Kai Meyer's first book to be translated into English (Meyer is relatively popular in Germany and has several titles in print there),
The Water Mirror is terrific, a bit like Cornelia Funke's
The Thief Lord meets Neil Gaiman's
Coraline. Merle has to save Venice from the Egyptian Pharaoh and his mummy horde, not to mention from the corrupt city officials. But first she has to save herself by escaping the city; she enlists the aid of mermaids, the Flowing Queen, and the Ancient Traitor Vermithrax, after releasing him from prison. The bad news for readers is that we have to wait for Meyer's other books to be translated ? perhaps a crash course in German is in order!