Book Review: The Thief Lord

TITLE: The Thief Lord
PART OF SERIES: Standalone
AUTHOR: Cornelia Funke
GENRE: Childrens, adventure
PREMISE: Prosper and Bo have run away to Venice in order to escape their relatives. They end up working with a group of children including one who calls himself the Thief Lord.
MY REVIEW: I will be totally honest: fifty percent of the reason I adored this book was the setting: Venice, Italy aka: coolest city in the world (sorry New York, it's Venice all the way for me). The other fifthy percent just has to do with the fact that the story is great. Funke actually managed to make me like this more then Inkheart (and I loved Inkheart quite a bit).
The setting is the perfect backdrop for what's going on: young pickpockets dodging a detective, getting into shady deals with a conte, and many other things that I can't give away without spoiling it all. Along with the excitement, the characters are wonderful. Funke made all the kids have personalities and you grew to like each one (but I admit, I was majorly partial to Bo and Prosper). The detective is also very likable (and how adorable was it that he had pet torteouses?) and there were many other awesome characters.
So all in all, great setting+fun and memorable characters+exciting things going on=awesome book. If you or your kids liked Inkheart, I gaurantee you'll love this too.
WHO SHOULD READ: Anyone inclined to pick it up
MY RATING: Five out of Five street thieves (wow, two five out fives this week...that's pretty good)

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