Book Review - The Prince of Mist

Title: The Prince of Mist
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Publisher: Phoenix
Release Date: 27th May 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1444000443

Synopsis
In 1943, Max Carver's father - a watchmaker and inventor - decides to move his family to a small town on the coast, to an abandoned house that holds many secrets and stories of its own. Behind the house Max discovers an overgrown garden surrounded by a metal fence topped with a six-pointed star. In the centre is a large statue of a clown set in another six-pointed star.
As the family settles in they grow increasingly uneasy: Max’s sister Alicia has disturbing dreams while his other sister, Irina, hears voices whispering to her from an old wardrobe. With his new friend Roland, Max also discovers the wreck of a boat that sank many years ago in a terrible storm. Everyone on board perished except for one man - an engineer who built the lighthouse at the end of the beach.
As they learn more about the wreck, the chilling story of a legendary figure called the Prince of Mist begins to emerge... 

My Review
This was the only book by Zafon that I hadn't read so when i spotted it on the library shelf I had to grab it. It's a fairly short book at just over 200 pages. In fact I read it in one sitting. Made all the more readable by Zafon's amazing stroy-telling powers and mysterious events that keep you hooked throughout.
When Max and his family move to a small beach-side cottage he isn't sure what to make of it, especially when he finds a strange blocked off garden with some creepy statues, one of a clown and the others as circus performers, even stranger Max swears he sees one of them move. As events around the beach front start to get even stranger the secrets of the old lighthouse keeper start to emerge. The Prince of Mist was a story, a cloaked man would grant you anything your heart desires if you just ask. What they don't know is that the wish comes with a price and if you don't fulfill your end then he will come back for you. But it's all just stories, right? Max, with his sister and his new friend Roland must discover just what happened all those years ago with the sunken ship and why the lighthouse keeper is so nervous, and just what could the Prince of Mist want after all these years.
The story has a romance element between Roland and Alicia but it isn't forced, it seems very natural and I like the couple together, the mystery will keep you hooked to the end and you won't see the twist coming. There are some spooky moments but mostly it's just exciting and will keep you turning the pages. I had finished it before I knew it, the ending is very satisfying if not a little sad, and as always I wanted more.
This one is aimed at younger readers and is the perfect introduction to his works.

My Rating

      

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Book Review - Marina

Title: Marina
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Publisher: W&N
Release Date: 26th September 2013 
ISBN-13: 978-0297856474

Synopsis
In May 1980, fifteen-year-old Oscar Drai suddenly vanishes from his boarding school in the old quarter of Barcelona. For seven days and nights no one knows his whereabouts. . . .
His story begins in the heart of old Barcelona, when he meets Marina and her father Germán Blau, a portrait painter. Marina takes Oscar to a cemetery to watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the fourth Sunday of each month. At 10 a.m. precisely a coach pulled by black horses appears. From it descends a woman dressed in black, her face shrouded, wearing gloves, holding a single rose. She walks over to a gravestone that bears no name, only the mysterious emblem of a black butterfly with open wings.
When Oscar and Marina decide to follow her they begin a journey that will take them to the heights of a forgotten, post-war Barcelona, a world of aristocrats and actresses, inventors and tycoons; and a dark secret that lies waiting in the mysterious labyrinth beneath the city streets. 

My Review
I think that Carlos Ruiz Zafon is one of the greatest writers ever, I have read all of his books and I just can't get enough, he is a master story-teller, able to weave a whole world around you and capture you within the story. I am always swept away by him, there is something almost poetic about his writing, it just flows off the page and really captivates me.
This was one of the last books by him that I had to read and whilst I was waiting for the next book in the series I was reading to come out, I thought I would fill my time with this. I expected it to last me a few days at least but I read it in 2 sittings, starting it in my lunchbreak one day then finishing it all the next afternoon. I just didn't want to stop reading, it was addictive.
Oscar is captivated by the old mansion house and it's strange occupants, a young girl called Marina and her father German Blau. He discovers that they are actually very nice people and he develops a crush on Marina. When she tells him of a mysterious old woman who visits the graveyard every month, on her own, cloaked in black Oscar is intrigued, but as they start to investigate her past, they uncover more than they bargained for. Dodgy dealings, dark secrets and creepy experiments. Soon the two of them are fighting for their lives and the truth. 
I loved Marina as a character, she's very fiery and has a great sense of humour, yet she also has a vulnerability that makes her very likeable. Oscar is almost the opposite, he's a bit thoughtless and rushes headfirst into situations, but he's also goofy and rather sweet. 
Once again Zafon delivered a top class story, with enough chills and thrills to keep you hooked. The living dummies in the shed made my skin crawl, but I couldn't stop reading. 
A little bit scary for younger readers, but overall another fantastic book.
If you haven't read his books, I highly recommend him. The Shadow of the Wind is truly spectacular.

My Rating

    

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#YAStandsFor Daily Social Challenge... Day 5!

In my final day of participating in the I Read YA Week celebration (you can keep partying, it goes on through Monday!), I found myself presented with a new challenge of: Create a graphic showcasing an inspirational YA quote.

