I received an arc copy from Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fictional graphic novel about an investigation of serial murders on the sites of Gaudí's creations in Barcelona.

Before I review this comic, there is one thing you need to know about me. I LOVE GAUDÍ! For the past twenty years, my family and I, rent an apartment near Barcelona from friends for a week or two. Aside from my university city, Ghent, Barcelona is my most well-known and favourite city. I have visited everything Gaudí designed which is open to the public. He is by far my favourite architect.

So, now let's move on to the actual review:

Things I liked:

- As I'm a huge Gaudí fan, I adored the drawings of his many creations. The art style is really stunning and for that alone, I recommend this graphic novel. The theme of the story was represented in the darker colours while the artist still showed the vibrant buildings created by Gaudí in their original state.

- I enjoyed the mystery aspect, it was entertaining and I actually didn't figure out who was responsible for the murders before the police did, which is also refreshing.

Things I didn't like:

- I didn't really get Antonia's storyline. It made the story more confusing and I feel she could have been left out of the comic in its entirety.

- The presence of Gaudí's ghost was a bit over the top for me. I think the story would have been stronger it focussed a bit more on the police investigation instead of on Antonia and Gaudí's ghost, but that's just my personal opinion.

All in all, I recommend this graphic novel! I absolutely adore the art style and for me that's always the most important aspect of a graphic novel (again that's just my personal opinion). If you like Gaudí as much as I do, I believe you should definitely check this one out. However, if you are not familiar with the Catalan architect, this comic offers a good introduction to his work as well. All his most famous creations in Barcelona are featured in the story.

I gave this graphic novel 3 stars and I might actually purchase it in the future as well! Loved it!

On Earth As It Is In Heaven

As El Torres notes in his afterword, "each and every one of the characters in 'The Ghost of Gaudi' is... confused and overwhelmed", not unlike those who view, study, and seek to completely understand Gaudi's fascinating life's work. Luckily for us, this tale - on one hand a simple crime story and on the other a meditation on what makes Gaudi unique and compelling - is crisp, clear, and accessible. Hand in hand with that, and elevating the project beyond the mere commonplace is that, again to quote Torres, the illustrator Jesus Iglesias "...draws. He draws like the angels."

The premise here isn't exactly novel. Someone is murdering people and positioning their bodies in different Gaudi buildings. Is the motive revenge, is the killer mad, is there a supernatural link to the ghost of Gaudi himself? Maybe. Just as in books in which a mad killer recreates the torments described by Dante, or mirrors the seven deadly sins, or tracks the murders in Shakespeare's plays, in this book, by investigating the crimes we learn a great deal about Gaudi, what he was trying to express, what his designs mean, and how he tried to connect heaven and earth.

The beauty here is that this is not a textbook or some sort of sterile exercise. Gaudi was interesting, his buildings are fascinating, his torment as an artist was real, and so all of this can come through in a story that remains compelling, suspenseful and sometimes even thrilling. We see much of the action through an everywoman bystander who gets caught up in the crimes and their investigation, and placing this unassuming heroine at the center of things allows the author to bring us along with her as the mystery is unravelled.

But, crime story aside, this book works just as an illustrated guide, or tour, of some of Gaudi's masterworks. All of the panels and drawings work well enough, but some of the splash pages and big scenes are downright arresting. The drawing, as you might expect, isn't anywhere near photo-realistic. It's sometimes very impressionistic, but it always captures the spirit and essence of both the grandness and immensity of the buildings and the delight Gaudi took in detail. For anyone interested in Gaudi this is just a tasty and pleasing interpretation.

So, while this might be well often the beaten path of comics and graphic novels this struck me as certainly a rewarding and nicely crafted option, and an excellent find.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Very rich art walk and story telling...clever plot and very good weaving Gaudi's architectural works and thinking that went into building these landmarks. In addition...very fiendish ways the murders are incorporated into the landmarks. I not going look at these landmarks the same way again. I'm impressed yes it's crime thriller, the narrative is soaked in Gaudi history and thoughts being critical to the case to such an extent as one character would put it...if you want to solve the case, you have to understand the man. I liken the main protagonists, the bald inspector is tough as nails and doesn't seem to be the artistic type hence he has trouble understanding the arts aspects of the case but gradually understands more of it to piece together the MO of the killer. Toni (in ref to Antoni Gaudi) is the everyday sort and is very open and understanding of Gaudi's arts/thinking.

The art of the buildings that Gaudi designed in this book are amazing, but it was about halfway through reading this that I began to wonder if these weird buildings really existed, as well as Gaudi.

Gaudi was an architect at the turn of the last century, and designed some weird and wonderful buildings, that are apparently tourist attractions to this day, because they look like nothing else out there.

Once I realized the buildings, and the man, were real, I understood what a great job El Torres had done in depicting the different scenes. Wonderful amazing.

The art sells me more on this, than the story, which was almost a Scoopy Doo type mystery. You know, where the kids pull the mask off the guy and find out who is really doing all the bad things in the story. The story is self is a bit of a three star, but the artwork, and attention to detail of the buildings, is what pushes it up to a four star.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

A mystery/thriller that revolves around the designs of the architect Gaudi and taking place in Barcelona. Very solid and well plotted story, but it is the vibrant artwork that takes center stage in this gorgeous volume. The use of color to convey place and time is astounding.

Beautiful artwork in this graphic novel. Looking forward to more!

A little Hitchcock, a little Art Nouveau
Every so often, a graphic novel or comic crosses my screen that I cannot resist. Anything this unusual, that also promotes the great Antoni Gaudi, fills that requirement. The scene is Barcelona, where a series of murders take place in all the great landmarks designed and built by Gaudi. Having made the pilgrimage myself, it was great to see them again, from different angles, light and of course, circumstances. They’re put to use in the name of drama, with a touch of the mystical. They all get the crime scene treatment, and even the investigating judge is in on it. Her name is Montaner, the other great architect Barcelona favored, in roughly the same era as Gaudi.

The last dozen pages are reflections by the author and the artist on how the characters developed –physically - and the considerations taken in putting the narrative together. It’s all good murder mystery fun if you don’t think about it too much. (If you do you will figure it out in the first ten pages) Because it is after all, a simple comic book.