When I first began this book, I didn't know what to think. Sometimes, I thought Funke tried to hard for beautiful, poetic writing and that everything was rushed and I was going to write a whole lot about the flaws of this book.

And then I decided I didn't want to nitpick it anymore. Funke has a brilliant and beautiful imagination, and she poured all of it into this novel. The concept of the stone people was gorgeous to say the least, and her talent of bringing characters' emotions to the readers is her strongest point here.

While some parts of the story did seem a bit random (oh look, I suddenly have this thing that turns me invisible, how convenient!), overall, I really, really liked this book. The atmosphere was engaging, the characters were well-painted and sympathetic, and the plethora of images and imaginative concepts kept me captivated.

I only wish that there was a prequel to this story. Jacobs previous adventures were mentioned almost every other page, and I would have really liked to experience those as well.

But anyways, a very imaginative and evoking read.