I love Zorro movies, and have always been mildly curious about this book. But a couple of years ago I was at a school where the librarian had a whole display of her favorite books for the beginning of the year, and this was front and center. I asked what she loved about it, and she told me that she was doing her Masters Thesis on Zorro stories, and that he was the inspiration for Batman ( Alfred, Batman's butler, is based on Bernardo, Zorro's loyal servant, he's a rich playboy by day, he has a cave lair, etc). Well, I had to try it!

And I'm so glad I did! This was a wonderful read, full of adventure and humor, tragedy and romance. In short, it was everything you could imagine a book about Zorro being. Everything you could want, and more than you expected, in fact.

Great backstory for the adult Zorro, aka Don Diego de la Vega, whose adventures were spun out in serial form by McCulley from the 20's to the 40's. Allende renders a compelling saga at the turn of the 18th century with vivid characters from many walks of life and cultures. We get a believable vision of how an upbringing could instill the necessary balance of compassion, crafty duality, and gueriilla warfare skills that imbue the intrepid hero of the downtrodden. She takes you on a fun ride in close form to classic tales such as Dumas wrote, but with a tongue-in-cheek charm that shows when the narrator periodically speaks directly to the reader. Allende carfts an enriched upbringing for Diego de la Vega in Alta California, near the future Los Angeles, with a formal education, riding and fencing lessons, etc, provided by his landed Spanish rancher father, and his learning of Indian survival outdoor skills and spiritual values from his Shoshone warrior mother and shaman grandmother. De la Vega's empathy for social and political victims is nicely rooted by Allende with his witnessing of atrocities against the Indians and, later, gypsies and slaves. The origins of his habit of falling in love with women he cannot win is made into a nice heart to the story, consistent with a classical romantic trajectory in which the hero never quite achieves fulfillment. His development is nicely rounded out through the teenager befriending both gypsies and pirates and through his experiences in several violent skirmishes to avert threats to his family and people he cares about. Thus, our mythic hero is made human and fondly real.

This is not the Zorro you are expecting!

Upon first reading-
With all due respect to a great author, this book was too long. I enjoyed the "historical" details in the first section, but there was just more about Zorro's grandparents and parents than we needed, and when he went to Barcelona the story sprawled too much. It felt like a series of vignettes, not one cohesive narrative. Diego/Zorro never became more than a cipher, which was disappointing. I wanted to really feel what he felt and see through his eyes, but he felt shallow and trite to me all the way through the book. And for a novel about Zorro, there was very little action. Really it's "Life with Zorro - The Early Years and Before". 2 stars

Upon rereading -
Knowing what to expect I enjoyed the first part, about his young life, a lot more. The historical/class aspects are very interesting.

I still felt the section in Europe wasn't that good, and I'm not sure why the author writes him as she does. I get that she's making him human, but I think he's kind of obnoxious and he's still very shallow. Plus, the whole later section with Lafitte is really weird.

All in all I enjoyed the first and last quarter of this book, in different ways. But the middle still didn't work well for me. Read it with an open mind - this definitely isn't the Zorro of legend and TV shows. 2.5 stars

Historical fiction that tells the story of how Don Diego de la Vega became the legendary Zorro, defender of the disadvantaged and downtrodden. It starts in California in the late 18th century with the tale of how Diego’s parents met. It is an entertaining adventure that takes the reader on an exciting journey from California to Spain and back, with several detours through other parts of the world. It is told in third person by an (initially) unnamed narrator. It is written in Allende’s typical flowing and florid style. It is long and densely written. It took me quite a while to read, and there are few logical stopping points, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Do not expect an entirely realistic narrative - just suspend disbelief and go with the flow.

4.5 stars.

ni siquiera pude hacer un status update desde que marqué el libro, ya que me lo comí prácticamente. desde que lo marqué sólo dije que lo había empezado pero no hubo retazos de impresiones conforme leía, tal como con el resto de libros.
ahora ya lo he concluido, ¡uno más! Y debo decir que me gustó la historia, aunque debo admitir que al principio me estaba confundiendo un poco, y tuve que releer la parte inicial porque eran demasiados personajes y contaba mucho en pocas páginas, pero conforme uno se adentra en esta historia se vuelve más fácil.
ES el segundo libro que leo de la autora y como dije, me gustó.
Todo tiene lugar durante finales del siglo XIX (1790) y el siglo XX (1840 en el epílogo). Nos cuenta el crecimiento de Diego de la Vega, hijo de Alejandro de la Vega, que nace en Alta California y que debe irse a completar su formación en España, en donde aprende esgrima, completa su educación y se vuelve en un experto no sólo en combate con la espada, sino en conocimientos. Por diversas circunstancias, y gracias a la ayuda de su abuela, es guiado en su camino y le revela que el zorro es su tótem espiritual.

