Herr der Diebe

Great kids movie too.

A YA read aimed at (perhaps?) a middle grade audience. The plot ran along the lines of a band of homeless kids in Venice, with a mysterious leader not really much older than they were (except for Bo, the youngest, a brother of Prosper, the other MC).

Without revealing the plot twists, there developed an untenable situation for the kids remaining in their hideout. How this developed was an engaging adventure, with amusing character developments. Inevitably, they ran into difficulties beyond their ability to cope. Two supporting characters ('Victor' and the countess 'Ida') manage to intervene in crucial, if unrealistic ways.

As an adult reading the story, I found the adventure which Scipio and Prosper had, on an offshore Venetian island, out of context with the lead up in the story, not to mention the fantasy developments afterwards. The story especially became convoluted with the 'child' Barbarino and his eventual adoption. The story wrapped up unsatisfactorily: felt rushed in the final chapter(s), without enough detail around the children who remained at Ida's. The Middle Grade crowd may be bored or perhaps enthralled with the book: it's a hard one to unreservedly recommend.

The blurb on the back of the book led me to believe that there would be more of a fantasy element to this book. It takes about 300 pages for any magical type stuff to occur and by then it just feels out of place. I think if the rumored magic had been just that, a rumor and not true at all, then it would have been a more satisfying read.

Verdict: I haven't changed my mind about wanting a black cat named Scipio someday. The Thief Lord was just as charming as when I read in it middle school. Just like in Inkheart, I appreciated that Funke wrote some interesting and engaging adult characters as well as the kids. They help Venice seem really magical, to me: that there are adults who can take kids seriously but still have a bit of a child in themselves as well, enough to get along with children. Funke really excels at characters, the caricatures and the complex ones. I'll enjoy sharing this book with the kids in my life!

Good YA fantasy. Listened to it on audio CD.

I read this book after my 9-year-old little friend that sometimes sits and reads with me and brings all her books for me to look over got this from her school library. I love hearing her tell me all about what she's read when she finishes. This time she wasn't her usual enthusiastic self about sharing this story so I asked her if I could read it. I found the book problematic on several levels. One...it's a book marketed for 10–12-year-old children and it seemed that the entire theme of the book is based on the boy known as The Thief Lord and his habits of stealing and how enthralled with him the two boys were that was with him. The second thing that bothered me was that none of the adults in the book seemed to want to confront him on it or question him in any way. The boys thought he was some kind of hero because he did whatever he wanted and also was capable of magic that was seldom used for anything good. The story is very slow to get started, and the promised fantasy element doesn't appear until the last 75 pages. There's little emotional involvement, and the rest of the story just meanders. There are adults in the book but none of them ring true or behave like any adult you've ever met would when met with two young runaways and a kid that is a thief even if he does know magic. The amorality of the children, and the author, was a concern. I asked my little friend what she liked about the story if anything, and she, in honest 9-year-old fashion, admitted she was quiet taken with the adults letting the children do whatever they wanted with complete freedom and no punishment. Noone dared to bother them, and they weren't told to clean their room or to go to school. That also worried me slightly until she admitted that she didn't think the way they behaved was right and they should have been in trouble and been sent to their room.

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
A wonderful romp through Venice! Funke is the talented author of several YA tales, including the popular Inkheart series. She catches your interest again with The Thief Lord and with the backdrop of Venice it is mysterious and magical at the same time.
Two orphaned brothers run away to Venice, a place their mother loved and would always tell them stories about, because they do not want to be separated from one another. Their uptight and unfriendly Aunt and Uncle only want to adopt the younger brother and send the older one off to boarding school, so the brothers run away together. They wind up living with a gang of street kids in an abandoned building in Venice.
This one is full of mystery, adventure, daring deeds, a magical merry-go-round, a youth that titles himself as the Thief Lord, and has lots of funny moments thrown in for good measure. Highly recommended. (5 stars)

It's hard not to raise an eyebrow at the rip-off from Something Wicked This Way Comes, but otherwise, this was a thoroughly fun read. Endearing characters, frequently humorous, lots of action, and beautifully atmospheric with its setting in Venice. I find it harder to get into audiobooks with a male reader, but Simon Jones did a great job with it.

In third grade, the time rolled around for the annual book report project. Looking back on it, I believe that I picked up this book simply for the fact that it seemed rather hefty at 300 pages (ha, well, third grade perceptions). And for some odd reason, I loved it. I don't remember much about plot or even the characters now. However, whenever I think of iconic childhood literature, this book is one of the first things that comes to mind.

