Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Review: Ghost Knight - Cornelia Funke

Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke
Genre: Middle Grade, supernatural
Published on May 1, 2012
Published by Little, Brown Books
Pages: 351
Read From: 5.11.12 - 5.12.12













SYNOPSIS
Eleven-year-old Jon Whitcroft never expected to enjoy boarding school. Then again, he never expected to be confronted by a pack of vengeful ghosts, either. And then he meets Ella, a quirky new friend with a taste for adventure. . . . 
Together, Jon and Ella must work to uncover the secrets of a centuries-old murder while being haunted by terrifying spirits, their bloodless faces set on revenge. So when Jon summons the ghost of the late knight Longspee for his protection, there's just one question: Can Longspee truly be trusted?

Review

This story was a tiny bit different from what I expect from this Author’s pen. It isn’t as magical as the Inkworld Trilogy or even The Thief Lord, and it isn’t as darkly beautiful as Reckless. It’s a simpler tale than any of those, shorter, and contains a new sort of humor that I’ve never read in her books before - it has a very modern flavor. The fact that Cornelia didn’t illustrate this book also lends to its new feel.

Even so, I still really liked Ghost Knight. All of the characters - Ella, Jon, and Longspee especially - are every bit as interesting and likable as any of Cornelia’s other characters. Ella has a bit of an attitude, but it isn’t The Attitude; she doesn’t have a chip on her shoulder, she’s just really sarcastic, and Jon’s attraction to Ella actually isn’t annoying, and just feels like an average crush.

While the story is fairly short, Cornelia manages to pack in a lot of action and downright creepy scenes. Ghost stories don’t usually scare me, but there was something about the ghosts Jon met that made my skin crawl. Longspee makes it clear to Jon that while they are in their ghost forms they cannot physically hurt him, but they were terrifying enough that they didn’t need to be able to physically hurt Jon. I wouldn’t want to meet them, that’s for certain.


I was not at all disappointed with Ghost Knight, and I very much look forward to whatever Cornelia writes next. Don't keep us waiting too long!

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