The Labyrinth of the Spirits: A Novel (Cemetery of Forgotten Books)

If you adored Shadow of the Wind, this novel will not disappoint. If you're new to the series, welcome. I'm jealous of the first time reading experience you're about to have. One of the wonderful things about these books (this is the 4th and supposedly final) is that they can be read in any order and while they're all standalone stories, each adds a layer of context and insight into the others. It is truly a labyrinth of storytelling and masterfully done. Having said that, knowing the first three books added to my experience reading The Labyrinth of the Spirits. It's not mandatory to begin with The Shadow of the Wind, but I would recommend it. Atmosphere abounds in this genre-defying book. I felt like I was right there with the characters, twisting through the streets of Barcelona, hiding in the shadows, breathing in gunpowder, living off of caffeine and adrenaline, and pushing through too-little sleep to uncover the next piece of the puzzle. The Semperes and Fermin Romero de Torres return, as do other friends and enemies from the previous books, but the main protagonist in this story is Alicia Gris, a bold and alluring woman assigned to investigate a missing person (a returning character who I'll let you discover). The pacing is fantastic. It starts with short snippets into various POVs and story lines as a sort of appetizer before slowly building on the main mystery of the book. You gradually uncover more as the plot builds and you delve deeper into the heart of the city and characters. About halfway through the pieces begin to fall together with increasing speed and for the next 200 pages or so it's non-stop, unputdownable thrills. Yes, there are a few twists, one of which actually made me close my book in disbelief for several minutes before I felt capable of continuing. Nothing felt contrived. Everything felt fitting. I didn't feel cheated or misled. The pace slows down again at the end of the book to ease you back to normal and fill in the gaps. In the end you also get quite a bit of insight into what Ruiz Zafon values in the craftsmanship of writing, which is woven in along with acknowledgments of sorts in a clever way that not everyone may not love, but I quite enjoyed. It is one satisfying, gorgeous read. Like the other books in the series this installment is a wonderful mix of genres: mystery, historical fiction, police procedural, political thriller, romance, fantasy... If you're looking for a fun, light mystery this isn't for you. It's over 800 pages, with multiple characters and sub-plots to keep track of, and, while not gratuitous, it has some torture and squeamish bits to make you uncomfortable if you're highly sensitive. However, if you enjoy modern Gothic tales dripping with atmosphere or detailed mysteries with complex histories to sink your teeth into, this book is fantastic. The series is truly a gift to book lovers, not only for its gorgeous storytelling and compelling characters, but also because it's a series about books, featuring the most fantastic library imaginable, a charming bookstore, lovable booksellers, mysterious authors, the process of writing, the magic of storytelling, and the powerful, undeniable hold that a treasured book can have on a reader. I was a fan of all previous books, but if readers of the series were disappointed in The Angel's Game or The Prisoner of Heaven, fear not. The Labyrinth of the Spirits is Carlos Ruiz Zafon as his masterful best. Despite its length, the story flew by and every page felt necessary and engaging. I will be returning to this book, and the series, many times in the future. The atmosphere and level of storytelling are unparalleled.

