Warning: spoilers.Well. Where do I start?Basically, this was one of the worst books I have ever read. It had a lot of potential, but the end result was simply disappointing. The diary/storytelling parts were extremely annoying. It would just start to get into the story then Ian would suddenly appear and tell me about 10 times that they were all orphans. Then there were too many people in the Chowbar Society in my opinion. I remembered Ian, Seth, Isobel and obviously Ben, but I was constantly forgetting the others. Honestly, I can't even recall their names at this moment in time, and I literally just finished reading the book. Oh, and another thing. The plot? I figured it out before I was halfway through the book. Pretty much everything I guessed was going to happen, happened.Do not even get me started on Aryami. What I don't understand is why didn't she tell Sheere? Why not let her know she's in danger? I don't get it. The mysterious parts weren't mysterious and none of the characters had any real depth to them. They were all quite dull. There wasn't even any humour when I thought one of them was supposed to be funny?The supposed villain wasn't even bad. Sure, he set some things on fire. Kidnapped a person or two. Put an asp in a box. But none of it was frightening or even interesting really. It was incredibly obvious that Sheere was going to wake up and stop Ben from dying. And if Ben is as smart as he is, why didn't he think about the link between the red box and fire? I mean, really? That was literally as Jawahal used.I can't honestly think of single thing I liked about this book. I found it dull and completely predictable. Nothing drew me in, I had to force myself to continue reading. The cover is nice I guess. Not quite what I expected, given the rather vague blurb on the back, but quite a satisfying read. There is a certain Stephen King's 'IT' vibe of childhood friends experiencing a horrific time in their lives. A good pace keeps the story moving, but I wish there was more story to wade around in as Zafon's world-building is vibrant and believable and I wanted to spend more time there. I really wish they'd make a movie out of it.
