El juego del angel / The Angel's Game (Spanish Edition) [Hardcover]

Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2008

En la turbulenta Barcelona de los años 20, un joven escritor obsesionado con un amor imposible recibe la oferta de un misterioso editor para escribir un libro como no ha existido nunca, a cambio de una fortuna y, tal vez, mucho más.Con un estilo deslumbrante e impecable el autor de La Sombra del Viento, nos transporta de nuevo a la Barcelona del Cementerio de los Libros Olvidados para ofrecernos una gran aventura de intriga, romance y tragedia, a través de un laberinto de traición y secretos donde el embrujo de los libros, la pasión y la amistad se conjugan en un relato magistral.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fans of Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind and new readers alike will be delighted with this gothic semiprequel. In 1920s Barcelona, David Martin is born into poverty, but, aided by patron and friend Pedro Vidal, he rises to become a crime reporter and then a beloved pulp novelist. David’s creative pace is frenetic; holed up in his dream house—a decrepit mansion with a sinister history—he produces two great novels, one for Vidal to claim as his own, and one for himself. But Vidal’s book is celebrated while David’s is buried, and when Vidal marries David’s great love, David accepts a commission to write a story that leads him into danger. As he explores the past and his mysterious publisher, David becomes a suspect in a string of murders, and his race to uncover the truth is a delicious puzzle: is he beset by demons or a demon himself? Zafón’s novel is detailed and vivid, and David’s narration is charming and funny, but suspect. Villain or victim, he is the hero of and the guide to this dark labyrinth that, by masterful design, remains thrilling and bewildering. (June) -- Publishers Weekly, starred Review

Another delicious supernatural mystery from bestselling Catalan author Zafón (The Shadow of the Wind, 2005).Mix Edgar Allan Poe with Jorge Luis Borges, intellectual mysterian Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and maybe add a dash of Stephen King, and you have some of the makings of Zafón’s sensibility. Fans of his earlier book will be pleased to find themselves on patches of familiar ground, including a revisit to that wonderful conceit, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Indeed, this is a prequel–but only of a kind: Familiar figures turn up at points, only to seem less than familiar as the narrative twists and turns. The none-too-heroic hero, David Martín, is an aspiring journalist who bucks hackwork to turn in a crowd-pleasing series for a tough boss. This leads him into an onerous contract with the usual crooked publishers and, indirectly, into a rivalry with his former mentor–all of which, naturally, entails love triangles and smoldering egos. The picture is complicated by the arrival of another curious publisher, Andreas Corelli, who offers David piles of pesetas to write, well, a book of a different sort, involving research that yields piles of corpses and occasions ample cliffhangers. Zafón has a fine talent for inserting unexpected hitches into a story line already resistant to graphing, whose outcome is definitely not seen from afar. The plot resolves in a rush, for the author finds himself with many a loose end to tie up, but once it sinks in, the result is more than satisfying. Zafón delivers a warning about the dangers of obsession, mixed with an obvious passion for literature and the printed word; his book is also a song of love for Barcelona with all its creaking floorboards and hidden subbasements.A nice fit with the current craze for learned mysteries and for spooks of both the spying and the spectral kind. -- Kirkus Reviews


Praise for The Shadow of the Wind

“One gorgeous read”—Stephen King

“Diabolically good”—Elle magazine

“Superbly entertaining”—Washington Post

“Breathtaking”—New York Times

“Wondrous”—Entertainment Weekly

“Magic”—New York Times Book Review

“Absolutely marvelous”—Kirkus

“Infectious”—The Economist

“Outstanding”—Library Journal

“Lavish”—Booklist

“Gripping”—Philadelphia Inquirer


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Carlos Ruiz Zafón es uno de los autores más leídos y reconocidos en todo el mundo. Inicia su carrera literaria en 1993 con El Príncipe de la Niebla (Premio Edebé), a la que siguen El Palacio de la Medianoche, Las Luces de Septiembre (reunidos en el volumen La Trilogía de la Niebla) y Marina. En 2001 se publica su primera novela para adultos, La Sombra del Viento, que pronto se transforma en un fenómeno literario internacional. Sus obras han sido traducidas a más de cuarenta lenguas y han conquistado numerosos premios y millones de lectores en todo el mundo. www.eljuegodelangel.comwww.carlosruizzafon.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 667 pages
• Publisher: Planeta Pub Corp (June 30, 2008)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 8408081187
• ISBN-13: 978-8408081180
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,505,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carlos Ruiz Zafón is the author of six novels, including the international phenomenon The Shadow of the Wind. His work has been published in more than forty different languages, and honored with numerous international awards, including the Edebé Award, Spain's most prestigious prize for young adult fiction. He divides his time between Barcelona, Spain, and Los Angeles, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Muy disfrutable, June 27, 2008

By 

Walter Landesman (Uruguay) - See all my reviews

This review is from: El Juego del Ángel (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)

El nuevo libro de Ruiz Zafón - el Juego del Ángel, en verdad me cautivó. El final puede ser discutible, acelerado, con no todas las respuestas a todas las posibles preguntas, pero las primeras 640 páginas ( de las 666) son fascinantes, disfrutables de leer, de gran imaginación, y de alguna manera te hace sentir en una Barcelona de comienzos del siglo xx.
Intriga, misterios (más lineales que en La Sombra del Viento , donde uno llevaba a otro y era como un juego de damas chinas), una atmósfera mágica, extraña y de a momentos cuasi mística. Realmente muy interesante y de lectura muy recomendable.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's discuss the contents and not so much the binding ..., June 14, 2008

By 

LA Avid Reader "Silvia" (LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: El Juego del Ángel (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

I read "La Sombra del Viento" (Shadow of the Wind) in one sitting, and thought it to be one of the best books I've read in the last 10 years. It took me just three days to finish this one, which is supposed to be a sequel, but you can perfectly read it independently of The Shadow. I don't want to be unfair with this one, cause I loved the other one so much. It is a good book, kept me going and interested, and found some parts very catching. I am not giving it 5 stars cause I was a bit dissapointed with the end, I felt the author had already written too many pages and some editor told him "that's it, you have to end it". Nevertheless, I strongly recommend it.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A prequel to La Sombre del Viento, August 31, 2008

By 

Carlos T. Mock "carloschicago" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: El Juego del Ángel (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

This is the parallel story of 'La sombra del viento' or The Shadow of the Wind. David Martin, a writer is given a task to write a book about a new religion. The 'boss' Andreas Corelli, offers a fortune for the task. Just like in the first book, the words that are written turn into a web that mixes reality with the imaginary. The Sempere character is also in the book and again there is a love triangle which includes the 'Cemetery of the forgotten books.' Mr. Zafon creates a great adventure of intrigue, romance, and tragedy through a labyrinth of treason and secrets, where the mystery of the written word, the passion and friendship create a wonderful masterpiece.