Cornelia Funke is a genius. She just is. I listened to her newest book (although not that new anymore – first published in September 2010), Reckless. It captivated me from start to finish. The beginning of the story drops on the reader like a parachute out of nowhere. You are immediately immersed and confused with your surroundings. As you make your way from beneath the parachute another layer drops and another. I love this type of storytelling when it is done well. William Faulkner does this incredibly well. As a reader, you are forced to take a leap of faith that all will become clear or at least somewhat clear. Funke can join the ranks of Faulkner-esque storytelling.
Reckless re-imagines fairy tales. Actually, it creates its own fairy tale but within a world of familiar fairy tales — however, these familiar fairy tales have become darkly twisted. The witch and the gingerbread house are real, a tailor with scissors for hands hunts people for their skin, and fairies are selfish creatures. Jacob Reckless has been living in both the real and this fairy tale world. He has been traveling through a mirror and finds solace in escaping to this hidden world where he steals enchanted artifacts for money. Everything changes when Jacobs younger brother, Will, follows him into his strange world. Will becomes infected with a curse that slowly changes his skin to stone (becoming a Goyl)–jade to be exact. Once Will’s skin becomes completely jade he will be lost forever. Jacob, Fox–a beautiful shape-shifting vixen/fox–, and Clara–Will’s girlfriend from back home–must race time to find something or someone to save Will.
Age Group: 14 and up
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Themes: Magic, Fantasy, Fairy Tales,
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, imprint of Hachette Book Group
Read Schmead: Tales From The Book 
I love her books. Now I’m just waiting for Reckless 2 to be published.
Me too! She does have a new book coming out in May called Ghost Knight. It is for the Dragon Rider/Igraine the Brave age group. I love those books as well, but they are quite different from Reckless.
They are still very interesting.
I have this one on my shelf to read, but still haven’t gotten to it yet. After reading your review I can’t wait to read it next! I hadn’t realized how dark and twisted the characters would be, and I can’t wait to read about them. Awesome review!
Awesome review! This book sounds fantastic and now I want to read it right away! Thanks for sharing. The cover is awesome.