Title: Reckless
Author: Cornelia Funke
Pages:394
Cybil Book #38
For years, Jacob Reckless has been escaping to another world–a world behind the mirror, where witches haunt the forests and fairies and dwarfs roam. A world for treasure hunts and magnificent quests–but also a world locked in a deadly war.My Thoughts
Jacob’s secret seems safe, until one day his younger brother Will follows him, to disastrous consequence. Faced with a curse that is quickly turning Will to stone, the Reckless brothers are thrust into a race against time to find a cure before one of them is lost forever.
Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, master storyteller Cornelia Funke introduces a lush, enchanting landscape of fairy tales and legends re-imagined as never before. Reckless is a thrilling adventure and a tale of heroism, filled with danger, mystery, and above all, magic.
My Thoughts
I have read several other novels by this author in the past and one of them really grabbed me. They just did not blow me away like so many students claimed they would. I enjoyed the novels and I am not saying that I did not like her writing because she is a good storyteller, but I share this viewpoint because I really, really, really, really liked this book. I loved this book from the start by staring at the cover which is awesome.
I hesitated and hesitated reading this book because of my past with her previous novels. Once I started this book I could not stop and had it done in 24 hours.
The way she has taken the Grimm tales(many of them I need to go back and actually read about to see how much was actually intertwined) was very cool. The action scenes were stellar. There was fighting with blood and death by a whole host of creatures(don’t you even think about looking at the unicorns). One of my favorite parts(not a spoiler) was the snakes shooting out of the walls. Such genius!!
I was a little confused at first. It did take a while to get a feel for the flow and layout of the land, alliances, characters, etc. There is a lot going on. Hence the reason I loved this book. I was just telling someone the other day that I need an adult read with several plot lines with creatures, politics, alliances, game changers, magic, etc.(which is why I bought Brent Weeks Dark Prism). This novel satisfied my craving. If you are new to her writing know that sometimes it takes a while to get everything figure out.
Once I had it down in terms of who was who I could not stop. I had to read. I am going to go out on a limb here and state that this book has cracked my top 10 list of books read in 2010. That is a bold statement because I have not unveiled that list, but am thinking it is going to be there.
I do question the age rating for this book. It is suggested for 9-12 years of age. Not sure if this should not be older? The main character is older and there are some pretty creepy things that do go on. Just a thought and more importantly don’t want older readers at my school to be turned off by the age rating.
Read this book. You will not regret it. Remember to give it some time. Sometimes the wordy passages are worth it if you just slow down and process what vivid descriptions she is giving you.
The major question is – how long until book 2?
Leave a Reply