Review: The Labyrinth of the Spirits (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #4) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There is something about Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Cemetery of Forgotten Books that just clicks with me. This series has so many aspects that made it a story I just had to finish. The characters are interesting, the setting is fascinating, and each volume ties into the overarching narrative of this universe in some way, shape, or form. Often, discovering how each installment has played a part in the overall story world has been one of the most rewarding aspects of this series for me!
The final volume in this saga – The Labyrinth of the Spirits – tries to bring together all the previously established information by tying it together with a new character that I didn’t expect to like as much as I did. I’ll discuss this further in the character section.
Before I get into my thoughts, let’s look at what the story is about.
Summary
We open to a young woman Alicia working for the Spanish police. Since the last installment, the governor Don Mauricio Valls is still missing, and Alicia and her partner Vargas are tasked with finding him. However, as they continue the search, they discover that Valls himself may not be as innocent and great as he is being built up as.
As Alicia and Vargas discover more about the case, they realize that the overall task is bigger than Valls himself and exposes a dark side to their work.
As Alicia uncovers more information, will she be able to remain safe as people look to stop the case in its tracks?
Thoughts
This ending delivered what I was hoping for in a lot of ways. While the book itself is massive, it again provides an intriguing narrative that I quickly found myself wrapped up in! I love how Zafón tries to tie everything together. The idea behind this story’s structure is still fascinating to me and I love the role it plays in the overall series.
I think another one of the biggest winners for me when it comes to this story is the atmosphere it immerses the reader in. Barcelona as depicted here is both incredibly dangerous and intriguing, making it easy to get invested in whatever is happening! The setting almost works as a character on its own in some ways, with each area of significance coming alive. This resulted in an incredibly engaging experience for me, where I found I didn’t want to leave the locations that were explored. The best example I have of this is the titular Cemetery of Forgotten Books – the idea of such a massive literary sanctuary is very appealing to me. I love how Zafón highlights the beautiful darkness of the setting, and it’s one aspect I’ll always remember about both this volume and the series as a whole!
With all that laid out, let’s move on and discuss the characters!
Characters
Alicia Gris
I admit, I was worried when I learned that a new character would be brought into this universe given its scope, but Alicia ended up being very interesting! I love that she is tough and knows how to survive in a world where women are not given the same level of respect as men. She isn’t afraid to do what she must to get what she needs or wants from others. While she is a morally grey character at heart, I was captivated by whatever she did because she was still highly sympathetic.
Besides her personality, how she ties into the previously established worldbuilding is one of the most interesting things to me. Seeing how she is brought into this series’ universe was gripping and helped give context for some of her later actions. While she has her own intriguing arc to go through in this story with her job, seeing how she connects to certain previous characters in this story was also captivating and helped raise the stakes of the story! She ended up being a fantastic protagonist to follow!
Now that I’ve discussed Alicia, I want to check in on an old character from this series. Let’s get into it!
Daniel Sempere
I can’t write this review without discussing Daniel one final time. His story has been a rollercoaster. Seeing his emotional journey carried over from the previous installment was both horrifying and heartbreaking! Despite the darker side to his story, the grief he grapples with is palpable. The moments illustrating this grief show him in significant emotional pain and what that leads to when he makes impulsive decisions.
When I saw where this led, I was unnerved. While I do like that the people closest to him expressed grave concern for him, Daniel’s arc exposes a different side to his character that had only been previously hinted at, and I was surprised by just how far it went.
Well, I think that’s all I have concerning characters. Let’s move on to the structure!
Structure
I see both positive and negative aspects to the structure this time around. The main issue for me is that this narrative becomes so layered and complex that I found it difficult to keep track of everything being covered. For example, I found the chapter titles difficult to decipher because some of them are written in Latin and connect to Catholicism. I had trouble seeing how every single title connected to the overall story. I will say, though, that I like that these chapters are in turn split up into smaller numbered sections. This book has some of the longest chapters I have ever read. They often total in the hundreds of pages at a time, and ordering them into sections like that provides breathing room that helps each one from feeling too long and losing focus.
Another thing about the structure that I want to point out is how this volume ties into the rest of the series. I like how it wraps everything up. Both the opening (though I didn’t realize it at the time) and the conclusion explain the lack of structure I’ve discussed in the past and end the story in a unique way. While it wasn’t flawlessly executed, I find the idea being hinted at risky, interesting, and fascinating!
Perhaps I’ll write another post further detailing the world of this series and its structure because I could continue talking about it for a while. For now, though, let’s move on to this story’s writing!
Writing
One thing that I noticed about the writing in this series is how the different perspectives influence the prose. For example, when the series follows Daniel’s first-person point of view, there is a poetic, dreamy quality to the writing that highlights his upbringing surrounded by books! In this final installment, we are introduced to Alicia’s perspective and the prose takes on a third-person point of view that is less poetic. Instead, we get a tortured writing style that highlights her struggle with traumatic experiences and trying to survive as a woman in a highly patriarchal society.
The prose through all perspectives has this dark undertone to it, too, showing the characters’ situations in a captivating light. Occasionally the tone turns tense depending on what is happening. When this occurs, the prose makes the stakes clear to the reader. However, what I like is that – depending on the situation – that tension doesn’t always build and instead comes out of nowhere. In certain scenarios in this story that is appropriate and leads to gripping situations.
The writing style engaged me and kept me hooked on the plot, which is what I’ve come to expect from this series.
Now that I’ve discussed all this, I think it’s time to wrap this review up!
Conclusion
God, I’m going to miss this series! It wasn’t always perfect, but this last installment ended it on a high note for me. I feel like I’m still in the labyrinth trying to unravel all its secrets even now that it’s all over. The story was gripping, and the overall structure was fascinating! Seeing this new story tie so seamlessly into the previously established information did wonders to keep me invested in this new plot line as well, and it’s something that I am in awe of!
If you’re a fan of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books or even just a Carlos Ruiz Zafón fan, I highly recommend this story. For me, getting lost in this world ended up being breathtaking and I will sorely miss it.
For this reason, I will be giving this story four stars.
The Writer's Library 