Reckless

Summary in progress.

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This novel contains examples of:

 * Action Girl: Fox, who holds her own on more than one occasion.
 * All Fairytales Are True: Even Sleeping Beauty shows up!
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Jacob. Oh, Jacob. Kami'en also counts. The usual unfortunate implications of this trope are lampshaded when Kami'en points out that his cultural custom of taking multiple wives gives his mistress the right to take other husbands. (She doesn't take to the idea.)
 * Animorphism: Fox, who prefers her animal form.
 * Another Dimension: The Mirror World is an alternate version of Europe with 1700's politics...cameras, railroads, and . The primary mode of travel still appears to be horseback, though, and characters don't recognize modern guns or flashlights. Oh, and there's a whole range of supernatural races...
 * Anti-Hero: Jacob Reckless, a questionably sympathetic professional treasure hunter satisfied with his grand total of one friend...who gets dragged into the middle of a war because he just wants his brother back.
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Bittersweet Ending: Could also be a Downer Ending depending on which characters you actually sympathized with. Jacob
 * Brainwashed and Crazy:, who nearly
 * Darker and Edgier: With its relentlessly dark tone, heavily implied sex, constant violence, and creatures, this is not your average children's novel.
 * Downer Beginning: By the second chapter, Will is already turning into living stone. What happened in the twelve years since chapter one? You can catch up on that later.
 * Comforting the Widow: Valiant shamelessly states his intention to employ strategy this with.
 * False Protagonist: The novel briefly appears this way,
 * Fantasy Gun Control: Brutally subverted.
 * Femme Fatale: The Dark Fairy, and every other member of her race.
 * Fridge Horror: Take the fact that the Goyl are literally made out of stone and their comparitive physical strength and add that to the fact that some have sexual relationships with human women. Resulting in repulsively deformed children. Also, the sexual implication of the fact that . Which doubles as Fridge Brilliance in that Funke is almost definitely aware of the implication and it fits right into her view of that particular Interspecies Romance.
 * Grey and Gray Morality: Kami'en and the Goyl versus Empress Therese and the Imperials. The Goyl seem like the logical villains until you find out more about Therese's ruthless tactics. Not to mention, their hatred of humans is a natural response to years of human aggression. Then again, Therese and Austrya aren't entirely unsympathetic either...
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Played with with . Even though she's obviously in love with him, he doesn't seem to display much more than a platonic attachment to her. Yet.
 * Humans Are Ugly: Most Goyl are repulsed by the softness of human flesh, even, who gradually becomes disgusted by  .   is a rare subversion, . Other inter-breeding is mentioned in passing, though, suggesting that he's not the only one with an attraction to humans.
 * Interspecies Romance: It's all over the place, with occasionally squicky implications. Jacob and Miranda. Kami'en and The Dark Fairy. . Jacob and Fox just might count as well, depending on how you look at it. Valiant has a thing for human girls...
 * It Doesn't Mean Anything: Jacob more or less says this to . She doesn't quite believe him. Neither does  . Come to think of it, he has his own doubts on the matter...
 * Jerkass: Evanaugh Valiant. And how.
 * Living Aphrodisiac: Played straight with every single one of the Fairies.
 * Love Potion: Don't drink the Lark's Water.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: Jacob, who is twenty-four, and Miranda, an immortal fairy. Probably a similar situation between Kami'en and The Dark Fairy.
 * Meaningful Name: Jacob and John Reckless. Subverted by Will, who doesn't really seem to do anything at all.
 * Mirror World: ...self-explanatory.
 * My Brother's Girl Is Not A Slut: Jacob and  mututal attraction is left nicely ambiguous, but they're both ashamed of  . Becomes vitally important seeing as  ...
 * Parental Abandonment: So, one day, Dad disappeared and Mom hit the sleeping pills... This is probably a huge contributing factor in Jacob's emotional detachment.
 * Portal Mirror
 * The Power of Love: Employed with less than favorable results.
 * Pyrrhic Victory:
 * Ship Tease: Jacob and Fox.