Review: The Prisoner of Heaven (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #3) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I first read The Shadow of the Wind, I felt that one of the most heartwarming relationships in the story was the friendship between the protagonist Daniel Sempere and Fermín Romero De Torres. Fermín, despite being rather crude, had a relationship with Daniel that I found very wholesome because of how much they cared for one another.
With The Prisoner of Heaven, their relationship takes on another dimension that I found both intriguing and beautiful. While I didn’t expect the narrative to be structured the way it is, I admit that there are many aspects of it that I really enjoyed.
Before I go into it any further, let’s see what the story is about.
Summary
The story opens with Daniel working in his family’s bookshop one night when a stranger enters and buys a book. When the customer writes a note to Fermín in the book, however, Daniel realizes that his friend may be in danger and goes out to investigate.
Having learned about the note, Fermín decides to disclose his past to Daniel, hoping it will help him realize the circumstances Fermín faces. When Fermín’s past begins to intertwine with the present, however, Daniel realizes that he must work to help protect his friend just as Fermín has helped him in the past.
Thoughts
This story finally goes deeper into Fermín’s story, and we learn more about his past and how he got where he is in his life. I have been waiting for his full story since Shadow of the Wind, and a lot of it tied the former storylines together in gripping ways! I expected some surprises concerning Fermín’s past, but what ended up being revealed still subverted my expectations!
Fermín’s story is why I regret some of my comments in the previous review. While I still stand by some of what I said because I was thrown into that book with no context of the full situation, I think I wasn’t looking at every possible angle I could regarding book 2. Looking back on it, I believe that was unfair of me.
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s talk about the characters!
Characters
Daniel Sempere
I was surprised by how Daniel’s story was further fleshed out, even if it was in an indirect way. Seeing how he has grown and changed from the first novel was intriguing because of the way these changes were presented. I found his reactions to what he learned gripping and seeing how he uses this information to help his friend is heartwarming! The basis for this friendship is incredibly powerful and I love how Daniel wants only what is best for Fermín.
How he tried to go about handling his own personal situations also made for a compelling arc! While I find his actions relating to his personal life problematic because he doesn’t handle everything in the healthiest way, I love that his friendship with Fermín comes into play there, too, because they balance each other out and support each other through their decisions and mistakes.
Well, now that I’ve got that out about Daniel, let’s move on to Fermín.
Fermín Romero de Torres
Fermín is interesting to me. I absolutely love the angle his character takes in this story! I always felt there was something odd about the way he worked so fervently to be there for Daniel. Even with their established friendship, parts of his behavior hinted at there being more to this man than just feeling grateful to Daniel for what he did. What was previously established in The Shadow of the Wind hinted at there being more to Fermín’s past than he was letting on. Seeing it all come out here (and tie into the previous volume in some ways, too!) was captivating!
I like a lot of Fermín as a person. Seeing him finally open up to Daniel about everything was amazing, because even in the way he did it, he still showed a strong desire to protect his friend. His friendship and almost paternal nature he shows toward Daniel is incredibly sweet to see! Everything he does in this story is in service of protecting the people he loves, and I absolutely adore his determination to be there for them.
With all that out on the table, I think that’s all I have on the characters. Let’s move on to the structure.
Structure
In terms of structure, I want to discuss something in a similar vein to setup and payoff. So, previously in this series, setup and payoff often occurred within the same story which rewarded the reader’s investment in the plot. However, this volume relies heavily on setup for certain aspects without paying them off, leaving them unresolved. I don’t really like this type of structure. It doesn’t feel like it tells a complete story. While Fermín’s story is a self-contained narrative, the other elements involved outside of his tale are left hanging.
Given what happened in the previous volume, I can’t say that this series has had a unique structure that is set in stone. This third novel has a structure that acts as both an exploration of a major character’s past and the potential building blocks for the final volume. It’s also so much shorter compared to the volumes that came before it. And, unfortunately because of that, it feels unfinished in some respects. I hope that the final story will provide payoff for the setup that occurs in this shorter story. I would like to see some of the loose ends tied up.
With that said, let’s move on to the writing!
Writing
Given that a large portion of this novel is Fermín’s story from his perspective, there is a darker, grittier component to the prose. The word choice and dialogue highlight the dire, disgusting way he was treated. While this does show a shift in the writing style, once we leave Fermín’s point of view, the lyrical quality returns with Daniel’s point of view. This works wonders to show their different personalities and was very interesting to see!
However, there is one chapter in the story where this narrative flow is broken. At one point, we see a chapter from the perspectives of Fermín’s girlfriend Bernarda and her friends. While I understand why this was done, the change in the writing style wasn’t different enough from the prose in Daniel’s point of view, so I spent some time wondering who was being followed. The other issue is this chapter sticks out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t properly set up, and it threw me out of the story.
Anyway, I think I’ve gotten everything I needed to say out. Let’s wrap this review up!
Conclusion
So, I’m in an interesting situation here. My views on the last volume have completely changed and, in some respects, I wish this story had been rounded out more completely. However, given the content this story presents, I’m still looking forward to the final volume of this series!
With all that said, I am very excited to see how this series concludes in the final volume! All this taken into consideration with my thoughts above, I will be giving this story three stars.
The Writer's Library 