Bookreview

Reckless - Cornelia Funke

Plot

Jacob Reckless, a young boy who finds out the truth about the mirror in his fathers study. The mirror is the gateway to another world, where fairy tales are real (somewhat at least) and Jacob disappears into the mirror for adventures.

One day, his brother sees him, and follows him. This has dangerous consequences. The world behind the mirror is at war.The Goyls, the stone skinned beasts that live underground, have taken over the world, and Jacobs brother Will, after a curse from the Dark Fairy, is becoming one of them. Jacob, determined to cure his brother from the disease spreading, giving his brother jade skin, takes off on a dangerous journey together with his brother, his best friend Fox (a girl who can shapeshift back and forth from girl to fox), and Clara, Will girlfriend, to find the cure for Will's faith.

Opinion

I think the book is great, even though not completely new in the fantasy field. The chapters are short, which makes this a great book to read when in a tight space of time, as you can read just a few minutes now and then. Funke has managed to get some of the most know fairy tales into this, but still, she does not explore them, but you need to be aware of them to understand a few things in the book.

This hero is prepared to do absolutely anything to get what he wants. He is in some way a new version of the Byronic hero. The dark, dangerous guy. Jacob is well on his way to become a more traditional Byronic hero. He keeps a lot to himself and always carries the burden of it, even though he knows he has Fox, whom would do about anything for him. He just don't realize she loves him. This could because of that had been a heartbroken romance fantasy novel, but the romantic undertones are not there in a visible way, which makes it a good read for other groups of reader to.

A great book, I could recommend it, it's a book for young adults though, so if you can't stand that kinds of books, well then... your loss

Picture: http://www.lex.lgusd.k12.ca.us/IMAGES/reckless-by-cornelia-funke_213.jpg