monicamjw's review
4.0
Wonderfully engaging tale of Zorro's beginnings by one of my favorite authors.
joyshak's review
3.0
I remember this being a decent read, but not necessarily enjoyable. It is a translated novel. Also, the author's writing style does not appeal to me. Lots of long paragraphs, with lots of long narrative prose. I never felt like I was IN the action. It felt more like I was listening to someone tell me a long, drawn out story. The worst is that I love the Zorro story and wanted SO BAD to love this book, but I found the writing style boring and it kept distracting me from the story.
kandicez's review
1.0
I confess, I did not actually finish, but I got more than 75% through when I realized it was too late for this to get any better. Allende is usually a beautiful writer and I went in expecting to be dazzled. I was not.
The first quarter of the book read like Numbers in the Bible. It was just a drone of this and then this and then this and then this... on and on. There was no color, no excitement. I felt Allende was telling us everything, showing us nothing.
About halfway through, the narrator began referring to themselves and I perked up. Now the really story will start. Now we are getting somewhere. One hundred pages later and we are not.
Too many books, not enough time.
The first quarter of the book read like Numbers in the Bible. It was just a drone of this and then this and then this and then this... on and on. There was no color, no excitement. I felt Allende was telling us everything, showing us nothing.
About halfway through, the narrator began referring to themselves and I perked up. Now the really story will start. Now we are getting somewhere. One hundred pages later and we are not.
Too many books, not enough time.
bookishwendy's review against another edition
2.0
I was looking for a clever retelling of this fictional American homegrown hero, something with an interesting feminine twist. What I got was indeed a retelling, but not as clever or interesting as I had hoped.
This is a "tale of origin" explaining how Zorro became the masked avenger. He is born Diego de la Vega, son of a Spanish hidalgo and a fierce Shoshone she-warrior. Apparently, the author took great pains to research this book. Kudos. Despite all the research, there seemed to be something a little off. It wasn't so much the facts that were suspect(although I'd like to check if the Shoshone values of "Okahue" were created to serve the plot), but the way the facts integrated--or failed to integrate--with the story. At one point Diego is bitten by a rattlesnake. "Diego remembered some of the facts he had learned about rattlesnakes..." The facts that follow may as well be numbered, taken from some text or scientific article. The fencing scenes are even worse. You might as well read from a manual. I listened to the audiobook, so here is my best paraphrase: "He held his arm 180 degrees in front, foil pointed forward, left arm raised 90 degrees over his head for balance." Yes, that makes for quite the thrilling fight scene. The gripes go on. Every other word is a cliche (the translator's fault?), there is hardly any dialogue, the prose is bland, the characters flat and impossible to sympathize with, as they have as much pep as are papier mache.
This is my first Allende book, and I hear she is renowned for her well-drawn female characters and ability to write emotional drama. I can't speak for her other books, but here I found Julianna a distressed damsel, and Isabelle just annoying. Nuria, the girls' chaperone, is religious, superstitious and narrowminded, which makes her the most interesting of all. As for the men...Bernardo the mute Shoshone is sympathetic, mainly because of some emotional manipulation on the writer's part by making him an orphan who refuses to talk due to his suffering. She tries to make Zorro a sort of "scarlet pimpernel" type who behaves flamboyantly while defending the downtrodden from behind his mask. As with all her descriptions, she never gets more specific than saying he "dressed well" and "behaved flamboyantly". No "show", all "tell". She also tends to spell things out in case the reader wasn't observant enough to figure out something themselves.
I'd like to end on a positive note. Scientific discussion of rattlesnake bites aside, I did enjoy Diego's and Bernardo's Spirit Quests with the Shoshone tribe. I thought the two boys' respective experiences finding their totem animals did more to establish character than any other anecdote in this book.
This is a "tale of origin" explaining how Zorro became the masked avenger. He is born Diego de la Vega, son of a Spanish hidalgo and a fierce Shoshone she-warrior. Apparently, the author took great pains to research this book. Kudos. Despite all the research, there seemed to be something a little off. It wasn't so much the facts that were suspect(although I'd like to check if the Shoshone values of "Okahue" were created to serve the plot), but the way the facts integrated--or failed to integrate--with the story. At one point Diego is bitten by a rattlesnake. "Diego remembered some of the facts he had learned about rattlesnakes..." The facts that follow may as well be numbered, taken from some text or scientific article. The fencing scenes are even worse. You might as well read from a manual. I listened to the audiobook, so here is my best paraphrase: "He held his arm 180 degrees in front, foil pointed forward, left arm raised 90 degrees over his head for balance." Yes, that makes for quite the thrilling fight scene. The gripes go on. Every other word is a cliche (the translator's fault?), there is hardly any dialogue, the prose is bland, the characters flat and impossible to sympathize with, as they have as much pep as are papier mache.
This is my first Allende book, and I hear she is renowned for her well-drawn female characters and ability to write emotional drama. I can't speak for her other books, but here I found Julianna a distressed damsel, and Isabelle just annoying. Nuria, the girls' chaperone, is religious, superstitious and narrowminded, which makes her the most interesting of all. As for the men...Bernardo the mute Shoshone is sympathetic, mainly because of some emotional manipulation on the writer's part by making him an orphan who refuses to talk due to his suffering. She tries to make Zorro a sort of "scarlet pimpernel" type who behaves flamboyantly while defending the downtrodden from behind his mask. As with all her descriptions, she never gets more specific than saying he "dressed well" and "behaved flamboyantly". No "show", all "tell". She also tends to spell things out in case the reader wasn't observant enough to figure out something themselves.
I'd like to end on a positive note. Scientific discussion of rattlesnake bites aside, I did enjoy Diego's and Bernardo's Spirit Quests with the Shoshone tribe. I thought the two boys' respective experiences finding their totem animals did more to establish character than any other anecdote in this book.
garfunkleha345's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
carolinevs's review against another edition
adventurous
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
myzanm's review against another edition
2.0
If you are looking for your childhood tv hero, this is not really the place.
It was not what I expected an I was quite bored at times.
It was not what I expected an I was quite bored at times.
kaaatherin3's review
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
canadiyank's review against another edition
I've read other Allende books, but it was probably over 10 yrs. ago and I don't remember much about them, so I can't compare her writing style to this retelling of the Zorro story. I enjoy historical novels in general, so I did like it from that point of view as I learned a lot about late 18th-c. and early 19th-c. Spain and California. I've seen some TV shows about Zorro and had the general idea about the plot line, so it was interesting to me to fill in some of the backstory of the development of the Zorro character. Not a particularly great literary work, in my opinion, but definitely a fun summer read, which is exactly what I was looking for.
carollouise03's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0