Did Not Finish—When Books Disappoint

I absolutely adore The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. When I found out the sequel, The Prisoner of Heaven was being released this year, I jumped for joy. At the bookstore my friends had to pry the $30 book out of my broke hands but they let me buy The Angel’s Game, the prequel to Shadow of the Wind. 

I’m now more than 100 pages in and I’m… disappointed. Don’t get me wrong. The prose is beautiful. There are whole passages that I wish I could wallpaper my bedroom with and I read the first chapter to my best friend of Skype. But it is moving so slowly. The narrative threads do not lead into each other smoothly. Instead an arc is wrapped up tidily; there is no tension or emotion compelling me to turn the page. As a result this book is very “putdownable.” I find myself finishing a chapter, setting the book aside, and forgetting I haven’t finished the book yet.

There’s a pile of books on my floor calling out to me like a school of sirens. “Read us,” they sing, “we’ll show you a good time.” But I love Zafón! And I had such high hopes! And I must read Prisoner of Heaven! I don’t know what to do. Should I keep plodding through The Angel’s Game? Or should I put it at the bottom of my to-read list until the Spirit moves me to try again? What would you do? Leave a suggestion for me in the comment section.