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“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”

Release Date: May 2001

Genre(s): Adult fiction, historical fiction, gothic, mystery

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 487

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Synopsis

The Shadow of the Wind is a historical fiction novel that takes place in 1940’s Barcelona. It follows a book dealer’s son, who, while greiving the loss of his mother, finds comfort in a book called The Shadow of the Wind. But as he searches for the author’s other works, he finds that someone has been destroying them, and he may have the last copy. Set out to know why, the narrator delves into Barcelona’s history and secrets.

Review

This is a book that I’ve actually been recommended quite a bit before I finally picked it up. It’s also a book that I quickly became frustrated after reading only thirty pages, and wondering why I haven’t read this book earlier.

The Shadow of the Wind checks off many items for what I like to find in a book. I personally love dark, atmospheric settings that are well-written. I also love characters that you want to spend time with despite some of their actions. There’s a special kind of magic at the beginning of The Shadow of the Wind when we’re first introduced to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. But as the book continues, the premise gets darker and deeper, and I was absolutely entranced by the mysteries behind this book. There’s also this really interesting moral question behind the main character’s meddling, and I love that this was questioned throughout the book. It’s such a wonderfully-written book all around.

Something that’s a bit small that I also loved was the wide use of vocabulary. I really enjoy taking the time to look up words I’m unfamiliar with while reading, and I had so many opportunities to do so while reading The Shadow of the Wind. And this may be personal to me, but I really liked the way the range of vocabulary fit in such a way that these words don’t seem out of place. Instead, it added so much to the lyrical writing of this novel.

I also really enjoyed the ending of this novel, despite it deviating from what I usually prefer in endings. Lately, I feel as though a lot of the books I’ve been reading had abnormally fast pacing right up to the end, to the point where it felt like the author just decided to stop writing. I didn’t find that to be the case with The Shadow of the Wind. I found the ending to be a perfect match for the pacing of the rest of the book, giving the reader everything needed.

So if The Shadow of the Wind is a book that’s been recommended to you too, I hope you pick it up soon! And if you’re a fan of absolute immersion in a novel, gothic settings, and a book to get lost in, I think you’ll really like this book too.