#I'll still love the novel but wish Pushkin had followed Dressler's example when approaching the novel's appearance

[vaatistrife-purplemage]

The fourth MirrorWorld / 'Reckless' novel in the MirrorWorld / 'Reckless' novel series

Today I finally got the fourth Reckless novel ''The Silver Tracks''.

After 6 years and 4 extra days of waiting (originally it was released November 4, 2021, but my copy's arrival kept being pushed back twice) I finally got it.

But, as much as I love the novel series there's one thing I'm not overly fond of.

The overall appearance of the novel.

Just let me do a quick comparison down here below:

On the left we have my 2016 revision of the first novel in the series The Petrified Flesh, released by Breathing Books (the author's own publishing company at the time which is discontinued by now). On the right there's the 2021 English edition of The Silver Tracks.

What doesn't sit well with me are several things:

1. Different publishers; Cornelia Funke, the author would always put a golden ribbon in her novels published by Breathing Books. When it comes to Pushkin Press which published the book for her instead of herself, there is no ribbon to be seen at all. And I'm going to miss that ribbon. Badly.

2. Height difference: notice how Reckless 4 somehow doesn't fit in height because again different publisher. It's so small.

3. Pages; So far all my MirrorWorld novels began at page number 1. Why the heck should it be different for the newest installment and start at page 9??? What's the reason behind that?

4. Table of contents; This is fine I suppose since no MirrorWorld novel appears to have one except older versions?

5. Feel of the cover: All the covers of my MirrorWorld novels so far feel smooth whereas the Reckless 4 On The Silver Tracks one feels kind of rough?

6. Shimmer: The previous reckless novels are shinier and have a specific shimmer. When looking at the German edition of Reckless 4 the Kitsune's tails are golden. Whereas the English one has no to little shimmer.

7. Taking the dustcover off; so far every installment that has a dustcover has a similar cover underneath. Reckless 4 is just

blank

I don't get that not at all.

Seven massive complaints aside about the appearance of this novel, I'm going to love the story plot once more I'm certain.

Just not the novel's appearance which is pretty much a thorn in my eye and I'm not alone in that.

In short I honestly really miss how Cornelia Funke's Breathing Books publishing company (run by her along with Mirada) used to publish the novels.

Not only was it a treat for the bookworm heart to read but also a treat for the eye.

I won't stop reading these series regardless of how Pushkin Press approached the fourth novel's appearance.