It isn't very often I have guest reviews on the blog. Actually, I don't at all but today, my wonderful fiancé John is reviewing for me. This was one of his own books but I have sneakily asked him to write a few more reviews for me, seeing as he's reading from my pile at the minute anyway!
About the book
The
Prisoner of Heaven is the third book in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. The paperback was released on 7th March and
the book is 320 pages long.
Plot Synopsis (Taken from
Goodreads.com)
Barcelona,
1957. It is Christmas, and Daniel Sempere and his wife, Bea, have much to
celebrate. They have a beautiful new baby son named Julián, and their close
friend Fermín Romero de Torres is about to be wed. But their joy is eclipsed
when a mysterious stranger visits the Sempere bookshop and threatens to divulge
a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades in the city’s dark past.
His
appearance plunges Fermín and Daniel into a dangerous adventure that will take
them back to the 1940s and the early days of Franco’s dictatorship. The
terrifying events of that time launch them on a search for the truth that will
put into peril everything they love, and will ultimately transform their lives.
What I thought
I can't
tell you how excited I was when I heard about this book. This is the third in
the Cemetery of Forgotten books series, set in and around the Sempere and sons
bookshop in Barcelona. The two previous instalments were The Shadow of The Wind
and its prequel The Angel's Game. This is my favourite series of books and
Carlos Ruiz Zafon is my favourite author. I read this book in one day and I
loved every page.
The
Prisoner of Heaven is both sequel and prequel to The Shadow of the Wind (it
will make sense if you read all three) and is also a sequel to The Angel's
Game. The 3 books in this series are written as stand-alone, interconnected
stories, designed to be read in any order. They share characters, locations and
events but I'd recommend reading them in publication order - The Shadow of the
Wind first, then The Angel's Game, then this one. It will give you a richer,
fuller reading experience and I also think The Shadow of the Wind is the better
of the three so a good place to start.
As I said,
The Prisoner of Heaven is a sequel to The Shadow of the Wind and events follow
on from that book. Daniel Sempere is married and has a son and all looks good
for him - until the past catches up with him. I am deliberately not going into
plot details because the less the reader knows the better. Trust me.
Compared to
the previous two books, The Prisoner of Heaven is actually a pretty short and
non-complex story. It fills in some blanks from the previous books and helps
those two books slot in together. It adds some scope to it. This book also sets
things up nicely for the fourth, concluding part, which Carlos Ruiz Zafon had
better hurry up and write!
I can't
recommend this series enough. They are magical, gothic, supernatural, mystery,
thriller, horror, comedy, historical, haunting stories. The characters are
fantastic and I just love them. The Prisoner of Heaven is as fantastic as the
others - but make sure you read them first.
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