“Max would never forget that faraway summer when, almost by chance, he discovered magic. It was 1943, and the winds of war were dragging the world relentlessly toward the abyss…”
-from The Prince of Mist
Because of the war, Max’s father decides it would be safer to relocate his family to a house by the sea. However, the house he buys has a dark and mysterious past involving a child ho drowned. Eerie events slowly reveal the existence of a dark entity returned to claim a debt. Max, his sister Alicia, and their new friend Roland, all become targets of the being called the Prince of Mist.
This is the sort of creepy story that has you looking nervously over your shoulder and turning the lights on at night. While Zafon does not quite create the pacing for suspense (the book is only 200 pages long), he makes up for it with a frighteningly detailed imagination.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon became an international sensation with The Shadow of the Wind, a similarly toned dark thriller, though with fewer fantastic elements. While it was marketed for adults, it also features a teenage protagonist. After a lengthy legal battle, Zafon’s earlier works are now being made available in translation. Graves also translated Shadow; she has a great feel for language and gives the words an elegant style that reads as smoothly as any native work.
The Prince of Mist is available at the Red Balloon Bookshop, Borders, and the Ramsey County Public Libraries. The Maplewood and HarMar Barnes and Nobles currently only stock the Spanish edition.
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