The Thief Lord

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Translation of : Herr der Diebe.
"First published in the United Kingdom in 2002 by The Chicken House"--P. [6].
"Original German edition published c2000 by Cecilie Dressler Verlag, Hamburg, Germany."--P. [6].
Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with--and protection from--Venice's "Thief Lord."

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Why to read the Thief Lord submitted by emilyc-r on August 21, 2008, 12:51pm Book Review
Emily C-R
The Thief Lord
Cornelia Funke
Adventure/Fantasy/Mystery
Copyright 2000


Setting: The Thief Lord takes place during modern times in Venice, Italy. The main characters hide out in a rundown movie theater. Other places in the book include: a junk shop, two large mansions, a magical island, and the famous Saint Mark’s square, which is one of the few real places in the book.

Author’s Style: The Thief Lord was translated from German and I’m glad because I really enjoyed it. It is written in third person. One interesting thing about this book is that the reader always knows more than the characters in the book. Usually this bothers me, but in this case for every one thing you find out, several new mysteries start. Cornelia Funke does a good job describing things and feelings; making you understand what the characters are feeling without going on forever.

Characters:
Victor Getz, a detective who is very clever but not very fast.
Esther and Max Hartlieb are Victor’s clients who are missing their nephews Prosper and Bo.
Prosper, cares about his brother very much and is afraid of being separated; in a way Prosper is much more like a parent than a brother.
Bo is Prosper’s little brother who is eager to have adventures.
Hornet is a friend of Prosper and Bo’s who introduces them to her other friends.
The Theif Lord or Scipio is the leader of the group of friends.
Riccio, another friend, nicked named Hedgehog.
Mosca, another friend.
Barbarossa, the junk shop owner.
Ida Spavento is a kind young lady who is very rich.
The Conte

Plot: Prosper and Bo run away to Venice when their parents die because their aunt wants to adopt Bo but not Prosper. In Venice, they make friends and have adventures, while trying all the while not to be caught by Victor who has been hired to find them.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone but especially someone who likes adventure, fantasy, or mystery mixed with amazingly well written stories. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The story seemed very real to me. I could understand what it would be like to be Prosper, Scipio, or even Victor. If you like Harry Potter I think you will like The Thief Lord; it has a lot of the same qualities even though it has a very different plot.

Wonderful Book submitted by 0liviap0pp on August 13, 2011, 7:50am This is a great book. Cornelia Funke does an amazing job with it.

Great submitted by Memoria1224 on July 12, 2012, 8:23pm This book is really good! There was a lot of excitement in it.

yesss submitted by unknown on August 2, 2013, 8:10pm This book is what caused me to learn Italian.

It was okay submitted by IsaGab2 on September 3, 2020, 10:49pm The beginning of the story was fine. I can’t get into the end because of spoilers but I thought it was incredibly stupid. It felt like a surprise (then again it might’ve been my dumb 11 year old brain).