Bo and Prosper, a pair of orphaned brothers, fleeing to Venice, the Italian city their late mother loved. Their uncaring aunt only wants the younger, cuter Bo, and plans to put Prosper into a children's home. Adopted to a small gang of children who shelter in an abandoned cinema, the group are led by the mysterious Thief Lord - Scipio is a self-styled Robin Hood who steals valuables from wealthy homes and pawns them to support the children. When Aunt Esther hires Victor, a lonely Venetian detective, the gang as a whole are threatened, and Scipio faces being unmasked.
This is an energetic and highly absorbing story for younger readers. It has convincing characters who span a range of greys and, unlike many children's books, this includes the children as well as adults. Funke convincingly portrays the anxieties of Prosper, who wants to protect his younger brother and maintain his innocence; the conflicting emotions of Victor, who is unwilling drawn into the drama; and the tension of Scipio, fighting the dominating and domineering influence of his overbearing and powerful father. The pace is brisk, the plot original, and the ending both satisfactory and not predictable from the outset. There are supernatural elements, but these play a secondary role to the main action. Quite possibly the best tween novel I've read so far this year (which is, admittedly, not a wide field). - Alex
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