Cornelia Funke - Reckless

I am giving up on normal books for a bit now, the stories don't interest me as much as paranormal or fantasy books and after An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding, I dove straight back into the weird and wonderful with a book from a German author which is a new one for me.

Reckless is the first in the Mirrorland series from Cornelia Funke, the author of the Inkheart trilogy, the first of which was turned into a film starring Brendan Fraser.  The Mirrorland series is set in two realms, ours and a hidden world that can only be found by going through a special mirror - one that coincidentally, Jacob Reckless's father owns.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Fantasy lovers

Favourite Characters: Fox - really sweet

Favourite Part: Fox rubbed her head against Jacob's lifeless hand.  A last moth rose from his chest.  Suddenly she flinched.  His body shuddered - his lips gasped for air, and his hands clawed into the grass.
Jacob!
Fox impulsively jumped on his chest, causing him to groan in pain. - Page 200

Good Points: Thrown straight into the story; story for fighting for one's family; well written

Bad Points: Ending was a bit predictable

Reckless follows Jacob Reckless, a young man who keeps travelling through his late father's mirror that connects our world to the other.  After travelling there as a child, he has repeatedly travelled backwards and forwards for days at a time, building a reputation in this mystical land as a finder of enchanted items and secrets.  He has gained a number of friends/allies, including the man who taught Jacob everything he needs to know to survive in this world; as well as friends, he's gained a large number of enemies.  Unfortunately, during Jacob's latest trip into this strange world, his brother followed him and became infected with a strange curse made by a dark fairy.

What struck me was that as a reader, you are thrown straight into the middle of the story after Will is infected with the dark fairy's curse which is slowly turning into a stone golem, a jade golem which is the rarest of them all as they are supposed to be the king's guards because they are the strongest.  Jacob is in search of a cure for this curse but has to ensure the safety of his brother and his girlfriend as well as his friend, Fox.  I loved this point because I was immediately enthralled and wanted to read this book constantly as the action was enticing and there was no lull prior.  Sometimes being thrown into the middle of the action is confusing but Funke made it less so by having flashbacks to the past so that as reader, I could understand the backstory to these characters and how they got to this point; I found it highly effective as I enjoy action based literature because it keeps my attention more so than someone just waffling on and not getting to the point.

I loved the concept of fighting for one's family as my family are incredibly important to me, especially my sister even if I want to kill her most of the time.  I understand Jacob's mentality and maybe that's why I think this story is fantastic; Funke seems to understand the family dynamic and is able to connect with the audience on this front as a number of children/teenagers who would be reading this can understand the need to protect their siblings whether they're the eldest or the youngest.  I'm glad that I chose this book because it was a nice change from the love stories that always appear in the books I read so please read if you want to read something a bit different.

I found this book to be extremely well written to the point where I've felt the need to point it out; Funke uses just the right amount of conversation and description to keep my interest without boring me with too much of either one.  What's even better is that the language she uses doesn't exclude adults despite it being a young adult novel; Funke has been called the "German J.K. Rowling" but personally, I think she's better, she doesn't seem to waffle on too much while Rowling has pages upon pages of descriptive work with some conversation.

Fox is absolutely my favourite character because I found her really sweet and affectionate towards Jacob despite knowing that he might not feel the same way about her.  Despite being a shapeshifter, she's more comfortable in her animal form which implies that she's self-conscious about her human form despite encouragement to change into it from Jacob; this made her a more rounded character in my opinion because she wasn't simple, she had issues about herself which readers can relate to.  While Jacob is a great character too, I preferred Fox because I connected with her more, particularly when Jacob was hurt and was equally heart-broken when he was just lying there.

I found the ending of this novel particularly predictable with Jacob sacrificing his own life for his brother to go back to normal and have a normal life with his girlfriend.  It seemed very obvious that this was the way the book was going to go as Will slipped further away from his humanity; it would be what any older sibling (or any sibling for that matter) would have done, I'd risk my life for my little sister if I needed to because I'm supposed to protect her that's my job.  Boy that sounded a lot like Supernatural (Dean anyway) in my head just then.  This was the only downside for me as overall, I enjoyed this book.

Fox rubbed her head against Jacob's lifeless hand.  A last moth rose from his chest.  Suddenly she flinched.  His body shuddered - his lips gasped for air, and his hands clawed into the grass.

Jacob!

Fox impulsively jumped on his chest, causing him to groan in pain. - Page 200

I thought this bit was incredibly sweet and summed up the relationship between Fox and Jacob, or at least Fox's feelings for Jacob as she is distraught over his apparent death and is ecstatic to see he's alive, it tells me that she loves him dearly even if she doesn't say this out loud.

This was an incredibly well written book, despite the predictable ending and while I am not rushing out to buy the next book in this series because I have a big enough pile of books as it is, I do recommend this book and maybe the series to anyone looking for something in the fantasy genre, whether you are a young adult or an adult.  The main characters are well rounded with flaws and strengths and while you are thrown straight into the story, it is easy to follow.

Predictions

1. Jacob and Fox try to find a way to prolong Jacob's life

2. Jacob admits how he really feels about Fox
3. Fox begins to feel comfortable in her human skin