“Every book 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.”

This quote is from another one of my favorite books, The Shadow of the Wind. The book is, in large part, about books themselves and the power they have on everyone they touch. Written by the Spanish novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind is set in Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War, and follows the story of a young boy. The boy, Daniel, stumbles upon a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax and falls in love with it, but when he goes to find more copies of Carax’s work, he learns that someone has been systematically destroying every last copy of Julian Carax’s novels, and he may have one of the last novels left in existence. “Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.”

Obviously, this book has a lot going on in it. I’ve read it twice now and I still think I need to read it another time or two before I can actually fully grasp everything that is going on in the novel. The Shadow of the Wind is also written as a story within a story – and sometimes, it can get a little bit difficult to actually keep all the information you’re reading straight and in the correct storyline. Nevertheless, the stories are woven together so creatively and unexpectedly that you’re CONSTANTLY guessing at what will happen next. In a time where most stories are just made up of different cliches, Zafón manages to take all the cliches in the book (doomed love, murderous revenge, gruesome deaths, femme fatales, etc.) but utilizes them all in surprisingly fresh and unique ways. As someone who often does not read mystery novels, I found The Shadow of the Wind difficult to put down both times that I read it.

I think that my favorite element of the novel is the quality of the writing. Zafón is an immensely talented author, and almost every single line he writes is filled with poetic metaphors and imagery. He has a masterful control over language that makes the reader feel every emotion he conveys in his writing. And I think, to that point, it makes sense that the language in the novel would be so beautiful, as the book itself is Zafón paying homage to all books and the power they hold on anyone fortunate enough to have them.

I have yet to read any of Zafón’s other works, although The Shadow of the Wind is considered by many to be his best. If you have time and happen to like mystery novels (or even if you don’t), I strongly suggest checking it out.