El Palacio de la Medianoche (The Midnight Palace)

This is the second installment in the Trilogia de La Niebla created by Carlos Ruiz Zafón; I've already reviewed El Principe de la Niebla  and you can check out that review here.


The Premise
 
The story begins on a dark night in Calcuta, when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Even though it's not an easy task, he manages to save the twins but not without sacrificing his own life.

Years later, in 1932, on the eve of Ben and Sheere’s sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives, but this time it seems impossible for them to escape. Fortunately they can count on their friends to help them stand up against the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces.

My Thoughts

Even though this book is part of a trilogy, there isn't any connection between the stories but there's definitely a common theme to the whole series; they are all mystery novels with enigmatic villains that look to no means in order to succeed.

I have to say, I think this book was better than El Principe de la Niebla because it had a lot more mystery and some parts were actually kind of scary. The way it was written was really captivating and it grabbed my attention; I swear, sometimes I couldn't put the book down because I was so eager to know what would happen next.

The way the mysteries were introduced to us was really good, because the author only shared with us little pieces at a time instead of just blurting all out at once. It actually gave the story a great pace; it was fast but not to the point that you couldn't understand what was going on.

As for the characters,  even though Ben, Sheere and their friends had interesting stories, it was the villain - Jawahal - that really stood out for me; we was incredibly enigmatic, there was a lot of mystery surrounding his past and the reasons that lead him chase after the twins and even after knowing more about his story, I couldn't help but feel even more drawn to this character. He was really smart, a man ahead of his time with great hopes for his country and a big desire go change its course for better.

Overall I've been really enjoying this series and I'm looking forward to read the final book - Las Luces de Septiembre (The Watcher in the Shadows).

I give 4 out of 5 stars to El Palacio de la Medianoche