Tagged: cornelia funke
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Welcome to the magical underworld of Venice, Italy. Here, hidden canals and crumbling rooftops shelter runaways and children with incredible secrets…
After escaping from their cruel aunt and uncle, orphans Prosper and Bo meet a mysterious boy who calls himself the “Thief Lord”. Clever and charming, the Thief Lord leads a band of street children who enjoy making mischief. But the Thief Lord also has a dark secret. And suddenly Prosper and Bo find themselves on a fantastical journey to a forgotten place. What they discover there will change the course of their destiny.
In The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke transports readers to the enchanting world of Venice, a city filled with canals, gondolas and ancient buildings. But there’s a dark side to this beautiful city, a side that no one hears about—the side that homeless children like Riccio, Mosca, Hornet, Bo and Prosper deal with every day. Luckily, the children are taken care of by the Thief Lord, Scipio (as in Scipio Africanus, the long-haired Roman general). Of course, not everything is as it seems.
Cornelia Funke’s writing style is second to none when it comes to children/tween literature. She doesn’t usually write stories that take place in the real world, but when she does, she still manages to insert her signature hint of magic. The Thief Lord seems like your average realistic fiction novel, until the climax, where the magic that was there all along finally reveals itself. And trust me, even the most attentive reader won’t be able to predict half of the things that happen during the climax.
Full of twists and turns, heartbreak and humour, The Thief Lord will captivate its young readers. Readers will also be able to identify with at least one of the children, if not all of them, which is the beauty of Cornelia Funke’s stories. Her writing is fantastic and her pacing is excellent, but what sets her apart from many writers is that she writes characters you will always remember.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of Open Library.)
Firedrake, Ben, and their furry friend, Sorrel, are in search of the mythical places where dragons can live in peace forever. Together they embark on a journey that takes them to magical lands where they meet marvelous creatures—and ruthless villains. Along the way, they will discover allies in odd places, courage they didn’t know they had, and a hidden destiny that changes everything.
Dragons, brownies and homunculi, oh my! Cornelia Funke includes both traditional and non-traditional fantasy creatures in this exciting, thought-provoking novel. Funke is a well-known author of children’s and teen’s fantasy, but Dragon Rider has been overshadowed by her more popular Inkheart trilogy. In my opinion, Dragon Rider is just as good as Inkheart and it deserves equal recognition.
It is full of clichés, especially since the whole premise of the book is that a trio of unlikely friends (a dragon, a brownie and a human) embarks on a long and dangerous journey to find a mythical place where dragons can live in peace forever. What saves Dragon Rider from being too clichéd is Cornelia Funke’s spectacular writing style and the fact that she puts spins on many of the clichés she uses. Besides, this is a children’s and young teen’s book; most of her readers do not care about clichés.
Since friendship is the main theme of the novel, the focus is more on the characters than the plot. Funke’s characters are very well developed and meet all of the requirements to be memorable, yet she does not neglect the plot to focus on her characters. Therefore, Dragon Rider ends up being the best of both worlds: a fast-paced, character-driven novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of Walmart.)
Ever since the extraordinary events of Inkspell, when the enchanted book Inkheart drew Meggie and her father, Mo, into its chapters, life in the Inkworld has been more tragic than magical.
The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead, having sacrificed his life for his apprentice Farid’s, and now, under the rule of the evil Adderhead, the fairy-tale land is in bloody chaos, its characters far beyond the control of Fenoglio, their author. Even Elinor, left behind in the real world, believes her family to be lost—lost between the covers of a book.
Facing the threat of eternal winter, Mo inks a dangerous deal with Death itself. There yet remains a faint hope of changing the cursed story—if only he can fill its pages fast enough.
After being entranced first by Inkheart, then Inkspell, I couldn’t wait to read the last book. But I was sadly disappointed. This may have been my own fault for having too high expectations, but perhaps not. It was an okay book, but I felt that a lot of what happened in Inkdeath came way out of left field.
Unlike in the other books, Meggie takes a back seat and the story really revolves around her father, Mo. This is not necessarily a bad thing because he is an excellent character, but it is sort of disappointing, especially to younger female readers who read the story because they felt a connection to Meggie. One of the things that came way out of left field is Meggie’s new love interest, Doria, who is a member of the robber’s camp. He never showed up until the last book and it was like Meggie completely forget Farid, her first love interest.
Despite the ‘Huh?’ factor, Inkdeath is not a bad book. The ending is actually satisfying and the plot zipped right along. The characters develop at a natural pace and Cornelia Funke brings the Inkworld to life with her spellbinding writing. In terms of pure writing talent, Cornelia Funke has no equal in the YA genre.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)
A year has passed, but not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of Inkheart, the book whose characters came to life. For the fire-eater Dustfinger, the need to return to the tale has become more desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller to read him back, he abandons his apprentice Farid and plunges into the pages. Before long, Farid and Meggie are caught inside the book, too. But the story is much changed—and threatening to end tragically.
This may just be me, but I liked Inkspell more than I liked Inkheart. Meggie and Farid journey to the Inkworld, where the villain of the last novel, Capricorn, was originally from. The romance between the two develops at a natural pace as they try to navigate the quasi-Medieval world that has hidden dangers lurking around every corner. The plot is fairly fast-paced and Cornelia Funke’s character development is second only to her wonderful world-building.
Unlike a lot of fantasy writers, Cornelia Funke does not use creatures exclusively from Norse mythology. Fire elves, White women and brownies populate the Inkworld and enchant readers who are used to the normal fantasy clichés. Of course there are taverns, castles and farms (but what fantasy universe doesn’t have these?), but they do not seem out of place with the rest of the world because it is very well developed.
Cornelia Funke is really an excellent writer and Anthea Bell, who translated it from the original German, certainly deserves a lot of credit. Translating a book and still keeping the author’s original subtleties is incredibly hard to do. Most translations make the English version a choppy, poorly written book, yet the writing is still very consistent throughout the novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of girlaboutbooks.)
One cruel night, Meggie’s father reads aloud from Inkheart, and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books. Somehow, Meggie must learn to harness the magic that has conjured this nightmare. Only she can change the course of the story that has changed her life forever.
This is Inkheart, a timeless tale about books, about imagination, about life. Dare to read it aloud!
Inkheart enchanted me the very first time I read it and even now, years later, Cornelia Funke’s world calls to me. The beautiful descriptions, the three dimensional characters and the unique plot make this book a must read for tweens and younger teens.
When a mysterious stranger shows up at the doorstep in the middle of the night, wanting to talk to Mo, her father, Meggie is suspicious. She knows there is something afoot and she couldn’t have been more right. The appearance of the man called Dustfinger would change Meggie’s life forever as she discovers adventure and evil she had only read about in the pages of her beloved books.
In my opinion, Inkheart is Cornelia Funke’s best novel. It can be understood and enjoyed on many different levels, depending on your maturity level and knowledge of classic books. Once you read Inkheart, I can guarantee that you will never look at books the same way again.
I give this book 5/5 stars.