Un bel libro, una bella storia, ma è come se mancasse qualcosa, soprattutto perché alcuni personaggi, fondamentali per il racconto, risultano essere stati solo tratteggiati e le loro storie personali quasi del tutto ignorate, lasciando così tanti buchi da colmare. ( )

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Spanish journalists / reviewers have called Falcones the “Spain’s new Dan Brown” or proclaimed “A new Ken Follett is born!” I can certainly see why those comparisons are made.

This is an epic historical novel set in 14th-century Barcelona, and focusing on one (fictional) bastaix (a laborer who loaded/off loaded cargo from ships, but also carried the massive stones used to construct the Basillica from the quarry to the construction site). Arnau is motherless due to a cruel feudal system, but he has a loving father. When he and his friend / “brother” Joan (a street urchin who is also motherless) stumble upon the site of the church, Arnau becomes devoted to the Virgin Mary, praying to her and devoting his life to seeing that she is honored with a church worthy of her. He’ll need those prayers, and Joan (who becomes a Dominican and an Inquisitor) to survive what the years have in store for him.

My, oh my, but the medieval era was hard to survive! As if plague, poverty, wars, and a feudal system that virtually enslaved the peasants wasn’t enough, the people also had to deal with the Spanish Inquisition and the hysteria engendered by the Church.

I was perturbed by the way Falcones treated the women in the novel. I fully understand that this is the 14th century and that the system in place did not value women much, but I got the distinct impression that the author shares that sentiment. Perhaps I’m being unfair, but that was the feeling I got. There were only a couple of “good” women; mostly they were immoral, conniving, cruel, and self-centered.

Still, this was an engaging story that kept me turning pages … all 611 of them.

Afterwards I looked up the Cathedral of the Sea and found that it’s location in Barcelona is one I must have passed several times when I visited that city. Yet, I have no memory of it. Having read this book I really want to go back to Barcelona and spend time marveling at the feat of medieval engineering and thinking about the many bastiaxos who toiled to bring the architect’s design to life. ( )

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Stórfín saga sem byggir á sögulegum aðstæðum almennings og aðals á Spáni á miðöldum. Sýnir vel erfiðar aðstæður leiguliða og kvenna auk hve stéttskipt samfélagið var. Bókin fylgir aðalsöguhetjunni eftir þegar hann elst upp og færist á milli stétta og hvernig aðstæður hans breytast við það. Vel skrifuð fyrir utan endinn sem mér fannst nokkuð endaslepptur. ( )