The fantasy novel The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funnk tells the story of two boys in Venice, Italy. After their mom died and their aunt who smells of paint looks for them, the two young boys, named Bo and Prosper, go on a life-changing adventure. Because the boys run away to Venice, they have nowhere to stay. They find a gang of kids living off another kid who calls himself “the thief lord”. The thief lord comes and goes as he likes. One day the thief lord gets a job for five million lire and all the while the kids are turning a hired detective into their own weapon. They have their perspectives changed over and over through their adventure.
This is a well-written book. I love Cornelia Funnk’s writing. For example, “We're not running away any more, Bo. Mum wanted us to be here, this is where we live now” Her use of vocabulary and adjectives are great. She also has the best ideas for books such as Dragon Rider. I didn’t like how the beginning of the book starts off slow then builds up its momentum until you can’t wait till you read again the next night. Sometimes at school while I was bored, I would think about what was going to happen in the book. One aspect of the text I relished was as soon as I would come up with a prediction, some unexpected thing would force you to read just a few more pages. Then the book would trick you again and again. I think that the main moral of the story that relates to my life is people lie a lot.
I would rate this novel a three point nine out of five. It wasn’t the best book, then again, I rate books harshly. Also, Eragon and the Bartimaus series put a shadow over The Thief Lord. This was a great book and my friends could back me up on that. I would recommend it to people that are looking for a decent book and have already read the amazing books. I recommend it for children between the ages of 10 and 15.