Reckless is the first novel in German author Cornelia Funke's follow up to the acclaimed Inkheart trilogy, also called the Reckless series and intended, so they say, as a pentalogy. The second book came out recently and is on my Kindle and to-read list, because Reckless was a book that I very much enjoyed. I got back into young adult fiction, especially fantasy, during my teaching years, when I reviewed books for a site called Write Away. (Oh look; a new Marcus Sedgwick - no! Be good! You already bought Fearless today.)
Reckless takes place in the fairy tale setting of Mirrorworld, so called because it can be reached from the ordinary world by way of a mirror. Jacob Reckless first passed into this world after his father disappeared (possibly vanishing into the Mirrorworld himself) and has spent half his life using it to avoid the responsibilities of reality. Responsibility comes crashing into his existence however, when his brother Will follows him and is afflicted with a terrible curse.
In part a retelling of various Grimm's fairy tales, Reckless is also an adventure story in its own right, and the two are cleverly woven together, not least in the presentation of Jacob as a hunter of the precious objects of fairy tales, some of which he keeps and uses as tools of his treasure-seeking trade.
Notably, the book is listed as written in English, whereas Funke's previous work has been written in German and translated. I'm looking forward to cracking into Fearless in the coming week.
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