readingthroughthelists 's review for:

The Golden Yarn by Cornelia Funke

3.0

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As the third book in a series of at least 5 books, I found The Golden Yarn to be a bit lackluster compared to its predecessor Fearless (now renamed as Living Shadows). Funke has created an engaging and sympathetic cast of characters (even the heartless Dark Fairy had my pity and admiration) but here they seemed hopelessly mired in a complicated web of their own feelings (made, I suppose, of golden yarn). Everyone seems to suffering from regular love-sickness, unrequited love-sickness, and I-don't-even-have-a-heart-but-I-still-have-love-sickness. All these feels were poignant in and of themselves, but they dragged the plot down. Perhaps it would have been better if the Mirrorworld were just a trilogy and Funke was obligated to wrap things up here. Not that I want the series to end, but I felt that this 430+ page book could easily have been about 100 pages shorter. And after all, it felt that not much really happened except the inevitable and long-foreseen union of two characters you always knew would be together in the end. *sigh* Now for the long wait for Book 4...