Author: Cornelia Funke
Series: Inkworld #2
Date Started: May 13th 2013
Date Completed: May 20th 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Adventure
Rating: Five stars
Review:
I honestly don't know why it's taken me so long to read this sequel. I read Inkheart years ago and I fell in love with the story, the ideas, the characters, the description - everything. And yet I haven't until now, actually decided to read on. One of my biggest mistakes.
Set a year after the events of Inkheart, we continue on the stories of Meggie, Mo, Dustfinger, Elinor, Farid, Resa and Fenoglio. Dustfinger finally finds someone to read him back into the glorious world of Inkheart and back to his family, but danger has come again as Basta reappears after his master's death. Meggie is forced to read herself and Farid into the magical world, and are soon followed by her parents. With everyone lost in the Inkworld - and Elinor held hostage back home - it becomes a dangerous game of hide and seek for the protagonists as they avoid the evil characters or Fenoglio's world at all costs. But the Inkworld has plans of its own for how things will play out.
The writing is just beautiful. One of the main ideas of the story is that the worlds in books are real if you have the talent to read yourself or someone/something in or out. But I don't need to have a silver tongue - the pure magical quality of the words used are enough to make me live the story, as well as read it. I can feel the wind on my face, and hear the fairies chattering in the forests; I can literally see the Black Prince's bear in front of me; hear the words Dustfinger whispers to the fire to make it do his bidding. I can smell the spices in Ombra and taste the herb bread in Minerva's kitchen. Everything is so wonderfully vivid, it's the only book I've read where I know I am actually there, living through the events with them. It's magical. Truly magical.
Such a plot has never been seen or thought of before. So original and engaging - and plausible! Everything made sense, but was still exciting enough to keep me interested.
The story went through so many twists and turns that I, looking back on it, am surprised that it all worked together so well. Funke obviously spent a lot of time planning how everything was going to turn out and perfecting it before she wrote - something that I respect as I know it takes a lot of discipline and patience to do.
Even in Inkheart, I fell in love with Cornelia Funke's characters, but my feelings for them grew much more this time. Kind of typical considering she chose to break my heart at the end.
Dustfinger is and always will be my favourite character: he is the best hero there ever was. He may have made mistakes in the past, but it makes him realistic and perfect and wonderful and he is my favourite character ever.
I also love Farid and Meggie. I didn't expect them to become a couple, if I'm honest, but they work so well together and I felt I got to know Farid's character a little more (I'm still curious as to know whether there actually is a character in Arabian Nights called Farid...)
Mo is very dashing, but I felt he wasn't in this book as much as the first one, which made me a little bit sad. But he was still brilliant in the parts he was in.
Roxanne was a new character I approve of. I don't usually like new characters, and since I already loved Dustfinger so much, a lot could have gone wrong to make me hate Roxanne. But actually she was very good and I am impressed.
Like I've already said, I felt like I was in the world as I read it. And I'm not unhappy about that. In the book, Meggie and Mo and Dustfinger and Farid and Resa - basically everyone but Elinor and Darius - get to go into the book for one reason or another. There's a whole part about how everyone longs to live in the world of one of their favourite books - and then more about how, if you think about it, most of the worlds aren't that nice places to be (e.g. war-ridden, very poor, not a whole lot there, full of death etc etc). And I completely agree with Mo's reasoning.
On the other hand, I - like Meggie and Elinor and Fenoglio and Dustfinger - would do an awful lot to be transported into the Inkworld. It sounds beautiful. The Wayless World and the bustling streets of Ombra, even the silver towards of the Castle of Night. I know everyone gets attacked and people get hanged and there's never any food to go around and the Adderhead is a tyrant, but just to spend one night with the strolling players. It would be a dream come true.
