Zorro by Isabel Allende
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Perennial Saviour

An ancient people has been conquered by a foreign empire. Now subject to the arbitrary justice of the imperial representative, the locals are being pressured to abandon their religion and worship the god of the invaders. Among them a man of nobel lineage takes a wife. Together this man and woman produce a son who is devoted to truth and justice, a righter of wrongs, a saviour... a messiah. Sound familiar?

Well there are certainly many elements of the Christian myth. But Batman, his sidekick, and their cave is also in the picture. What child could resist? Add the background of the magical land of California when it was still Spanish and the romantic density is overwhelming. The Prisoner of Zenda, another favourite at age 10, fascinated for the same reasons - exotic location, noble heritage gone wrong, the possibility for justice in a fallen world.

So as a YA adventure novel, Allende’s Zorro is top notch. But if you’re already fully cooked emotionally speaking, and not into nostalgia, there’s not much there. Magnificent cover, however.

View all my reviews