Review: Fearless - Cornelia Funke

Fearless by Cornelia Funke
Series: Mirrorworld Trilogy #2
Genre: YA, fantasy
Published on April 2, 2013
Published by Little Brown
Pages: 432
Read From: 4.5.13 - 4.7.13










SYNOPSIS

Jacob Reckless has only a few months left to live. He's tried everything to shake the Fairy curse that traded his life for his brother's - legends such as the All-Healing Apple, the Well of Eternal Youth, the blood of a northern Djinn. And yet hope after hope is extinguished. After months of fruitless searching, Jacob journeys through his father's mirror one final time to deliver the bad news to Fox. 

There they hear of one last possibility - an item so legendary that not even Mirrorworlders believe it exists: a crossbow that can kill thousands, or heal one, when shot through the heart. But a Goyl treasure hunter is also searching for the prized crossbow. Jacob must find it first - and somehow persuade Fox to do whatever it takes to save him.

Review

Cover Blurb: Yes or No? Yes. I love the moths and the creepy silhouette against the dark background, and the twining vines on the sides. I'm not a big fan of the title font, though.

Characters: For all of his flaws, Jacob Reckless really is a great protagonist. He's adventurous and has just the right amount of arrogance that lets him keep his cool in even the worst of circumstances. He's also very protective of his friends, especially Fox, even though Jacob thinks himself selfish. But he has a great deal of pride that often gets in the way, and he isn't the most faithful of lovers. But somehow, I still do like Jacob; his pros outweigh his cons. Fox, meanwhile, is a great characters. She's feisty and proud, but she doesn't have The Attitude, and she looks after Jacob, even if it means sacrificing her own life. She loses her temper quite often, but it's never over anything unreasonable, and she still manages to remain practical and pushes her own feelings aside if the matter at hand is far more important. Narron isn't my favorite out of all the Goyl characters in Reckless and Fearless combined; his emotions cloud his judgement too much, but he's still an interesting character. But my absolute new favorite character was Troisclerq. I can't say too much about him without giving something away, but he was awesome in both roles and I really hope that he can somehow be in the third book (though I find it unlikely; still, I can hope).

The Romance: Fox and Jacob have feelings for each other, though neither will admit it to the other. Jacob is afraid of love, and Fox isn't sure Jacob reciprocates. Because I love both characters, and because they are both so good for one another, I am completely supportive of the romance. It's appearance in the story is perfect: definitely there, but subtle and sweet. It's a relationship based on self-sacrifice, so it feels deep and true.

Plot: Jacob Reckless is dying. After saving his younger brother Will from turning into a Jade Goyl, the Red Fairy cursed Jacob. He has one year to live, before the moth imprinted over his heart poisons him and flies away with his soul. Jacob hasn't told Fox, and he's running out of time. But then he hears of a crossbow that can kill millions or save one - a crossbow that once belonged to the fabled Guismond the Witch Slayer. But Guismond was a powerful and evil Warlock, and an evil Warlock's tomb isn't going to be easy to break into. Not only does Jacob risk booby traps and curses and Guismond's undead guards, but Narron the Goyl treasure hunter - also known as the Bastard - is also after the crossbow, and Narron hates Jacob. The hunt for the crossbow turns out to be far more complicated and dangerous than Jacob and Fox anticipated, and unlike Narron, time is not on Jacob's side. I honestly don't know which book I like better - Reckless or Fearless. Both have very different, yet very similar, storylines, and they are both extremely exciting and dark and amazing. The Mirrorworld continues to hold a thousand new secrets, and even after two books, I feel like we Readers have only just scratched the surface of the Mirrorworld's history. I loved the fairytale twists and the countries that "mirror" our own world, and the combination of magic and early Victorian technology and fashions. The plot is very linear, but even so it has surprising twists that keep it unpredictable.

Believability: Not applicable.

Writing Style: The style of Fearless is very different from Inkheart. It's sentence structure is almost simpler, and there are shorter phrases. And yet, it has a much deeper, darker feel that suits it perfectly to teen Readers. Cornelia Funke knows how to create a dark world full of fairy tales both strange and familiar, and she knows how to enchant Readers with her worlds. While not Dickens or Austen, this Author's writing holds its own magic and poetry that keeps me absolutely entranced.

Content: None.

Conclusion: There's still another book to go, so the Reader automatically knows that Jacob doesn't die. And yet, when the climax came, I had extreme doubts on that part. In a world like the Mirrorworld, someone can still die, and then the third book could be spent with Fox trying to find a way to bring him back from Death. Dustfinger, after all, met Death in Inkspell and still came back. So as Fearless met its crisis point, I held genuine fear for Jacob's life, and the twist the Author throws in is just awesome. I was not at all disappointed with Fearless, and fans of Reckless won't be, either.

Recommended Audience: Girl-and-guy read, fourteen and up, fans of fairytale retellings and Cornelia Funke.

Others in the Mirrorworld Trilogy:

1)Reckless

2)Fearless