The Thief Lord

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: The Thief Lord was wonderful book! I have only a small bit of criticism. I though the characters weren't described that well. The only thing that the author seemed intent on describing fully was the city of Venice, which she did, superbly. The fantasy/magic component emerged far to late in the book. Also, the moral at the end of the story is a fascinating one which really makes you think, but not enough of the story leads up to it. It comes very suddenly. I read this book after hearing it compared to Harry Potter. I found the two to be very different. This book is well worth reading, but if you are looking for more fantasy/magic type book(s) read Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings ( and other books related to it by J.R.R. Tolkein including The Hobbit, etc.), and His Dark Materials.

Rating:
Summary: A stunning fantasy
Review: This book certainly caught my attention with it's plot. It all starts out with two boys, Prosper and Bo who try and make a new home in Venice, Italy, after their mother dies. They soon settle down with a small community of orphans in an movie theater, living off of the money their leader brings home after his burglaries. Prosper, one of the orphans, is a calm, caring child of 12, looking after his enthusiastic, 5 year old brother Bo. As they live their live in Venice , they must face Victor, the detective that their aunt hired after Bo ran away from her. They also must stand in fear that one day their whole way of life will be exposed to the rest of the world, or at least that is how I felt because their is always tension in the book from all the children trying to keep them selves from reality.
As I said earlier, this book really caught my attention, with it's plot. It showed a way of writing I had never experienced before, a way of using 3rd person and past tense to show thoughts of 10 people at once, and I have to say this unique method is quite clever and that it puts very defined attributes into the character. The reason why I like it so much is that it shows the emotion very well. It has a very good way of making it so there is much detail and description throughout the book.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific book
Review: This book is fantastic. It has loads of interesting descriptions and is a real page-turner. It's almost as if your with the characters that live in the abandoned movie theater. You get to learn about the mysterious Thief Lord and be very surprised at the way the story ends. The author makes you laugh, scream and has you stay up all night. A MUST READ BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Just OK
Review: I don't particularly like it. Although the discriptions are nice, it's not that great. I had trouble getting through the first 3-4 chapters. I just bought it for the heck of it, seeing how it was "noticed" so much. But YOU shouldn't bother. It's a waste of money. Borrow it from the library. Save yourself some money.

Rating:
Summary: An Enchanting Tale
Review: The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

The Thief Lord is a mystifying tale of five orphans and runaways on a quest for freedom and independence in Venice, Italy. They are led by a thirteen year old boy who calls himself the Thief Lord.However, the Thief Lord has amazing secrets of his own that are accidentally revealed to the other children because of a few interesting characters. Despite the essential involvement of these characters however, this is mainly Prosper's story. Prosper seeks to survive successfully with his little brother Bo in Venice, away from Aunt Esther, who looks to have the boys returned to her rightful ownership. The plot only thickens when The Merry-Go-Round of the Merciful Sisters is introduced to the already good story. Written in third person and past tense I always felt that I knew what was going on. Cornelia Funke provides rich descriptions that make you feel what she is saying. I liked this book because what was going to happen next was never predictable. She springs upon you numerous amount of shock and surprise throughout this magical tale.

Anna

Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: I loved this book. I especially liked the locale...what's not to like about Venice? The locale gave it an "exoticness" that made the story more mysterious. The characters were terrific; there wasn't a single one I didn't enjoy. The "thievery" involved was clearly shown as not a good thing, rather a necessary evil. I look forward to reading Cornelia Funke again.

Rating:
Summary: At least use a book jacket
Review: if you plan on reading this book in public. It is not, as some reviewers have said, anything like the ''Harry Potter'' series. There are several scenes and conversations that simply have no point or are not tightly woven in with the rest of the plot line. There are conversations in which one of the characters teases another about how she is going to tickle him. You can guess how the story will end halfway through it. And if you bother reading that far, the end is just a big club the author uses to hit you over the head with her ''moral of the story.'' This is good stuff for a first-grader who doesn't have any video game skills.

Rating:
Summary: the Book
Review: I absolutely loved it. I fell in love with Scipio and almost cried when I found out he wasn't the big, arrogant thief that I thought he was. Full of mystery and suspence with lots of action. Just a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Richie's Picks: THE THIEF LORD
Review: "'Children?' Victor looked up in surprise. 'I've tracked down a lot of things in my time--suitcases, dogs, a couple of escaped lizards, and some husbands--but you are the first clients to come to me because they've lost their children, Mr. and Mrs....?' He looked at them inquisitively.
'Hartlieb,' the woman answered. 'Esther and Max Hartlieb.'
'And they are NOT our children,' her husband stated firmly, which immediately earned him an angry look from his pointy-nosed wife."

Recently I wrote about food and nutrition books. On occasion, someone will start getting all filled with awe when they hear about my diet since college--no meat, no additives, no caffeine, no white sugar. But whenever that happens, Shari will roll her eyes and make one of those noises of disgust, before launching into her "Don't-let-him-fool-you" rap about how I sure as heck have a sweet tooth, even if I don't eat white sugar.

(Shrug.) I plead guilty--Me 'n Pooh Bear would make a great team. I can eat heaping platefuls of the honey and molasses-sweetened oatmeal raisin cookies that Shari bakes for me. Give me those and a mason jar full of chamomile tea--that's MY comfort food.

THE THIEF LORD is comfort food. Beautifully evocative descriptions of Venice where the story takes place, a great cast of consistantly well-formed characters, most of whom you come to love, and a tale that at first drifts gently from chapter to chapter, like the little waves that lap at the rocky feet of houses along the Venitian canals. But, while the voices may dance softly across the page, this adventurous tale that centers around two orphan brothers and the detective who is hired to track them down is quite cleverly crafted, containing as many wild twists and narrow, unnamed alleys as does the city of Venice itself. And then, just when you feel like you've got the lay of the land, you zag right off the map.

THE THIEF LORD, which is already a wildly-popular bestseller in Germany where it was first published, is an utter joy to read. It is another one that I'll be impatiently awaiting the chance to read aloud to the family. If word gets out how great this one is, Barry Cunningham, the man known for discovering J.K. Rowling, may have his first monster hit in his latest role as Publisher of Chicken House.

And, just as I once again made a couple of visits to Grand Central Station during BookExpo in honor of Peter Lake, I now long to travel to the city of Venice, that I may stroll through the Piazza San Marco, gaze up at the winged lions, check out a shop filled with junk down some narrow alley, and then spit in the canal for good luck.

Wed. 8 May 2002
Richie Partington
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Rating:
Summary: Three and three quarter stars
Review: The thief lord was an entertaining book for me. The writer writes in a clean, uncluttered fashion and that is always nice.

The characters are quite believable, although two of the central characters are the children; Prospero and Bo, and they seemed a little one-dimensional to me. By far my favorite characters were Scipio and the detective, Victor. In the front of the book it says "To Bob Hoskins - who looks exactly like Victor" and after reading the book, I can really see the resemblence between that actor and the character.

If I were to criticize the book in any way, it would be to say that it really takes some time for the book to become exciting. I think that the writer stretched out the story too much and that it could do with some editing. I found myself thinking, when will the real story finally begin? -- and it does begin, although it really takes a while.

On the positive side, I'd say that the descriptions of Venice are wonderful and that some of the writers ideas, particularly the abandoned movie theater, are particularly imaginitive.

I liked this book, but I don't think it will ever reach the popularity of Harry Potter because it just isn't 'word candy' in quite the same way. It's just not as exciting as Harry Potter. In conclusion, I think that it would be enjoyed more by older children and adults, than younger readers.