Truth be told, the book on my Spanish bookshelf was actually found on the bookshelf of our Latvian BnB. The book I read for Latvia, Soviet Milk, was pretty short, and I saw Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s Angel’s Game shelved right next to it. I’d already read and enjoyed another of his novels a few years back and learned that they are both part of a trilogy of books, all set in Barcelona, with an ancient secret library as their connection point. So I began reading it during our last couple of weeks in Riga, then switched over to an ebook copy to finish up during the Camino and as we settled into our apartment in Seville.
The protagonist of Angel’s Game, David, writes penny dreadful books but aspires to be the author of something grander for which he can become famous. Unfortunately, he falls ill and in a desperate moment meets a mysterious stranger with a pin on his lapel in the form of an angel who offers to help with both his health and his writing ambitions…for a price.
I was really into this book for probably the first two thirds of it, then started to get bogged down in the clues that were piling up toward the end as David began to try and figure out what was going on. I’ve read reviews saying that the third novel in the series is worthwhile and helps to clear up some of what I and some other readers didn’t quite follow in this book, so I might give that a try during our remaining time here in Seville.
Angel’s Game is part gothic mystery, part fantasy, part romance. It pairs well with cup of bitter coffee.
