Her journey into the labyrinth of the title is both literal and metaphorical. She must navigate the political labyrinth of Franco’s Spain (where speaking the wrong name means execution), the emotional labyrinth of her own tortured memory, and the physical labyrinth of the abandoned Montjuïc Castle—a fortress of horrors where Valls has imprisoned his latest victims. Watching Alicia dismantle her own protective cynicism to save a family she does not know is the novel’s emotional spine.
Critics often struggle to categorize Zafón. His books are marketed as historical thrillers or gothic mysteries, but El Laberinto de los Espíritus transcends genre. El Laberinto De Los Espiritus Carlos Ruiz Zaf...