In his forward to his fourth (and final) book about the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Zafon writes, "Each individual installment in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series can be read in any order, or separately, enabling the reader to explore the labyrinth of stories along different paths that, when woven together, lead to the heart of the narrative." I think there is some truth in this, although I recommend beginning at the beginning (_The Shadow of the Wind_), as the characters and of course the Cemetery itself, are easier to follow, and events from previous books might be spoiled by starting here. That said, Zafon is a writer of breathtaking beauty and his words and the world of Barcelona in the 50s and 60s is - like his books - magical. _The Labyrinth of the Spirits_ begins at the end of the story in 1992, before jumping back to the spring of 1938 when Spain was in the throes of its brutal civil war, jumping ahead again to the late 1950s and early 1960s dealing the brutality and ugliness of Franco's Spain and the tragedies that many Spaniards experienced, and which were buried and hidden for decades. Early in the book, Daniel Sempere asks his old friend Fermin "Is this a story or love, or war?" to which Fermin answers, "What's the difference?" This, I think, gets to the heart of the story - and wanting to avoid spoilers, I can only talk about the plot in the broadest terms. On the surface it is missing details of the Sempere family, but mostly it is about censorship and the atrocities and crimes the Fascists perpetuated against families like the Semperes. Alicia Gris, a agent of the state, is asked to find a kidnapped Minister who has old ties to the Sempere family dating back to the civil war; as Gris begins her search, she gradually discovers many secrets the Franco government would prefer to be forgotten. Her dogged investigation endangers both her life as well as the Semperes who are unaware of the threat. But as with his previous books, Zafon writes with many layers to his story. Issues of justice, of complicity and a burning accusation of the Franco regime (which Spain is still struggling with, even after 40 years since the dictator's death). As Zafon explains it, "meritocracy and the Mediterranean climate are by necessity incompatible." The story is compelling, but for me its the writing (and magnificent translation by Lucia Graves) that warrants such an enthusiastic recommendation. Perhaps its because I am a bibliophile that I am so smitten with his books, but Zafon writes with breathtaking beauty - a lost book Gris stumbles across captures my reaction to reading his work: "Every paragraph, every sentence, seemed written in a musical key. The narrative drew her through a cadence of timbres and colors that sketched a theater of shadows in her mind. ... relishing every sentence and dreading the moment when she would reach the end. When, upon turning the last page, she came across the illustration of a curtain crashing down on a stage and making the text evaporate into shadowy dust, Alicia closed the book over her chest and lay down in the dark, her gaze still lost in the adventures of Adriana in her labyrinth." There are many authors of whom I recommend for a variety of reasons. Zafon earns my highest and most enthusiastic recommendation - not only for the complexity of plot and honesty of character, but especially for the lyric, almost poetic rhythm of his prose. If you have not read his earlier books in the series, do. If you are familiar with the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, you will especially enjoy the conclusion to the narrative here.

This last part of the quadrilogy (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books) expertly brings everything together in an intricate dénouement of events and characters, revealing the painful and often unspeakable reasons for what came to pass. A worthy conclusion to a saga-symphony of stories that started unraveling in The Shadow of the Wind, wrapped within tales, spanning decades, set in a theatre of humour, tragedy, history and love, played by personas of such authenticity that the reader will feel richer for knowing them, yet sad when remembering that they are not real. One cannot help falling in love, crave revenge, cry with pain and shudder at Man’s capacity for cruelty and perversion. I shall come back in a few years and read again the adventures of Daniel, Fermin, David, Isabelle, Julian, Beatriz and mesmerising, intimidating, heartbreaking Alicia (may I meet you one day!). Hopefully, the inevitable forgetfulness of age will allow for the suspense to be restored. Thank you Mr Zafón, for this rollercoaster journey of laughter, tears, clenched teeth and fists, and many, many fond smiles, not least those accompanied by nods of quiet admiration, as I bowed to your storytelling skills.

Ruiz Zafon finished his "Labyrinth" series with a very powerful book. There are multiple story lines that were all somehow connected; and through those we reconnected with many of the characters that we met in earlier books. It is not a book that can be read in one day, and the reader needs to pay attention to the time that each chapter takes place. The history of Spain in the 1930s until the 1950s was sometimes a bit too much, and I found myself skipping over paragraphs for that reason. The end of the book and the series is overall very satisfying. The only character that remained a mystery to me was Alicia; who sometimes came across as overbearing and annoying. I won't describe details because I don't want to give anything away in respect of the ending and twists and turns. Overall, I am sad to say goodbye to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books... Wouldn't we all love to find such a treasure?

