The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart.

This is definitely one of the best books of this year!! Thank you so much Gen for sending me the third (?) book in the series and hence getting me to start with this. Now I'm half-excited and half-scared to start the book that you gave me cause I don't know if it's as good!

Unlike the previous book-themed mystery (and I'm definitely classifying this as a mystery), this was fantastic and seriously amazing. The Shadow of the Wind starts when Daniel is taken to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books by his father. There, he is allowed to take one book back and the book that calls to him is an unknown novel called The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax (which I also want to read)

In his quest to find out more about the author, he discovers that someone has been buying (or if unsuccessful stealing) copies of Julian Carax's novels and burning them. Plus a menacing and definitely corrupt police officer shows up. These lead to a years-long mystery that ushers Daniel into adulthood.

I'm actually not sure if the above summary does the book justice because it is a lot more complex with a whole cast of characters. Apart from Daniel, the character that made the strongest impression on me was Fermin, a homeless drunk with an amazing ability to find books. He also has a silver tongue and a past with that menacing Inspector. He becomes one of Daniel's most important allies in his quest to find out what really happened.

I feel that the cast of characters and their relationships to one another were so well-written that they helped balance the whole book. It's easy to let the mystery dominate or the growing up Daniel has to do dominate, but since the characters are involved with both and each half cannot be untangled, everyone comes together in one seamless whole, and the journey for the truth becomes Daniel's path to adulthood.

Even the romance was something I enjoyed reading. Not gonna give spoilers (I hope! I will try!) because it is something that happens pretty late in the book, but I thought the false love lost and real love found arc was really good. By the way, adult themes are in this book although it's never explicit and there is swearing so don't give this to children and maybe younger teens (depending on their maturity).

The ending is happy, although not completely. There is one character and one relationship that doesn't end well (or as well as I'd hope) but I find that the little bit of sadness makes the happiness that Daniel and the rest get feel much more real.

I would recommend pretty much everyone (who isn't a kid, like I mentioned before) read this, especially if you like books and mysteries surrounding books. I loved everything about this - the plot, the characters (except the bad guys, though there was one character redemption that was surprising but still believable) and the writing.