Ábalos, Rafael 1956-

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Ábalos, Rafael 1956-

Personal

Born 1956, in Spain.

Addresses

Home and office—Southern Spain.

Career

Lawyer. Writer of fantasy novels for children.

Writings

Bufo Soñador en la galaxia de la tristeza, Editorial Debate (Madrid, Spain), 2000.

Mago del mundo, illustrated by Patricia Losada, Universidad de Málaga (Málaga, Spain), 2001.

El visitante del laberinto, Debate (Madrid, Spain), 2001.

Grimpow: El camino invisible, Montena (Barcelona, Spain), 2005, translated by Noël Baca Castex as Grimpow: The Invisible Road, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2007.

Grimpow: El secreto de los sabios, Círculo de Lectores (Barcelona, Spain), 2005.

Kot, Montena (Barcelona, Spain), 2007.

Adaptations

Grimpow: The Invisible Road was adapted as an audiobook, Books on Tape, 2007.

Sidelights

Spanish lawyer Rafael Ábalos loved reading adventure stories as a child. When he discovered that he both enjoyed and had a knack for writing, Ábalos began his second career writing fantasy adventures for children. He is best known for his novel Grimpow: El camino invisible, a story that has been published in twenty-seven countries and released in an English-language version under the title Grimpow: The Invisible Road.

Grimpow is a peasant boy living during the middle ages. Discovering the body of a fallen knight and taking the knight's talisman, Grimpow realizes he has actually found the philosopher's stone, and he takes up the knight's secret quest. The Inquisitors are also seeking the stone, however, and Grimpow must keep two steps ahead of these emissaries from the Catholic Church in order to complete the knight's mission. Describing the novel as a cross between J.R.R. Tolkien's epic "Lord of the Rings" fantasy saga and Dan Brown's hit thriller The Da Vinci Code, a Publishers Weekly critic wrote that Ábalos "proves himself adept at moving the multiple story lines of the labyrinthine plot at a fast pace." The critic added that Grimpow should appeal to both teens and adults, although some reviewers cautioned that the multi-faceted tale might be too complex for younger readers. A Kirkus Reviews contributor referred to the novel as "exposition-laden," and Sharon Grover wrote in School Library Journal that Ábalos's "plodding story line … weaves in too many threads."

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