Rating: 
Summary: Flawed, but fun
Review: Although Mr Ruiz Zafón has published many other books, this is his first one to become a favorite. In many ways it seems like a first book. Other reviewers have said that it is overlong. I agree. Dickens can write an 800 page book that yet is shorter than might have been. This book suggests that is not Ruiz-Zafón's case.
The plot as such can't be faulted. The book starts and ends with the same image: a boy and his father approaching an old building in old Barcelona, through the vanishing night fog. Many of the characters are excellent, particularly the tortured Julian Carax, and his nemesis, the police inspector. Fermin is also fun, but sometimes a bit too cute for an adult book. Barcelona is nicely portrayed in this story. Perhaps a map for non-Catalans would have been nice. The architecture is well-portrayed, in this neo-Gothic tale.
So what are the defficiencies? Some characters (such as the blind pianist to whom Daniel, the protagonist reads, or Beatriz's brother, and even Daniel's father) don't really come together. They appear to me quite underused given their potential. In this sense, Ruiz is more an "atmosphere" type of author, rather than a "character" guy (like Dickens) or a "plot" guy (like Umberto Eco, to who he has been likened, somewhat spuriously). Noting a likeness to Borges is a bit insulting to the Argentinian sage. Not all books featuring enormous librabries are Borgesian. The book has also several factual mistakes, the most jarring of which, to me, was that Bogota was in Venezuela. Although Caracas was once a Colombian city, Bogota was never a Venezuelan one. One would expect a Spaniard to know this (Ronald Reagan once confused Colombia with Bolivia, but it is such mistakes are more annoying when the guilty party belongs to the same culture). I expect a Barcelonian would probably find many factual mistakes in the city's alleged architecture, but that's just a guess. In the Spanish language version, the author employs many jarring anachronisms. At one point he has Daniel saying to Fermin to "rebobine" (rewind, or repeat what he was saying), which I expect would not have been really used in the early fifties. My issue of the Spanish Dictionary of the Royal Academy (the standard Spanish dictionary), which is the 1992 version, does not even include "rebobine" as a synonim to "repeat". Of course these discussions may seem arcane to English readers, but a really good book does not make this sort of simple mistakes, which show that the book was dashed out without much care or editing. Good atmosphere is not all. Proper research, and care for language, are also important.
This book, in fact, is not really very good, but it makes for amusing reading, perhaps in the context of a pool-side vacation. I would have given it 3 1/2 stars if that were possible. I don't think I'll re-read it, or give it as a present, but it was, all in all, a few hours of fun.
Rating: 
Summary: me encanta
Review: Beautiful. One of those that will suspend your reality and draw you into the story's. Probably one of my top 10 of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best novel I've read in my life
Review: I finished reading this intensely seductive and rewarding masterpiece two days ago. Since then I've been unable to get it out of my mind, and I think you won't either. The characters, the plot and specially the extremely powerful and clever brand of storytelling deployed here seem to have left me under a spell that I can't remember experiencing with any other book I've read in the last 25 years. The promise of the magic first few pages, a stunning and seductive journey to a wonderful place called "the cemetery of forgotten books", not only doesn't let down, but steadily builds up into a magnificent saga of intrigue, romance, passion, murder, satire and even spine-chilling touches of gothic suspense. This is literature of the highest order, but I think it is also the most intelligent, often wickedly so, piece of entertainment I've come across. It manages to be at the same time an epic love story, a spellbinding mystery about enigmatic books, a meditation on the power of literature and the boundaries between fact and fiction and a grand saga in the tradition of the 19th century classics. I could see a lot of Dickens and Victor Hugo here, but somehow powered and intensified by an mesmerizing cinematic drive that places the reader inside the story and its world. I read for hours on end, marveled by the language, the wonderfully drawn characters and the many secrets of the story. I felt echoes of Poe, Borges, Garcia Marquez, Eco, Wilkie Collins, Balzac and many others. But the voice here was entirely original, unique, unlike anything else I've read before. And modern, very modern, despite the references to those classic novels. I think a book like this comes once in a reader's lifetime. It becomes much more than a engrossing read, it reminds you why you are a reader and makes you much more aware of the power of great literature to touch your life. Above all, I don't remember having this much fun in ages, and at the same time I was moved, sometimes to tears, sometimes to terror, sometimes to hysterical laugh, beyond what I had thought a book could take me to. As I was reaching the conclusion, I felt I did not want it to end. I would reread scenes or chapters, much like young Daniel does in the novel when he finds the book that will change his life. In many ways this shadow of the wind made me a young Daniel, made me experience again the thrills of first love, the times when life held mystery and promise and I dreamed some day I could find and experience such a extraordinary work of fiction as this one. I recommend this novel 100%. I would even urge you to read it and not miss what most possibly will be one of the most intense, engrossing, rewarding and magical experiences in your life as a reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: I had been looking forward to this book and when I finally read it, was deeply disappointed. Part of this may be due to inappropriate expectations - I think I'd been hoping for a literary mystery in the 'Possession' mould - but the book doesn't even succeed as a Gothic thriller. The characterisation (with the exception of Fermin) was perfunctory, the plot both over-complicated and excessively simple (anyone out there not guess who Leatherface was within minutes of his introduction?). By the end, I'd lost all interest in who'd done what and why, and just wanted the whole sorry saga to be over. The author's attempt to generate suspense over the narrator's eventual fate was a cheap narrative trick that didn't work. The writing was untidy and included such infelicities as the author's voice taking over in a letter from one character to another, to enable her to describe events she had not witnessed. Very sloppy, wouldn't recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Bound for classic status
Review: I have never before said this about a new novel, but I have little doubt that Zafon's 'The Shadow of the Wind' will in time attain classic status. The novel tells about the experiences of a young boy named Daniel living in Barcelona, who one day innocently comes across a book called 'The Shadow of the Wind'. After enjoying the book, he is puzzled as to why nobody, even those knowlegable in literature, seem to know anything about the novel's mysterious author - Julian Carax. It is his curiosity to discover more about the life of Julian that sets him on the path to a thrilling but equally dangerous adventure.
