Author:: Cornelia Funke
Pages: Don't remember
Setting: Venice!
Read during: in the car during the ride from Racine to Minneapolis, just after winter break
Shall I spoil the ending? No.
When I opened the book, I wasn't sure who this book was going to be about. Was the main character going to be the titular Thief Lord? The funny, not-quite-bumbling detective introduced on the first page? Or perhaps the two brothers he was looking for? I wasn't sure what I was expecting, or even what I wanted. What I got, though, I liked.
Two young boys, newly orphaned, run away from their thoroughly unlikeable relatives... and where better to run but Venice, city of beauty and gold and light and winged lions? Where better, indeed?
Even after having just read and loved Inkheart, I had misgivings about reading Thief Lord. It seemed too clichéd to work... did I really want to read another book about parentless children, being roguish and clever and thwarting adults at every turn? I certainly did not. Happily, that wasn't what Thief Lord was about.
It got a trifle predictable here and there, but in general it remained fresh and exciting, with a couple twists I never would have imagined.
Author:: Cornelia Funke. (If my name were Cornelia Funke, I would write books, too.)
Pages: 534 (548 if you count the excerpt of the sequel, Inkspell.)
Setting: Europe. Modern day Europe. You wouldn't know it, though, except they have some electric lights, and they sometimes drives cars, and there are several references to how miserably people treated books in the Middle Ages.
Means of Aquiration: Someone (my youngest brother, I think) got it for Christmas, which is wonderful. I've been coveting this book ever since I first saw it in Waldenbooks a year(?) ago, but I wouldn't buy it in hardcover.
Importance of Books: Books are extremely important in Inkheart. Everything that happens, happens to books, because of books, or by means of books.
Before I say anything else, I will say this: There is a little gold foil proclamation on the front of this book that exclaims: Soon to be a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! This means two things. First, you should endeavor to read the book immediately, if not sooner, because as soon as trailers and teasers and reviews start coming out about the movie, you'll already know too much about the story to properly enjoy discovering everything for yourself. (This is not to say that you will not enjoy the book, but simply to say that, as a rule of thumb, everything is better when you experience it for yourself, and this book is worthy of being enjoyed to its fullest extent.) Second, you should read the book before, after, because of, or despite seeing the movie, so long as you go in to it with an open mind.
It really is a good book, and I'd hate to have it ruined for someone.
Also, if you want to read it properly, don't read the description on the back cover. It gives far too much away. The first sentence on the back cover gives away something that isn't even hinted at until page 56 (the second clue doesn't appear until page 69, and nothing's actually stated until Chapter 16, which starts on page 136). I don't know who thought it would be a grand idea to give away the mystery of the first fourth of the book, but I don't think much of them.
Anyway.
This was a wonderfully long book, the sort where you get to the middle, and you realise that a normal book would be over, or just getting into the last two chapters... and you've still got half a book to go! For me, that is a wonderful feeling. Especially with a book I like as much as Inkheart. I read it all yesterday--positively devoured it. I haven't read a book that way for a very, very long time (and I've missed it.)
After my lecture on not letting people spoil books for you, I'm not sure what I can say about the story without giving anything too wonderful away.
There is a wonderful, horrible, evil villain, straight out of fantasy. There is an annoying aunt (who isn't really that bad after all). There is a dad who could win the Atticus Finch Award for being a wonderful father. There is a shifty man who juggles fire. There is a special sort of magic that all bookworms wish they had--now that I've read Inkheart, I'm glad I never did have it. There are fairies and monsters--real and imagined, human and unhuman.
It's a book for people who love adventure (but who might not love it so much if they ever found themselves having one.) It's a book for people who believe in happy endings (although nothing ever ends completely well in real life.) It's a book for people who know and love the characters they read out of stories (even though they have never really met them). Most of all, it is a book for people who love books.
See below for quotes.
"You met him once," said Dustfinger. "It's a long time ago, you won't remember you were so little." He held his hand at knee height in the air. "How can I explain what he's like? If you were to see a cat eating a young bird I expect you'd cry, wouldn't you? Or try to help the bird. Capricorn would feed the bird to the cat on purpose, just to watch it being torn apart, and the little creature's screeching and begging would be as sweet as honey to him."Meggie took another step backward, but Dustfinger kept advancing toward her.
"I don't suppose you'd get any fun from terrifying people until their knees were so weak they could hardly stand?" he asked. "Nothing gives Capricorn more pleasure. And I don't suppose you think you can just help yourself to anything you want, never mind what or where. Capricorn does. Unfortunately, your father has something Capricorn has set his heart on."
-Page 25
Meggie did not reply. She wasn't sure herself why she had asked the question. "This book is very valuable, isn't it?" she asked."What, Inkheart?" Elinor took it from Meggie's hand, stroked the binding, and then gave it back. "I think so. Although you won't find a single copy in any of the catalogs or lists of valuable books. But I'm sure that many collectors would offer your father a great deal of money if word got around that he has what may be the only copy. Actually I found out quite a lot about it, and I believe that it's not just a rare book, but a good one, too. I can't give an opinion on that. I scarely managed a dozen pages last night."
-Pages 86 and 87