READ IN DUTCH

I think this novel might be aimed at children a bit younger still than the Inkworld-trilogy. But, if you can put aside the fact that it is completely unbelievable, it's a very enjoyable read.



It's about a bunch of kids in Venice, who have their own underground society. Their leader is a masked master thief.



It's a very original story, and the writing is nice as well. It reads quickly but the story perhaps is a bit childish (and that's something you either like or not).

I do love this book. The characters are deeply nuanced, and mostly quite believable. Action keeps the story moving, and show the reader quite a lot about how the characters grow and change.






Spoiler space - my one problem.












The one magical/fantasy element was a bit of a shock. The entire rest of the book was (relatively) realistic, so finding this bit of magic that really worked felt forced to me. Perhaps it works better for a younger or less jaded reader :) The characters did talk about Venice being a magical city. Frankly, the story worked so well, even with that jarring bit, perhaps it was designed to stand out. It certainly startled the characters involved!

I've had this book on my shelves since I was a young child. I attempted to read it, but ended up "abandoning" it for a while. I eventually got to reading it and loved it! The only complaint I have is the ending. It felt rushed. I was pretty PO-ed.

This book was good, a literary gem, but it was also a whole lot of "what?"
To even attempt to explain the plot progression would give me a headache. How? It went from a realistic and fun adventure of two kids in the streets of Venice to "what?"This whole book just feels like a fever dream that may or may not have been drug induced.

The kids in this preteen novel actually act like kids ... unfortunately, so do the adults. This, along with the simple prose, should make it an easy read for kids.

I'd really prefer the story without magic, but, nevertheless, I liked it as it is. I liked the characters, humour and even absurdity of some of the plot twists.

A story of brotherly love trumping all else and of a group of kids banding together to take care of each other. And how some people who aren't your family can care more about you than your own family does.

This book has been popular with my 7th grade students, and my son when he was in elementary school liked it quite well. The characters and plot were a bit thin for adult reading. The mystery element is easily sussed. I can see how young readers would find this engaging and fun to read, but still, even for that age, I think it is on on rank with the really great books for this age.

In sixth grade I picked up this book and ended up falling in love with it. Looking back, I can't really explain its charm for me. It was one of those rare finds where I inexplicably fell in love with every word that was put on the page; the book that I would love having in my hands, savor every sentence of, look longingly at the cover whenever it was closed shut. I'm not sure why I loved it so much, but for that year or two it was my uncontested favorite.

Prosper and Bo are two children who ran away from their aunts' house after their mother died. They make it to venice where thy live with a group of street urchins that live in an abandoned theater. They meet the Thief Lord who is a mysterious figure that provides money, food and shelter to these children. The children often steal things in order to get money. One day they get offered a very strange job. they have to steal a wooden wing from a wealthy household. They do this but are caught by the owner who they then befriend to help them solve the mystery of why they need the wing. It is discovered that the their lord is actually a child of a wealth venetian businessman and all the children feel betrayed. they soon forgive him though and they decide to go through with the delivery. they give the wings to their buyer who was a baron. They wind out the wing was part of a carousel that let people become older or younger. They find the carousel and stop the baron from using it. the theif lord then uses it to become and adult and he adopts all of the children

I think this an amazing book. The dialogue and the description are superb. The characters are very interesting. i have always been a fan of Cornelia Funke and this book made me love her work even more. I hope she continues to make great books. I think The Thief Lord is a book that is a must read for everyone.

Brothers Prosper and Bo have recently escaped to Venice, Italy to escape their aunt and uncle’s care after the death of their mother. Luckily, soon after their arrival, they meet the Thief Lord (or Scipio), a legendary thief of a similar age to Prosper who takes care of the brothers and his other orphan charges by stealing from fancy palaces and museums. Prosper and Bo are quite pleased with their new life with their new friends until they realize the cruel aunt and uncle they’re trying to run from has hired a detective in Venice to search for them. But that’s not the only problem: Scipio isn’t all he seems, and the Thief Lord’s secrets may destroy the lives the orphans have tried so very hard to make for themselves.

