Review – The Prisoner of Heaven, Carlos Ruiz Zafon ★★★★☆

Though not as strong as the first two books in the series, The Prisoner of Heaven, the third book in the series of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books is still a delightful read.

Here, the story follows Fermin Romero de Torres. He has made a life for himself in Barcelona, working in the Semperes’ bookshop and he has found happiness with his fiance who he is set to marry very soon. However, when a man comes in a buys the most expensive edition in the shop from Daniel Sempere only to leave it at the counter with a dedication to Fermin, Daniel fears for his friend and can’t stop himself from investigating. Fermin’s past is catching up with him. He thought he had moved on but something is dragging him back and once again, the streets of Barcelona are flooded with a mystery that leads to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

The Prisoner of Heaven is a satisfying piece of Zafon’s puzzle. It is written in his typical style full of dark and Gothic scenes described in the most elegant prose yet where it falls behind its predecessors is in its simplicity. In places, the mystery is much less tangled than in either The Shadow of the Wind or The Angel’s Game. It still holds within it, a heat warming story, marking Fermin’s ascendance from squalor to his imminent marriage but it has less intrigue and motivation for the reader to keep turning the pages than the previous two novels.

However, this is, as I have said, still a very satisfying addition to the series. What is framed as Fermin’s story ties in much more than just his past. The Semperes are bound to Fermin’s story and it all inevitably leads to, from and back to again, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Aside from his prose, this is where Zafon shines. He has truly created a web of events that must have required delicate planning before his triumphant execution. Each novel is posed as a standalone story and they can be read independently but to do so would be to rob yourself of the wonderful network that has spread and grown throughout each of the books.

This has left me eager to pick up the tome that is The Labyrinth of Spirits to complete the puzzle. Thought not as strong as the first two books, anyone would be foolish not to include this in their reading. Zafon has set the bar so high that even his weaker work is written beautifully and presents a tragic and moving tale of struggle and love.

‘A good liar knows that the most efficient lie is always a truth which has had a key piece removed from it.’ – Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Prisoner of Heaven