buscando un poco de información, me doy cuenta que éste es el inicio de otra serie de trabajos o novelas que hablan sobre este personaje, en especial es precuela de la obra La maldición de Capistrano, escrita por Johnston McCulley, y creo que lo hace bastante bien.
ES recomendado más que nada para aquellos que les gusta la novela histórica, pues aunque su biografía es ficticia y se tomó de base dicha novela y otras obras de algunos autores más, la ambientación data de esas épocas y cuenta algunos hechos históricos que rodean al libro.

The first two thirds is enjoyable. I loved the way life was brought to the childhood of zorro and what might have helped shape such a dramatic, sly hero. But, the book fell apart for me as he headed back to California. It became too much, like the author was jumping the shark. The style of writing didn't change but, somehow, the tone did. It went from being plausible to just kind of silly and over the top. Granted, it would be difficult to back write a legend. This is a worthy try; it just fell flat for me. If you enjoy zorro, I would say give this book a try. Maybe you'll love it; maybe not.

Questo è il libro dei contrasti: mi è piaciuto, ma devo dire che sono rimasta un po' delusa dal fatto che tratti della vita di Zorro, prima che diventi veramente Zorro; si parla dell'infanzia di Diego, della sua educazione e di tutte le occasioni e le scelte che lo hanno portato a creare il personaggio di questo eroe mascherato (che per inciso è uno dei miei preferiti insieme al Tulipano Nero). Devo anche dire che mi è sembrato lungo in alcuni punti, ad esempio quelli riguardanti la sua vita con gli zingari, d'altro canto mi è sembrato troppo breve in altri, per esempio il rapporto con Bernardo, che resta sempre un personaggio di sfondo, oppure le attività della società segreta di cui Diego entra a far parte. Alla fine direi un bilancio in pareggio tra i pro e i contro, comunque un libro su uno spadaccino mascherato merita almeno 4 stelle ad occhi chiusi!

Isabel Allende, introduced Latin American Literature to me, 'Stories of Eva Luna' had me in its thrall for quite some time, but as I read more authors from that region, Jorge Amado, Carlos Fuentes, Allende lost her grip on me...
I think Zorro was part of this disillusionment, it did not have the same effect on me, in fact it did nothing for me...
Diego de la Vega, turns into this legendary figure of Zorro. Those, swashbuckling adventures involving Indians, gypsies, pirates, his rescue of his love Juliana from the dungeons, his ongoing vendetta with his rival Rafael Moncada are more like the Wild West or a Romance.
Nothing remains of the real Allende style, that had me in is clutches for quite a time.

Of course Allende brings out some terrible episodes, she does not mince words when she talks of brutalities against the Blacks who were 'imported' to work as slaves in various plantations. She describes in great detail, how the blacks were transported from Africa to Latin America.


“ There were two methods of transport among the slave traders, fardos prietos and fardos flojos. In 'fardos prietos', the tight packers, the captives are stacked like firewood, one atop the another, bound with chains and covered in their own excrement and vomit, healthy mixed with sick, the dying and the dead. Half of those Blacks died at sea.”
These are the atrocities people in Power perpetrate against the weak and the powerless, we read of them all the time.


Allende also speaks of people of mixed race, the mulattoes, quadroons and octoroons, they were so beautiful and elegant like queens of Senegal!
But as everything in our World, they too served a purpose, quoting from Wikipedia.
'The plaçage system developed from the predominance of men among early colonial populations, who took women as consorts from Native Americans, free women of color and some enslaved Africans. In this period there was a shortage of European women, as the colonies were dominated in the early day by male explorers and colonists. Given the harsh conditions in the colonies, persuading women to follow the men was not easy.
By 1788, 1500 Creole women of color and black women were being maintained by white men. Certain customs had evolved. It was common for a wealthy, married Creole to live primarily outside New Orleans on his plantation with his white family. He often kept a second address in the city to use for entertaining and socializing among the white elite. He had built or bought a house for his placée and their children. She and her children were part of the society of Creoles of color. The white world might not recognize the placée as a wife legally and socially, but she was recognized as such among the Creoles of color. Some of the women acquired slaves and plantations. Particularly during the Spanish colonial era, a woman might be listed as owning slaves; these were sometimes relatives whom she intended to free after earning enough money to buy their freedom.'