Cornelia Funke paints a beautiful picture of Venice, a city full of mystery and charm. Readers will enjoy the descriptions of the plans that go into the thievery and the descriptions of the decadent palazzos. Proper and Bo’s brotherly relationship is the center of the story, but their relationship with their friends also feels genuine. The main strength in this book lies in the Thief Lord’s loyalty to the orphans, and the tenuous trust of the orphans with the Thief Lord. There is also a glossary at the end for the Italian terms peppered throughout the book. For those interested in an exciting thriller set in beautiful Venice, The Thief Lord will surely please. Highly recommended. Grades 6 and up.

Perhaps I was too old to read this book for the first time, and would have enjoyed it more if I had read it when I was in the target audience, but I found it rather uninteresting.

Venice. What a perfectly wonderful location for a story about two runaway boys who have fallen in with a group of street urchins and are trying to make their way and elude the detective who is searching for them on behalf of their somewhat villainous aunt. Even so, this book is not up the the standard set in the Inkworld series. Without giving anything away, Ms. Funke owes Ray Bradbury a bit of thanks for her rather bold borrowing of one of his key concepts.

I loved Cornelia Funke's Inkheart series so very much. I say that because everytime I read one of her books I am trying to recapture that beauty and depth. This book is a good book, and one that I am sure that young readers will enjoy.

I liked this book as it has lots of mini plots woven between bigger plots, however it didn't appear to get lost in too much descriptive dialogue. The story is of two recently orphaned brothers, Prosper and Bo (5yrs) who are to go and live with an Aunt & Uncle. The Aunt does not want the older boy Prosper as he is too much trouble and Bo does not wish to be separated from his sibling.. they escape their impending separation by running off to Venice. Hiding in the canals and alleyways of the city, the boys are befriended by a gang of young urchins and their masked leader, the Thief Lord (Scipio Massimo, a very rich boy) . From their home base of an old cinema theater, the children steal from the rich to support themselves and soon capture the interest of a bumbling detective, Victor. Victor was engaged by teh aunt to track down Bo. However, a greater threat to the children is something from a forgotten past: a beautiful magical merry go round that can change the age of anyone who rides it. A fantastic story with twists that aren't too curly to be unbelievable.

I really liked this book but I wasn't too happy with the way it ended.

A strange, "other" feeling kind of story. It wasn't at all what I expected. I'm still not sure if I enjoyed it or not.

Really good read, sad at times but compelling, all the characters are well thought out, and the depictions of Venice really made me want to go!

A book that makes being a homeless (for a bit) kid in Venice sound like a lark. There are some pretty big holes in the plot, but I think they are balanced by a loving, detailed portrait of Venice.

I was not expecting the mature themes I found in the Thief Lord. I had thought to find more derring-do and adventure, and while there is some of that, the focus of this story is the not so easy life of a collection of orphans, how they carve a place in the world for themselves and how that world eventually changes. In short, this is a story about growing up and what that really means to both children and adults.

There is a lot of excitement and mystery in this novel and the story picks up and never really stops moving. Each chapter entices you to read more by showing you in detail the ophan's lives and the charming Thief Lord. Every time one riddle is solved, a new one takes its place, always backed by the one big question, "Just who is the Thief Lord?". I kept promising myself one more chapter and ended up finishing it one sitting. In all the adventure, romantic history and whimsy are some very real moments where the kids worry about starving, being slaves and getting captured. I was impressed with how the 'villains' were portrayed - as simply very flawed people and not 'bad' people. Many children have different reasons to want to "run away from home" at some time or another. Funke makes Thief Lord a kind of cautionary tale, not by being preachy, but by showing the realities of what happens when children are on their own in the world with no one to look after them. I do wish that some of the characters full histories were revealed; they weren't necessary to enjoy the story but there were quite a few teasing hints that are never followed up on. I also believe that Prosper is a saint. The amount of patience that boy has is astounding.

I know that I would have bawled my eyes out if I had read this as a kid. As it was (in my twenties) I was rather misty eyed from time to time but I also smiled often too.

Context Free Quote:
Riccio self-consciously his his face between his soft toys. "From the Salute Church," he mumbled. "There are hundreds, probably thousands lying around there. So it doesn't really matter if I take a few every now and then. Why should we spend our precious money on candles? I swear," he grinned at Hornet, "I always blow a kiss for each one."

Brilliant book. I loved it because it was so fresh. It didn't follow the plot pattern of any other book, and you really did not know what was going to happen. Also, who can resist Venice and such loveable characters?