The novel contains twist after twist as the story progresses, and the numerous characters, especially Daniel's hilarious friend Fermin, are all likeable. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Two thumbs up for CRZ...
Review: I just finished reading the book awhile ago, and believe me, I never would have written this review right away if I never found the book to be a great piece of masterwork. Clearly, it's the best book I've ever read in my entire life. I'd be lying if I said that it's a mediocre work. I do love reading and this is one of those rare books in the universe that made me realize that all the time I've spent reading isn't actually a waste of time. It also made me feel as if I wanted so badly to be a part of the story and that saying goodbye to its almost human characters is almost impossible. I tried to read slowly as I drew near the last pages of the book. I really want to share this story to my friends who disdain books but I thought that that would be impossible as the book's plot is so complex you cannot almost write a synopsis. One of my friends asked me what genre the book belongs to and I couldn't answer because Mr. Zafon got almost every genre mixed up in an astonishing blend: loss of innocence, intrigue, murder, romance, tragedy, humor, you name it. This book is a tribute to those people who loves to read. I absolutely recommend this book to everybody--especially those people who thinks that reading is a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Many pages, few suprises.
Review: I labored through this huge book and don't feel rewarded for doing so. What was this book trying to say with so many pages? Couldn't it have been done with 100-200 fewer pages? It was well written though dark and depressing. The only thing that kept me from giving it 2 stars was a nice little twist that I did not see coming. I won't spoil it for you if you decide to embark on this marathon of reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Sheer torture
Review: I was never in my life so glad to have finished a book! It was sheer torture from the first page, but I endured it to the end, thinking something really surprising and worthwhile had to come out of such a lengthy, convoluted and depressing narration. But nothing! No convincing characterizations, no historical insights, no heart-rending love story, no thrilling eroticism, no genial plot. On the other hand: too contrived, too many characters (that are never fully developed), too illogical, too dismal.
I was rather intrigued in the beginning, which emphasized the boy's yearning for his dead mother. I expected this to be the red line throughout the book, but instead the line becomes just a hazy memory as the boy moves on to his strange infatuation with a beautiful blind girl and then later on to his unconvincingly intense relationship with the soulless Bea.
You get the feeling that the author wrote scene to scene, thinking that now it was about time to have a romance, now a murder, now a bit of mystery. Apparently he also took too much too heart his creative writing teacher's advice to "complicate, complicate!"
Sorry, but there are too many good books out there to praise this one. Zafon can write, that is sure, and Fermin's language was witty, but if I were an editor I'd suggest a thorough rewrite here: he needs to simplify (and at the same time strengthen) his plot structure. He also needs to reduce the number of characters and consequently give these more space, and life.
Rating:
Summary: "Things from the past have to be left alone."
Review: I'm very grateful that THE SHADOW OF THE WIND was translated into English or I would have missed out on this magnificent and splendid novel. I applaud Carlos Ruiz Zafon's ability to make both the plot and characters come alive on the page ultimately resulting in a satisfying reading experience. At the center of this novel is the young Daniel Sempere who, during a visit to the Cemetery of Lost Books with his father, takes home a discarded novel by unknown author Julian Carax. After becoming intrigued by the book Daniel sets out on a journey back to the beginning of the 20th century to uncover the secrets of the life of Carax. There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the very end. As the novel progresses Daniel realizes that there are significant similarities between his and Carax's life. Accompanying Daniel on his journey is the womanizing Fermin who is full of espionage advice and the sadistic and brutal police inspector who has a fearful reputation. Despite the human characters I believe one of the effective characters in this novel is the setting of post-Civil War Barcelona, Spain. Carlos Ruiz Zafon creates a wonderful and intriguing atmosphere including rainy and dark nights punctuated with foggy mornings of the old cobblestone streets. While reading I couldn't help but envision the story in black and white similar to a classic movie. Presented is an alternate side of Barcelona not often seen in other works of fiction or films set in this city. All aspects combine to create an enjoyable book that I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Savor every moment of it...
Review: Ruiz Zafón has created a near-perfect novel: seductive and intriguing characters, a brilliant Spanish locale, and a lyrical style reminiscent of past literary masters. I found myself reading passages countless times just to savor the words. The language was so solid and mesmerizing, I could not believe it was a translation. The story lingers in your mind hours and days after reading it, and I become nostalgic; wishing I could read it again for the first time. When Daniel Sempere first enters the labrythine "Cemetary of Forgotten Books", he does not know that this single episode will change his life forever. Daniel discovers a novel entitled "Shadow of the Wind" and makes it his mission to find other books by its enigmatic author, Julian Carax. When he learns that Carax's novels have been systematically destroyed by an elusive stranger, Daniel must protect his volume from the flames. The more Daniel learns about Carax, the more he realizes the similarities and parallels between his own life and that of the author. Allot a good amount of time for this book, you will not be able to put it down.
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