I'm not super tech savvy and I've never created a graphic before. But with just a little Google searching and a download of an app, I was able to create this:

Thanks for joining me this week! I hope you all enjoyed it! Please follow or subscribe for notifications of new posts and reviews upcoming on the Bibliophile Support Group!

#YAStandsFor
@IReadYA

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#YAStandsFor Daily Social Challenge... Day 4!

During the ongoing annual Scholastic event I Read YA Week, they are presenting readers with Daily Social Challenges to get us thinking on what #YAStandsFor to each of us individually.

Today's is: Swap a YA book about the positive power of friendship with your bestie.

Slight problem, my bestie is not a bibliophile. I know. I know. 

But it's ok! Instead I will just spotlight a book I would share, if he was less bonkers and more bookish. 

My choice: Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen.

Unlike some of the initial books that ran through my mind in response to this challenge, this book shows the positive power of new friendships. It shows how friends can push you outside of your comfort zone, broadening your perspective on what opportunities are feasible to you... and in the case of Keeping the Moon, pursue a fresh start.

And without being disingenuous, I can honestly say finding the right friend(s) at the right time can be a life changer. This novel highlights that. Definitely a book that has a strong memory attached to it, it was impactful and inspiring to me. Easily meets today's challenge, in my opinion.

#YAStandsFor
@IReadYA
 

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#YAStandsFor Daily Social Challenge... Day 3!

In honor of the annual I Read YA, Scholastic's #YAStandsFor Daily Social Challenge is: Give a shout out to your favorite literary fictional hero.

OMG, can you ask anything more difficult from a bibliophile?!?

I think this is only a step below: What is your favorite book?

Seriously Scholastic, way to torture my poor, fragile, book loving mind!

There are far, far too many choices and far, far too many beloved characters for me to choose. So, I am picking a particular heroine that stands out to me from a more recent read.

Madeline, from Nicola Yoon's novel Everything, Everything is my choice.

I am aware this book has been made into a movie, I have not seen it. But the novel was... lovely.

My reason for choosing her: Madeline is a character whose Severe Combined Immunodeficiency disallows her from going outside the sanitized, safe world of her home and the company of her longtime nurse and single mother.

She is positive, cheerful and intelligent - a girl who has done everything and seen everything through all the novels she has read over the years. But she decides that life is something to be experienced, not just read. And she decides that the risk is worth the reward of truly living.

There is a quiet but pure courage to that. It was impactful to me and it was certainly a great book.

But, again, FAVORITE LITERARY FICTIONAL CHARACTER?

I call foul, Scholastic.

#YAStandsFOR
@IReadYA

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#YAStandsFor Daily Social Challenge... Day 2!

Today I continue the Scholastic I Read YA celebration with the second #YAStandsFor Daily Social Challenge to: Tell us about the YA book that helped you find your voice.

It's likely going to be a choice of many, but I have to choose the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Some people may call it a Children's series, but as he ages up to seventeen in the series, I think we can safely say it falls in the YA category safely also.

My reason for picking this series, is that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the book that truly cemented by love of reading. As a kid, I loved reading Babysitter's Club and Goosebumps, Nancy Drew and other great stories - so I was already a fledgling bibliophile. But when my 6th grade teacher started reading from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to the class during the end of day free time, I fell truly, madly, deeply in love with stories.

Never before had I felt so entranced by a narration, by the world building and colorful characters and dialogue presented. It compelled me to find a copy of my own so I could read more than the bits I heard every day at school. It helped me to find my voice in that I began to identify as a Book Lover and a Proud Bibliophile.

#YAStandsFOR
@IReadYA

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#YAStandsFor Daily Social Challenge... Day 1!

Howdy There, Bibliophiles!

As part of Scholastic's teen community annual I Read YA, Scholastic is encouraging book lovers to share in fun challenges that spotlight how awesome YA is as a genre, a genre that is honestly pigeon holed by the age of the protagonist instead of the content of the story inside. So, I am going to participate in a few of these to get my toes back into the waters of the wonderful world of YA once more. I'd love for y'all to join in and tell me What Does YA Stand For... for you?!?

For myself, YA stands for a genre that caused me some of  the best adventures in sci-fi, mystery and romance during my teenage years. I didn't stop reading YA when I entered my 20s, but my memories are vivid of when I identified with the characters that were placed in extraordinary situations. Whether the engrossing and wonderfully sarcastic heroines of some of Meg Cabot's early works when she wrote as Jenny Carroll - The Mediator series and 1-800-Where-R-U series specifically - or the lush, soapy, saucy historical series The Luxe by Anna Goldbersen, there were always fun characters to attach yourself to in order to immerse yourself in a world of intrigue and suspense. It helped to further nurture the hypnotic world of imagination that needed a new placed to go after all those years of playing with toys.

So many genres and literary styles are encompassed in the two letters "YA." And it holds a mass majority of my library in its clutches. How about you?

#YAStandsFor 

@IReadYA

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