Why hello there! Well, I finished this book last night and realised that I had a lot to say about it but no one to say it to so I decided I'd tell you - yes that's right YOU! I've never reviewed before so feel free to throw your brutal words at me as you choose! No, really criticism is much appreciated!
RECKLESS
BLURB For the first time in his life, Jacob Reckless is afraid. For years he's stolen across to another world. A dark enchanted place he's loved for its treasure, secrets and dangers. Until now. Will, his younger brother, has followed him with terrible consequences: The boy will turn to beast; the girl he loves will break her heart and chaos will rule forever, unless Jacob can spin a fairytale to save them ...
REVIEW
The Grimm’s fairy tale world in which the story is set is very rich and textured, giving the stories back their eery tone and removing any Disney-style frivolity. It is an excellent setting for a story, one you can submerge yourself in completely. I loved the description of the Sleeping Beauty who was never awoken and though she never ages her skin as turned yellow from being left there so long, and Funke cleverly works a lot of these familiar plot devices and backgrounds into her own character’s story.
The plot, too, does not seem lacking: the brother who will turn into a monster if they cannot help in time – his brother’s girlfriend whom he develops feelings for – the world at war – and a greedy old dwarf!
But it is the characters which prevent the novel becoming un-put-downable. I never seemed to get really close to them, even Jacob – whose mind the narrative enters the most – does not seem to have many features distinguishing him from any other hero on a mission. Will seems a stereotypical quiet, sensitive younger brother, and his girlfriend Clara, was almost annoyingly passive. The narrative enters her head for a couple of chapters in the first half of the novel yet completely neglects to show us any glimpse of her feelings at the end of the story, which means we have no idea how she feels about Jacob and Will, as the narrative does little to reveal this either. Fox was probably the most interesting of the characters, and I would have loved to find out more about her, but again this was denied the reader!
After the Prologue – which tells us how Jacob stumbles upon the Mirror-World and describes the relationship between the two brothers as children – we are dropped into the middle of the action, where Will is already contaminated by the Goyl and they are trying to save him. I can see the benefits of this, I mean aren’t we readers always complaining about how long it can take to get into a book which starts of slowly? Yet I think this just added to the problem of character development; I mean I didn’t know Will yet so how could I truly care about what happened to him? It seemed like I was trying to care about the character more than the text allowed me to. This probably would have been fine if in another couple of chapters there had been a display, an event, big or small, or even just a conversation that revealed something about Will’s personality, about who he really was – where I could think ‘Wow! That’s Will.’ Then I’d have a reason to care. But still all I can tell you about the younger brother is that he is nice (*shudder*), kind, quiet and sensitive – and turning into a monster of course – but, hey, maybe he’d be more interesting that way.
The ending was quite disappointing. I don’t want to give anything away but one problem is solved very, very quickly – and there is no reason given for why the person who helps acts in this way. Will and Clara disappear very quickly; there’s very little emotion conveyed at all. It is, however, the first in a series, and of course, Funke doesn’t want to give in all away at once – but even so, I was left unsatisfied, like the book was incomplete somehow. Writing a series myself, I do realise how hard it is to make a book seem complete without giving everything away, and so far I have definitely not been more successful than Funke – however, the frustration I felt with the conclusion of ‘Reckless’ has prompted me to do some MASSIVE rewrites!
There were some really nice passages of prose, for example the description of the Chamber of Miracles, but the very fact that these stood out shows that a lot of the writing was simply average. I do wonder how much of that was due to the translation, and how much we have lost in tone and effect from the German. I did notice that this was a different translation that The ‘Inkworld’ Trilogy, in which I found the language much more rich and rewarding.
Despite all this, the book is an enjoyable read, it’s just not one of the ones you put on your ‘Favourite Books’ shelf of your bookcase. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series, as I’m assuming the characters carry on developing – but I kind of wish I’d waited until the whole series had come out and read them as one long book as I think it would have been more satisfying that way. Its strengths were definitely in dept world building, as the world was almost as rich as the Inkworld, and plot. It is easy and enjoyable reading, and if you are already a Cornelia Funke fan you’ll definitely enjoy it, as long as you don’t compare it to the Inkworld – and if you haven’t read Funke before then go read ‘Inkheart’! Go on – Shoo!