Aunque me costó bastante tiempor terminar de leerlo disfrute mucho este libro.
La historia es muy interesante y tiene aspectos de historias que me encantan.
Cada personaje es muy interesante y único.
Algo que me gustó mucho del libro es que el narrador en ciertos momentos le habla al lector y eso hace que la historia sea más atrpante.
Para finalizar, a mí me faltó un poco de romance como el resto de sus libros pero eso es cosa mía.

Este libro no trata sobre una aventura de El Zorro, si no de los orígenes de este mito. Así nos enteramos de la razón por la que el protagonista elige un zorro y no un perro o un león. De quién le enseña esgrima, de las luchas contra los indios de su padre, un soldado español, y de un montón de aventuras mezcladas con el increíble realismo mágico en el que tan bien se maneja Isabel Allende. Que una autora consagrada se atreva con un personaje tan conocido me parece muy valiente. Imaginaos si Pérez Reverte, por ejemplo, hiciera una novela cuyo protagonita fuera el Capitán Trueno. Yo leería ese libro, ¿tú no?

Zorro's early years! This novel begins in 1790 in Spanish controlled California and hits highlights of Panama, Spain, and New Orleans as Diego is shaped into the Zorro that we all know and love.

Apparently some reviews felt that there was a lack of swashbuckling (there wasn't), which surprised me because I thought this focused more on the Native American origins of this particular character. I said "Swashbuckling Native Americans?" because that seemed like an odd expectation to me. But this actually follows Zorro's early years and then he travels to Spain where he trains under the world's best swordsman for awhile. So yes, there's a ton of swashbuckling and swordplay. There's also a hell of a lot of humor, which I was also not expecting.

This is not all fun. It shines a light on how harsh circumstances were in both California and Spain during both the Spanish colonial period and Napoleon's occupation/rule of Spain. But just when things are getting too serious you get something like this: "Isabel, on the other hand, took advantage of that display of nudity to try to satisfy and ancient curiosity. For years she had asked herself how men and women might be different. She was in for a disappointment, however, because that difference was small; it could be tucked comfortably into her reticule, as she commented to her chaperone."

So Allende holds true to the adventure and humor of the Zorro legend as she gives us this tale of Diego's discovery of his Zorro identity which, of course, comes to him on a vision quest and then is slowly shaped afterwards. This was both a fun story and excellent historical fiction.

Random Fact: Zorro means "fox" in Spanish. I didn't know this.

★★★★☆ - Really liked

Well, so here we are friends! Amigos!

OK, I will stop there before I get carried away. Ahem.

So, for the astute amongst you, you should have already realised that this is not the tale of Zorro that the films were based off of (look for The Mark of Zorro for that), but a different tale also based on the legend, but this covering how the legend began.

I have watched the first of the films with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones more than once (although I haven’t yet seen the more recent one). It never fails to excite, getting the heart pumping, allowing me to wish for a moment that I was the mistress of the famous legend. So, when I saw this book in the library, I just had to pick it up.

And so, the early years of Zorro. I must admit, the beginning of the book was rather slow, taking time to get going, frustrating me for a while as I started to expect it to be a let-down. Yet, as soon as the boy started to grow and the adventures started, it grew exciting.

Of course, it is still hard to believe that one man can be so athletic, acrobatic, and so skilled with a sword. You hope that there is, out there, someone so exciting and wonderful, yet in truth, modern women would get quickly bored with their conceitedness, no matter their justicial intentions. Such a character is unrealistic, but is placed there to enable us to believe in the almost-perfect heroes, that there is good and wonder in the world. I know people who hate such heroes, who prefer realism, but I like excitement and to be able to dream.

As the tale moved along, I grew more and more excited as our hero started to emerge in this young man, the mischievous boy (and she did use that word a lot when telling of his childish pranks, with me watching out for my pronunciation in my head every time I read it) keeping some of his boyishness, yet taming it in order to become the renowned fighter for justice. The tale grew and grew, up until the point where I whooped at the victory that sealed the legend, until petering out somewhat in the round up, just the echoes remaining.

So why, when the tale ended on a high (or near enough), do I mark it down?

A couple of reasons. One is the narration style, which borders between being tedious and just annoying at times, if not both. The pauses in the narration caused some teeth gnashing. Of course, it all had a point, but I didn't appreciate it so much.

The second I will have to stick inside spoiler tags, as I hate revealing plots in my reviews: The narrator turns out to be Isabel de Romeu, who Diego met in Spain. For some reason, at the revelation, I thought, 'well, how typical that the author herself gives herself a role in the tale.'

Anyway, if you are a fan of either Allende (whose works I'd never read any of before), or of the Zorro legend itself, then this may be worth a browse. However, if you do hate superhero stories of any calibre, stay away.