn't put it down until I was done. I'm sad that this is the last of CRZ's early books to be translated to English.

I promised Trish that I would suggest which of these CRZ books to read first (they are all stand-alones). After finishing all four, I honestly can't decide. They are all equally good but different, so choose whatever you're in the mood for -- a ghost in Bombay, a monster in Barcelona, or one of two seaside terrors. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Back to waiting,

K

p.s. I received an ARC of Marina from the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.

New Release: The Prisoner of Heaven

Though I prefer to pick up Carlos Ruiz Zafón's novels in the fall, preferably on a rainy day, I couldn't wait to read The Prisoner of Heaven this summer after attending an author event at my favorite local indie bookstore on the day after this novel was released. I hadn't realized how much I missed the characters he had created until he was speaking of them as old friends. I was tempted to reread The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game but CRZ was clear that the books could be read in any order so I thought I would be fine just reading this new one. Well, I was completely fine with starting right into this book but I am still going to need those rereads because I also remembered how much I love this story and I didn't want to be done with it when I turned the final page.

I don't want to give too much away because I know that many of you have the other two books on your TBR lists. I'll just say that Daniel Sempere, the main character of Shadow, is an adult, working in the family bookstore with his father and his friend Fermín Romero de Torres. Fermín is due to be married soon but must resolve something from his past first. To help him, Daniel must delve into the past and into the history of author David Martín, the man we got to know in Angel. This story treads a bit of new ground in the present but mostly fills in the mysteries of the past, things that cannot help but affect the future.

I really enjoyed this book and what I was able to learn about all of these characters that I thought I already knew. The writing was amazing as always and I'm as much of a CRZ fan as I ever was. If you are also a fan of this series already or if you want a quick introduction to the place that readers of these stories can't stop dreaming about, The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, be sure and download the free short story Rose of Fire. It's set in the fifteenth century and documents the origin of that special place. And when you fall in love again, pick up one of these novels for a read or a reread!

Lost and found,
K

"It's snowing over Edinburgh on this 16th day of April, 1874."

One of my read-a-thon books was The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu -- a petite book with a small tale inside.  Celia passed this book on to me after not quite connecting with it.  She went into it with certain expectations and was let down when she got something different.  Knowing this helped me to go in with a clean slate and I found the book charming if a bit forced in parts.

Simply, Jack is the abandoned son of a Scottish prostitute who almost dies at birth from a frozen heart.  The woman who delivers him ingeniously keeps his heart moving with the help of the mechanism from a cuckoo-clock.  As Jack grows, he must learn to accept the limitations of his heart or risk destroying its delicate balance.  Of course, true love enters his life early with the Flamenco-dancing Acacia and he puts his life on the line for her love.

Malzieu is a French musician -- lead singer of the band Dionysos.  I hadn't heard his music when I started the book but part way through, when I felt comfortable with his written voice, I went to find out what his real voice was like.  It was exactly as I had imagined, deep and bassy with a sense of sarcasm underneath.  There is a companion album to this book (in a mix of French and English) by the band that sounds like a mix between a Tim Burton soundtrack and Portishead with a French pop twist.  In fact, there is an animated film of this tale in the works which is slated to be released next year.

Parts of this story are crude and others are touchingly sweet.  It won't appeal to everyone but it's certainly a unique little book that I'm sure will become a cult favorite.  Here is a sampling of songs from the album (very strong language warning!).




Going the distance for love,
K


Support our site and buy The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart on Amazon or find it at your local library.  We received our copy from the lovely Celia.  I'm not sure how she got it.

Early Review: The Angel's Game

Just as I thought would happen, once I started reading Carlos Ruiz Zafón's new novel, The Angel's Game, I couldn't put it down.

This book is a prequel of sorts to The Shadow of the Wind. This book happens in the time when Sempere Sr. was himself the son of the bookseller, living in the shop above the store. The Semperes are not the focus of this story, however, but rather a young writer named David Martín. David is an orphan, raised in the newsroom of a local paper and supported by the generosity of a wealthy benefactor. He is given the opportunity to write but only under pseudonyms and in a base style for the masses. David is tired of not getting credit or compensation for his efforts so when a mysterious publisher contacts him about writing one world-changing book, he enters a bargain that he will come to regret. Again touching on the themes of love and loss as he did in Shadow, Zafón also ventures this time into the murky region of good and evil. Though this book enters the realm of the supernatural, it spends most of its time in the darkest parts of man's own soul.

