#8 Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Twelve-year-old Meggie’s life is a little strange. She and her father, Mo, a book binder, never stay in one place for too long. She has 
no idea where her mother is, and only knows that she vanished when Meggie was a toddler. Mo has passed on his love of books to Meggie, but for some reason has never read aloud to her. Meggie finds out the truth behind this strangeness when she meets a man named Dustfinger. The truth is that Mo has a special gift, the power to read people and objects out of books with the power of his voice. Nine years ago, while reading a book called Inkheart, he voice brought Dustfinger and two other men to our world. In turn, Meggie’s mother was transported into the world of Inkheart, never to be seen again. Dustfinger wants nothing more than to go home, but he’s the least of Meggie and Mo’s problems. One of the other men Mo read from the book is Capricorn, an evil man who wants to use Mo’s talents for his own use, and he will not accept no for an answer.
Inkheart is a book lover’s book. Each chapter is introduced with a quote from a work of literature, many of them classic children’s books. Many of the characters love books deeply. My personal favorite was Elinor, a woman who has spent her life savings on filling her house with rare and precious books. One of the things I enjoyed about this book are there are a lot of things here that you don’t seen in other children’s fantasy books. One example is positive parental figures. With most children’s book, guardians are dead, missing, or negligent. Although Mo is not a perfect father, it’s obvious that he cares deeply about his daughter. Their relationship was quite nice to read about. I also liked how Inkheart put a twist on the Narnia-esque “normal people travel to a magical world” storyline, by transporting people from a magical world to our world. It was interesting to see how Capricorn, an evil overlord type character, adjusted to the restraints of a non magical world. Another thing that’s different from other fantasy book is it’s portrayal of magic. While most fantasy books have impressive displays of magical powers, the magic found here (save for maybe the end) was very low-key.
Inkheart was not perfect. There were a couple developments that I felt seemed a bit contrived, and at times the book lagged a bit. Inkheart ends up weighing in at over 500 pages, and it probably could have been a little shorter than that. Despite its flaws, I felt like this was a readable and enjoyable book. I hope to be able to pick up its two sequels, Inkspell and Inkdeath, one day.
Rating: four out of five stars
Length: 563 pages
Source: paperbackswap
TBR Pile: 154 books
Similar Books: For “adolescents get pulled into magical peril” books, check out the Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Secret Country by Pamela Dean, and Mister Monday by Garth Nix.
Other books I've read by this author: The Thief Lord
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds
no idea where her mother is, and only knows that she vanished when Meggie was a toddler. Mo has passed on his love of books to Meggie, but for some reason has never read aloud to her. Meggie finds out the truth behind this strangeness when she meets a man named Dustfinger. The truth is that Mo has a special gift, the power to read people and objects out of books with the power of his voice. Nine years ago, while reading a book called Inkheart, he voice brought Dustfinger and two other men to our world. In turn, Meggie’s mother was transported into the world of Inkheart, never to be seen again. Dustfinger wants nothing more than to go home, but he’s the least of Meggie and Mo’s problems. One of the other men Mo read from the book is Capricorn, an evil man who wants to use Mo’s talents for his own use, and he will not accept no for an answer.
Inkheart is a book lover’s book. Each chapter is introduced with a quote from a work of literature, many of them classic children’s books. Many of the characters love books deeply. My personal favorite was Elinor, a woman who has spent her life savings on filling her house with rare and precious books. One of the things I enjoyed about this book are there are a lot of things here that you don’t seen in other children’s fantasy books. One example is positive parental figures. With most children’s book, guardians are dead, missing, or negligent. Although Mo is not a perfect father, it’s obvious that he cares deeply about his daughter. Their relationship was quite nice to read about. I also liked how Inkheart put a twist on the Narnia-esque “normal people travel to a magical world” storyline, by transporting people from a magical world to our world. It was interesting to see how Capricorn, an evil overlord type character, adjusted to the restraints of a non magical world. Another thing that’s different from other fantasy book is it’s portrayal of magic. While most fantasy books have impressive displays of magical powers, the magic found here (save for maybe the end) was very low-key.
Inkheart was not perfect. There were a couple developments that I felt seemed a bit contrived, and at times the book lagged a bit. Inkheart ends up weighing in at over 500 pages, and it probably could have been a little shorter than that. Despite its flaws, I felt like this was a readable and enjoyable book. I hope to be able to pick up its two sequels, Inkspell and Inkdeath, one day.
Rating: four out of five stars
Length: 563 pages
Source: paperbackswap
TBR Pile: 154 books
Similar Books: For “adolescents get pulled into magical peril” books, check out the Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Secret Country by Pamela Dean, and Mister Monday by Garth Nix.
Other books I've read by this author: The Thief Lord
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds