The Prince Of Mist

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

In 1943 Max Carver's father - a watchmaker and inventor - decides to move his family to a small town on the Atlantic coast. They move into a house built for a prestigious surgeon, Dr Richard Fleischmann and his wife but abandoned when their son drowned in a tragic accident. Behind the house Max spies an overgrown garden surrounded by a metal fence topped with a six-pointed star. When he goes to investigate, Max finds statues like troupe fill the garden. In the centre is the large statue of a clown set in another six-pointed star. Max has the curious sensation that the statue is beckoning to him. As the family grows increasingly uneasy when they discover a box of old films belonging to the Fleischmanns, his sister Alicia has unsettling dreams while little Irina hears voices whispering to her from an old wardrobe. But Max spends most of his time with his new friend Roland, who takes him diving to the wreck of a boat that sank close to the coast in a terrible storm. Everyone on board perished except for one man - an engineer who built the lighthouse at the end of the beach.
During the dive, Max sees something that leaves him cold - on the mast floats a tattered flag and on it is the symbol of the circle and six-pointed star. As they learn more about the wreck, the chilling story of a legendary figure called the Prince of Mist begins to emerge ...

• ISBN10: 1444000446
• ISBN13: 9781444000443
• Publish Date: 27 May 2010 (first published 1 January 2010)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 December 2013
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Orion Children's Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 208
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

I loved Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s book The Shadow of the Wind, so I was eager to try some more of his works. I knew this was one of his Young Adult books so I didn’t expect the same level as excitement from this book, but I probably did expect a lot more. While The Prince of Mist is full of adventure, magic and gothic themes, I kind of felt like there was a lot missing from the story and maybe it was rushed a little too much. I understand the idea of having short books for the Young Adults but this book kind of left me hanging, with no sense of closure, I know its is setting up for the next book in the series, I just was expecting it to feel like Max’s adventure with the prince of mist was over; and I didn’t feel that at all. Zafón is a really great writer and this is more for a younger audience; I’m glad I read this but I would of liked more from it.