The Thief Lord | 
| Author: Cornelia Funke
Creator: Oliver Latsch
Publisher: The Chicken House
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  396 reviews
Sales Rank: 15401
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 376
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 043942089X
EAN: 9780439420891
ASIN: 043942089X
Publication Date: October 1, 2003
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Amazon.com Review
Imagine a Dickens story with a Venetian setting, and you'll have a good sense of Cornelia Funke's prizewinning novel IThe Thief Lord/I, first published in Germany in 2000. This suspenseful tale begins in a detective's office in Venice, as the entirely unpleasant Hartliebs request Victor Getz's services to search for two boys, Prosper and Bo, the sons of Esther Hartlieb's recently deceased sister. Twelve-year-old Prosper and 5-year-old Bo ran away when their aunt decided she wanted to adopt Bo, but not his brother. Refusing to split up, they escaped to Venice, a city their mother had always described reverently, in great detail. Right away they hook up with a long-haired runaway named Hornet and various other ruffians who hole up in an abandoned movie theater and worship the elusive Thief Lord, a young boy named Scipio who steals jewels from fancy Venetian homes so his new friends can get the warm clothes they need. Of course, the plot thickens when the owner of the pawn shop asks if the Thief Lord will carry out a special mission for a wealthy client: to steal a broken wooden wing that is the key to completing an age-old, magical merry-go-round. This winning cast of characters--especially the softhearted detective with his two pet turtles--will win the hearts of readers young and old, and the adventures are as labyrinthine and magical as the streets of Venice itself. (Ages 9 and older) I--Karin Snelson/I
Product Description
Prosper and Bo are orphans on the run from their cruel aunt and uncle. The brothers decide to hide out in Venice, where they meet a mysterious character who calls himself the "Thief Lord." Brilliant and charismatic, the Thief Lord leads a ring of street children who dabble in petty crimes. Prosper and Bo relish being part of this colorful new family. But the Thief Lord has secrets of his own. And soon the boys are thrust into circumstances that will lead them, and readers, to a fantastic, spellbinding conclusion.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 391 more reviews...
 Entertaining, but not wonderful December 26, 2008
At first glance it seems likely that Cornelia Funke's novel The Thief Lord (2000) will center around the Thief Lord. All the same the story actually starts with Prosper and Bo, brothers who have run away to avoid their nasty aunt who wants to separate them. Convinced that all of the wonderful stories their late mother told them about Venice will be true and keep them safe, the boys make their way to that fair city.br /br /Unfortunately Venice is not as magical as their mother had told them (at least not right away). Just when Prosper is prepared to accept defeat and return his younger brother to the warm and safe, if not loving, home of his aunt, the boys are taken in by a very unusual band of children. Led by Scipio, the Thief Lord, the children live in a condemned theater living off the riches that Scipio steals from Venice's elite. The children know little else about Scipio, but in exchange for his support and protection they are willing to overlook that small detail.br /br /Meanwhile, the brothers' aunt has enlisted a private investigator to locate the boys and bring Bo back to her (Prosper will be sent to an orphanage). Like any other investigator worth his salt, Victor soon picks up the trail of the children. The more this trio sees of each other, the more tenuous the children's existence in the Venice theater seems. Indeed, Victor's investigation could unearth a secret about the Thief Lord that will change all of their lives. Forever.br /br /The Thief Lord is told in the whimsical, ethereal tone common to some fairy tales. It is entirely appropriate for this story, but also manages to make it that much harder to believe that the story is real. While the book was enjoyable, it always felt like the characters were at a remove--visible but not near enough to discern subtleties.Funke describes Venice and its landscapes beautifully but leaves the characters much less dimensionalbr /br /I liked that the story had a lot of twists and turns, but by the end of the novel it felt a bit like one too many turns. Funke blends realistic incidents with pure fantasy creating an uneasy combination that sometimes works well in the text and other times left me scratching my head. In some ways it feels like the first and second half of the the story come from two different plots.br /br /After realizing that the novel was originally written in German, I suspect that the different culture and writing conventions might have contributed to my uneasiness in deciding whether I actually liked the book. In summary, The Thief Lord was entertaining and will likely please any young fantasy readers in the house even though it was not completely wonderful.br /
 Better than Inkheart December 2, 2008
The story started off quite engagingly, though I thought I'd discovered the secret right away (chapter 4!). It turns out I'd only discovered a small secret and the big one was still to come! There's also an element of reality (yes, in a fantasy book!) that struck me. Not everyone is perfectly redeemed, people don't always do the smart thing (but they also aren't made extremely stupid just to advance the plot). Sure, some of the characters are quirky, some are kinder than you'd expect, and there are certainly plot elements with no basis in reality... But that doesn't detract from how grounded the characters are in the real world. The ending isn't trite as I'd feared. All in all this is a terrific book and much better thank Funke's "Inkheart" because "the Thief Lord"'s characters take much more control of their lives.
A Great Book November 19, 2008
The Thief Lord is a Fantasy written by Cornelia Funkebr /This book is about two boys named Prosper and Bo who run away to Venice, Italy to get away from their evil Aunt and Uncle who wanted to adopt Bo after their parents died. They planned to put Prosper in a boarding school.The boys then make friends with several other homeless kids who live in an abandoned movie theatre. Eventually their Aunt and Uncle hire a detective and set up flyers to find them.br /I would recommend this book to anyone who can read and understand it fully. This is one of my favorite books.br /
Very Good Book! November 13, 2008
This was very detailed. The setting was great and the plot keeps you hooked page after page. A very good read for any school literature project.
Entertaining read October 16, 2008
Enjoyable read for children, teens, and adults alike. My son would love to see Venice after reading this tale.
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