The Thief Lord
#3543.99 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2000 Reading commitment Low Cornelia Funke original language: German Last reviewed 2026-08-30
Overview
The Thief Lord is a standalone novel by Cornelia Funke about a band of orphaned runaways hiding among the canals of Venice, led by a mysterious masked boy who calls himself the Thief Lord. First published in German as Herr der Diebe in 2000; the English translation, by Oliver Latsch, followed in 2002.
Mythic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
The Thief Lord (2000) core · 3.99 (103,718 ratings); A standalone novel about orphaned runaways hiding among Venice's canals, first published in German; the English translation followed two years later.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Thief Lord? The Thief Lord's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is The Thief Lord finished? Complete (2000).
- How much reading does The Thief Lord take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~350 pages).
- How is The Thief Lord ranked? #354 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 103,718 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #354?
Ranked #354 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 3.99 across 1 core book.
- Backed by 104k reader ratings.
- Less than 0.01 behind #353, The Night Circus (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 1 book · Complete · 104k ratings · Ranks #354 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment mythic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.99 across 103,718 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit The Thief Lord (Cornelia Funke) accepted 2026-08-30
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: The Thief Lord Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Cornelia Funke Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-08-30
Rule: Core Canon is the single novel. This is a confirmed separate, unrelated universe from Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, despite sharing an author: a present-day Venice setting with an entirely different cast and no shared continuity.