Completing this book finishes a literary journey for me that has lasted a month. I had read the first book in the series about 10 years ago and recall enjoying it a lot - enough to make me want to travel to Barcelona. When I started ths book: Labyrinth of the Spirits, I discovered there was little I recalled of the first book so I suspended reading this one and went back and read the whole series in order of publication. There are so many details and scenes in the books it is a challenge for this reader to maintain his orientation. In the end both locations in the city of Barcelona and characters from the novels became increasingly real and interesting. Perhaps like any story about people there are loose ends and uncertainty. However I felt the end brought me closure. I would say this last book is the most complex and meandering of the series. For me one test of a good novel is whether I care about the characters. This book passes that test with flying colors. While it has elements of a mystery or puzzle, it must be experienced rather than figured out. I almost felt I should mind map the book to help keep characters, places and events straight. A tennet of the cemetery of lost books is that books carry the souls of the writers and readers in them. Ruiz Zafon has put a lot of soul into the book. Each reader will discover what of him or herself goes into the book as well.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón returns to the world of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, this time with a new protagonist, the steely and enigmatic Alicia Gris. Alicia crossed paths with the redoubtable Fermin Romero de Torres as a child, when he saved her life in an air raid during the Spanish Civil War. Since then, the orphaned Alicia has been recruited into the Franco regime's secret police, where she is regarded as one of its most dangerous and effective operatives. Alicia and her new partner, veteran detective Juan Manuel Vargas, have been tasked with finding Mauricio Valls, the Spanish Minister for Culture, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Soon Alicia and Vargas are making headway where others had failed, but the vicious conspiracy they uncover runs far deeper and far wider than they had ever expected, and it is unclear whether or not the Franco government actually wants Valls returned alive. Alicia's life also collides again with Fermin's and those of the Sempere family, putting them all in danger, and bringing the Semperes to the edge of disaster. "The Labyrinth of the Spirits" is a welcome return to full form for Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and this work is close to the heights he achieved with the first novel in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books cycle, "The Shadow of the Wind". Dripping with gothic atmosphere and dread, Zafón's characters are beautifully realized and his command of language remains outstanding. The structure of the book is a bit unusual, however, in that the narrative effectively shifts from Alicia's story about four-fifths of the way through, to focus on Fermin and the Semperes, and where the first portion was a propulsive thriller, the final portion is a bit of an extended epilogue. This epilogue ties together everything the reader has encountered in the first three books and puts them in perspective, and while the knowledge it imparts is welcome, there is something about it that is just a bit too expository and pat. This is a relatively minor quibble, however, as a chance to visit the world of the Cemetery is a thing to celebrate, and this is (what appears to be) a satisfying finale to a captivating saga.

I am pleased to say that the final volume of 'The Cemetery of Forgotten Books' did not disappoint. The only thing that may have taken away a star was the length of the novel. I don't know that it needed to be that long, but I felt it took me forever to finish even though I was enjoying it. The other volumes in the series could be stand alone books, or as many others have said, read in any order. I feel fortunate that I was late discovering this series as I read all of the books, in order, within the past year. Although some of the plots may have been a little hazy, I didn't feel lost or have trouble remembering who the characters were. The previous volumes shared some of the characters but took place in different time periods and the plots didn't rely on each other. However, in 'The Labyrinth of the Spirits', CRZ manages to weave them altogether into one. We see how the character's paths have crossed and how the storylines, though separate, were in essence acts in a play. I am truly in awe of this author and his brilliance. Outside of this series, 'Marina' is also a magnificent read and I plan on reading all that have been translated to English.

It isn't often that a novel has the power to stay with me for days, even weeks after I put the book down. Perhaps it is because I read the CFB in order, or perhaps because Labyrinth was the best, but I found myself wanting to go back to the beginning of the series, like visiting old, familiar friends. To Google things like "map of Barcelona, 1939"; track down the sparse illustrations to see more of what their authors had created, and to learn more about the Spain of Hemmingway's time and before. There's a part of my mind that doesn't want to believe that these people aren't real, that this isn't a work of fiction, and I suppose that's the best review I can offer. For those who are just starting this book or any in the series, I envy you. Although they all stand alone, my advice is to get all four, start at the beginning. You will be rewarded with some of the greatest storytelling of this age and, like me, will be crestfallen when someday you realize there is no more.

Great book, so glad these have been translated to English!

