Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Beyond the mirror, the darkest fairy tales come alive.

For years, Jacob Reckless has enjoyed the Mirrorworld’s secrets and treasures. Not anymore. 
His younger brother has followed him.
Now dark magic will turn the boy to beast, break the heart of the girl he loves, and destroy everything Jacob holds most dear… 
Unless he can find a way to stop it. If you’re looking for happily ever after, you’ve come to the wrong place. 

Funke is a fantastic world creator. I enjoyed Inkheart (but sadly never made it to the rest) and the description of the fantastical world. This book did not disappoint in the department of fantastical worlds. I loved the little sprinklings of fairy tales throughout the story.

The beginning started out quickly pulling me into the story anxiously awaiting the next twist. Sadly, it got a little slow after that though. While there was action, it fell a little short of the beginning for me. It picked up again at the end and I was flipping pages to find out what outcome awaited Jacob and his companions.

Now, page-turning aside, I found myself rather confused at times. It became a bit jumpy at times just throwing things at me out of the blue. I would find myself flipping back to previous pages to see if I missed something. These random happenings felt like they were simply thrown into the story to invent conflict instead of letting it invent itself.

In short, I found this to be a fairly quick read, but it won’t be making it into my favorites list anytime soon. I’ll definitely look into the next one when it comes out though. (Also, I was rather surprised by the ending, but in a good way.)

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Pages: 394

Series: 1/5

Rating: 3.5