what I thought about "the prisoner of heaven" and "the shadow of the wind"

Okay, I got done with "The Prisoner of Heaven" and loved it immensely.  It is magical.  The Cemetery of Forgotten Books is a place I want to visit.  Also, I have always thought of Spain as a boring Italy, and the soft S makes me crazy, but this book changed my mind. 

Then I read "The Shadow of the Wind," and I liked it as well, but not quite as much--though not because the writing wasn't as good.  "The Shadow of the Wind" was more depressing and seemed more gratuitously sexy, and there is a truly horrible reveal near the end of the book (which in retrospect I should have seen coming) that just made me miserable and want to choke the life out of one character in particular.  I still recommend the book, but it might make you sad.  Carlos Ruis Zafon is a gifted, creative writer, and I'm going to read everything by him that I can find.