Cemetery of Forgotten Books 4部作の完結編。The Shadow of the Wind が2001年に書かれて、The Angel's Game, The Prisoner of Heaven と続き、ついに2016年（英訳版は2018年）に本書が出版された。第1作は実に感動的だったが、第2作、第3作は、それぞれ謎や疑問が残って、複雑な解明しきれない余韻があった。そして、第4作の本書、The Labyrinth of the Spirits は、800ページを超える大作だが、まさしく page turner で夢中で読んだ。今までの不可解さが、ジグゾーパズルのピースが一つ一つはまっていくような感じだった。 1938年～1960年代のスペイン、バルセロナとマドリッドを舞台に、内戦と続くフランコ政権の時代、暗黒の冬の時代に暗躍する権勢欲、確執、謀略、虐待などが横行している。一方では、あの Cemetery of Forgotten Books の秘密めいた静謐な場所と、Sempere & Sons Bookshop の温かな人々は健在で、父から息子へ、そのまた息子へと彼らの物語は紡がれていく。Fermin も重要な役割を果たす。 本書では新たな主人公として、Alicia Gris という20代の女性 (Millennium シリーズの Lisbeth Salander を思わせるような）が登場して、彼女を中心に当時の警察や秘密保安捜査員が関わって、Angel's Game の David Martin やその他 Montjuic の丘の監獄に閉じ込められた者たちの疑惑や謎が解明されていく。当時の所長だった Don Mauricio Valls の野望とその後、それぞれの家族の痛ましい苦境、関りを持つ弁護士やジャーナリスト、明らかになっていく恐るべき陰謀「盗まれた子どもたち」、Danielの母親 Issabella の死の真相、Alicia と Fermin の出会いと再会、様々なエピソードが織り込まれて、壮大な大河小説となっている。ついには消息不明だった、かの Julian Carax も現れて････。 1992年のスペイン、かっての危険にみちた暗黒の時代の空気はいつしか一掃されていて、バルセロナの街は明るい光にあふれている。8月9日、オリンピックの閉会式の夕べに、Sempere の孫、Daniel の息子である Julian Sempere が10歳の娘の手をひいて、バルセロナの街を歩く。2人は Cemetery of Forgotten Books に向かっている。

Awesome book in the series. Great price, fast shipping, protected packaging.

Non vedevo ora di andare a letto per leggerlo (l'unico momento della giornata che ho). Ottima trama, scritto bene e senza tanti aggettivi. Comprato anche il primo della serie. Mi piace questo scrittore.

The Labyrinth of the Spirits is the fourth book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. The book is mainly set in the late 1950’s of Barcelona and Madrid. Daniel Sempre now runs the family bookshop with his father and wife Bea and now has a on of his own, Julian, named after Julian Carax from the first book The Shadow of the Wind. Still wanting to find out the truth about his mother’s death, his path crosses that of Alicia Gris who as a child was injured during the war, and now works as an investigator of sorts. During her current investigation she comes across information that could reveal the truth, but at what cost? I was really excited to see that Carlos Ruiz Zafón had written another book in this series, so much so I bought a signed copy of The Labyrinth of the Spirits last year. As soon as my paperback copy landed on my doormat about two weeks ago I knew I had to read this book straight away. It is not a light read at just over eight hundred pages long, and certainly not a book you can speed read, Calos Ruiz Zafón is one of those authors who doesn’t waste one sentence, word or punctuation mark. The plot is fairly complex, with a lot of characters and at first you really have to concentrate to get the feel of the book. I took me a couple of hundred pages to really find my feet and from then on I was completely engrossed by this amazing book. It is hard to put this book under any one genre heading, there is historical fiction, thriller, crime, mystery and certainly a touch of the supernatural and this is what makes Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s books unique. Being part of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series it comes as no surprise that there is a book at the centre of the plot; The Labyrinth of the Spirits series by Victor Mataix. This book is an homage to Alice in Wonderland and set in a darker version of Barcelona, accessed by a Labyrinth. Going back to a much loved series is a wonderful as you reconnect with much loved characters. In this book many of the characters from previous books make an appearance, some only in name, others as physical characters. Daniel now has a son of his own, who as you would expect loves books being the son and grandson of a bookshop owner, and is taken to the dreamlike Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a place that sounds like heaven to me. Daniel’s side kick Fermín Romero De Torres is also back and we learn a bit more of his mysterious past. However, the most intriguing character in this book is the beautiful and strong Alicia Gris. As a child she was orphaned and suffered a horrendous injury during a bombing raid, and grew up in orphanages. Not much is known of her life but in the 1950’s we learn she is in her late 20’s and working for some dark organisation as an investigator, and sometimes assassin. She comes across as cold, heartless and detached, but through the book and in her relationship with working partner Vargas we see her thaw and show emotion towards others. Alicia is a character that grows on you as her story develops, and one I would love to see back in a future book, a real Femme Fatal. The Labyrinth of the Spirits is a breathtaking and epic book. This was such an amazing reading experience, where I literally got lost in the pages of the book, forgetting time and reading for hours on end. The multiple threads of the plot knit together to create a rich and detailed story that draws you in and captures your full attention. Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a masterful storyteller whose books are magical, and all encompassing with memorable characters. To say I absolutely loved this book would be an understatement, this type of book reminds me why I love reading and books much; sensationally sublime and stunning !!