This book again takes us through the most glorious and also the most destitute parts of Barcelona. Luckily, David takes us again to visit The Cemetery of Forgotten Books and we actually learn more about this mysterious library and its history. The supernatural element disappointed me a bit only because The Shadow of the Wind was so fantastic at exploring only the hearts and minds of men. Still, this was an interesting study of the basis of religion and the forces and motives behind it. The mystery itself was strong and there were parts of the narrative when I couldn't tell at all what direction it would take. This was a strong second offering by Zafón.

This book will be released next Tuesday (June 16).

Wondering if a visit to modern-day Barcelona would ruin the magic,
K


Buy The Angel's Game on Amazon or find it at your local library.

"I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time."

Comment on this post to participate in a giveaway for an ARC of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's new novel The Angel's Game.

In preparation for my upcoming read of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's new novel, I decided to re-read his first one -- The Shadow of the Wind. It had been years since I first read it and though I remembered loving it, I couldn't remember details or the style of writing. I am so glad to have taken this time to revisit such a great book! The writing (especially for a translated book) is fantastic and the plot is satisfyingly twisty and angsty.

Daniel is a ten-year-old boy whose father is a bookseller. One day, his father takes him to the "Cemetery of Forgotten Books", a sort of holding place for books that are in transition between owners. When someone visits the cemetery for the first time, that person gets to choose any book they fancy. Daniel chooses a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. After racing through the book in one night, he goes in search of other books by Carax only to find that someone has been collecting all of Carax's published books and burning them. As Daniel gets older, he uncovers more and more about this true story from the past, putting himself and his family in danger.

There are so many love stories told in this novel -- Daniel's parents, Daniel and his first and second loves, Julián and his true love and many others. Most are disfunctional or limited by the social mores of the time but they are all touching. The mystery of Carax is fabulously crafted and, even the second time through, was shocking in parts. This is just one of the rare near-perfect novels and I can't wait to read Zafón's next book.

Now on to the contest ...
I luckily received two copies of the ARC of The Angel's Game. I would love to share one with another reader (in the U.S. or Canada) who is interested. As this book comes out quite soon (June 16th), I am going to make this a short contest and try my best to get this sent out before the release date. So go ahead and leave a comment on this post (with your e-mail address if you don't have it in your profile) by end of day Monday (June 8) if you are interested. I will announce the winner on Tuesday.

Hoping for a second fantastic read,
K


Buy The Shadow of the Wind on Amazon or find it at your local library.

"Bernie had lain at the foot of the knoll for hours, half conscious."

There are certain books that you know are going to end badly. Whether they begin with "This is how I died" or are based on a true story that you know the ending to, you go into the book with mixed feelings of curiosity and dread. This book, Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom, gave me that feeling. Being a story based in Spain under Franco's regime and during World War II, you knew that it couldn't have a completely happy ending. It would have been a farce. This book, sadly, didn't disappoint.

Set briefly in London and then in Spain, this book takes place between about 1937 and 1941. Harry Brett, Bernie Piper and Sandy Forsyth all attended Rookwood, a public school in England, when they were young. Sandy was expelled for bad behavior and Bernie became a communist and ended up fighting and presumably dying in the Spanish Civil War. Now, Harry has been asked by the British government to go to Madrid and spy on Sandy whom they think is involved with a new business venture that will possibly lead Spain to join the war on the side of the Germans. When in Spain, Harry discovers that Sandy is living with a woman he once knew as Bernie's girlfriend, Barbara. Plots twist together as Barbara discovers that Bernie is alive and in a prison camp and that she needs Harry's help to rescue him. Meanwhile, Harry tries his hand at spying but his heart is not in it.

Sansom is very clear in his writing that both sides were at fault in this time of strife and unrest in Spain. He seems to believe that the only ones that are blameless are those that remained apolitical, who only tried to survive. It is very sad to read about the poverty and famine that the Spanish people had to endure during this time, even as they were being attacked by their own government. Though this book was not predictable -- and even had a somewhat surprising plot twist near the end -- it was a foregone conclusion that all of these characters would not make it out unscathed. With the types of people that they had to interact with and the system that they had to work in, life was difficult for both the haves and have-nots.

I have read one other book by Sansom (Dissolution) and I appreciate his style and the amount of research he does. This isn't your typical spy or war novel with sex and profanity and senseless violence. It is a well-presented fiction that takes place in a time in Spain's history that was all too real. In fact, my own great-grandparents fled Spain and came to America when Franco gained control of the government. I am now motivated to find out more about their story.

Wishing in vain for world peace,
K


Buy Winter in Madrid: A Novel on Amazon or find it at your local library.