The Golden Yarn

Book Title: The Golden Yarn

Author: Cornelia Funke
Series: The Mirrorworld Series #3

Date Started: December 13th 2015

Date Completed: December 15th 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

I've waited what feels like years for this book to be released and then translated, and as much as it pains me to say it, it really wasn’t what I was hoping for. Now it’s still a good book, but every time I picked it up there was a sinking feeling in my stomach because the magic had gone for me. It’s taken me quite a few days to come around to writing this review because I wanted to see if I’d get a stronger feeling of disappointment or contentment after a little distance, but actually I haven’t really felt anything at all about it. And I think that might be worse.

To my knowledge this is the first of her own books that Funke has translated herself. And I applaud her for that, writing and translating something is difficult and a lot of work, and going over your own writing as many times as it takes to rewrite it in another language takes courage. But I have to be brutally honest and say that she isn’t as good a translator as she is a writer. I can see that beautiful flare that’s in every other book of hers I’ve read, but it feels like there was an invisible wall just between us this time, and there isn’t the rhythm and rhyme I’m so used to (you can literally see little riddles that are clearly supposed to thyme and undoubtedly do in German, but just haven’t quite been replicated in English).

Don’t get me wrong, I still adore the world building and there’s plenty of the beautiful Mirrorworld still there; we even get some really nice introductions into some modern links without feeling completely alienated from the fairytale world we love so much. It’s just a shame we didn’t quite reach it feeling like a fairytale in itself.

The Golden Yarn had a few too many stories going on for me. I appreciate they all kind of link but very loosely, and it’s quite inconsistent. It became confusing a times, but mainly it was just irritating because it cuts up the main storyline and quite frankly I didn’t really understand the benefit. I know I should be interested in more than just Jacob and Fox (and I normally am) but it feels like just as their story picks up pace we’re ambushed by all these other ones that are just scattered without much logic to it.

I also feel like the Young Adult archetypes are starting to set in too. Maybe I’m just very aware of the tropes these days, but the romance felt very dominating while I was reading. I had really enjoyed it when it was clear that Jacob and Fox loved each other, but mainly left it unsaid because it was clear enough as it was - but because of this they really kept going on as individuals (they really do ‘belong only to [themselves]’). Unfortunately their story was very focused on a romance both of them refused to admit, which was not only infuriating, but also not really justified enough for me (I understand the threats, but come on, this is a fairytale world play around with it, convince me properly).

However the most disappointing aspect for me was the fact that the story doesn’t wrap up at the end. This is the first book I’ve ever really read of Funke’s that relies on future sequels for anything to be resolved, and that makes me very, very sad. I loved the episodic but gradually expanding way the Mirrorworld was developing, but now it feels like it’s trying to fit into the YA market a little more comfortably.

There were a few characters I felt were cheated in how they were presented and were given no chance for redemption for the things they’d done, but for the most part I still enjoyed reading about all the characters. It may not have been what I was hoping for, but Funke still knows how to twist traditional fairytales around her finger without losing what they are.

Jacob is again a good protagonist, though at times he was a little bit defeatist. Of course that’s why he has the wonderful Fox to even him out. Those two really do work wonderfully as a partnership, even more so because their imbalances when they’re separated are all the more obvious: Fox is anxious, reckless and sharp; Jacob dismissive, hopeless and harsh. As much as I love them together, they’re the kind of characters that you could honestly see just being the closest friends forever - and I think that’s why their pairing works even better: it is genuinely built on trust and loyalty, regardless of honesty and danger, and we really get to see that.

I got through The Golden Yarn really fast, regardless for how it made me feel when I picked it up, though admittedly this was mainly because I just wanted to get back to Jacob and Fox. I really like how the world is expanding and we’re seeing loads of different characters and landscapes, but it was quite infuriating that it felt like the protagonists were in less than half of the book. It at times felt like the plot wasn’t even moving in any of the side stories, so we were almost wasting time hearing about them when the main storyline was put on hold.

I honestly can’t say that I loved this book, as much as I want to, and I’m so conflicted about my love of the characters and the world. Having said that, I enjoyed it enough to read it quickly and I’ll undoubtedly read the next instalment (part of why it annoyed me was the fact that it depends on another instalment, but I’ll eat my words if it gives me back the Mirrorworld), and I’m so happy that The Golden Yarn got picked up by another publisher. Again, I have only love and respect for Cornelia, but I do hope she goes back to her old style next time.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28042859-the-golden-yarn