The end battle was brilliant. Just when you think everything's going to be fine, there's still that nagging feeling at the back of your mind. And then it happens all so suddenly that you have to read it a couple of times to get it into your head. And this book ruined my life, I swear. If I hadn't been in class when I read it, I would have cried my eyes out. Luckily, I had the distraction of Macbeth analysis to take my mind off the blow. It didn't help much, mind you.
I recommend this book to everyone. Fantasy, romance, mystery, action, anything. It's just beautiful. I would read the first book first, if I were you. But to be honest, you could probably gather enough knowledge about their past by reading this book. Also, I prefer Inkspell to Inkheart - mainly because I think the imagery has a lot more opportunity in this book. I love Inkheart, don't get me wrong. But the Inkworld is nothing compared to ours.
Image Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_W1QqG4cpBZs/S2VONx77WkI/
AAAAAAAAGl8/CySYhAc3_3I/s400/Inkspell.jpg
I honestly don't know why it's taken me so long to read this sequel. I read Inkheart years ago and I fell in love with the story, the ideas, the characters, the description - everything. And yet I haven't until now, actually decided to read on. One of my biggest mistakes.
Set a year after the events of Inkheart, we continue on the stories of Meggie, Mo, Dustfinger, Elinor, Farid, Resa and Fenoglio. Dustfinger finally finds someone to read him back into the glorious world of Inkheart and back to his family, but danger has come again as Basta reappears after his master's death. Meggie is forced to read herself and Farid into the magical world, and are soon followed by her parents. With everyone lost in the Inkworld - and Elinor held hostage back home - it becomes a dangerous game of hide and seek for the protagonists as they avoid the evil characters or Fenoglio's world at all costs. But the Inkworld has plans of its own for how things will play out.
The writing is just beautiful. One of the main ideas of the story is that the worlds in books are real if you have the talent to read yourself or someone/something in or out. But I don't need to have a silver tongue - the pure magical quality of the words used are enough to make me live the story, as well as read it. I can feel the wind on my face, and hear the fairies chattering in the forests; I can literally see the Black Prince's bear in front of me; hear the words Dustfinger whispers to the fire to make it do his bidding. I can smell the spices in Ombra and taste the herb bread in Minerva's kitchen. Everything is so wonderfully vivid, it's the only book I've read where I know I am actually there, living through the events with them. It's magical. Truly magical.
Such a plot has never been seen or thought of before. So original and engaging - and plausible! Everything made sense, but was still exciting enough to keep me interested.
The story went through so many twists and turns that I, looking back on it, am surprised that it all worked together so well. Funke obviously spent a lot of time planning how everything was going to turn out and perfecting it before she wrote - something that I respect as I know it takes a lot of discipline and patience to do.
Even in Inkheart, I fell in love with Cornelia Funke's characters, but my feelings for them grew much more this time. Kind of typical considering she chose to break my heart at the end.
Dustfinger is and always will be my favourite character: he is the best hero there ever was. He may have made mistakes in the past, but it makes him realistic and perfect and wonderful and he is my favourite character ever.
I also love Farid and Meggie. I didn't expect them to become a couple, if I'm honest, but they work so well together and I felt I got to know Farid's character a little more (I'm still curious as to know whether there actually is a character in Arabian Nights called Farid...)
Mo is very dashing, but I felt he wasn't in this book as much as the first one, which made me a little bit sad. But he was still brilliant in the parts he was in.
Roxanne was a new character I approve of. I don't usually like new characters, and since I already loved Dustfinger so much, a lot could have gone wrong to make me hate Roxanne. But actually she was very good and I am impressed.
Like I've already said, I felt like I was in the world as I read it. And I'm not unhappy about that. In the book, Meggie and Mo and Dustfinger and Farid and Resa - basically everyone but Elinor and Darius - get to go into the book for one reason or another. There's a whole part about how everyone longs to live in the world of one of their favourite books - and then more about how, if you think about it, most of the worlds aren't that nice places to be (e.g. war-ridden, very poor, not a whole lot there, full of death etc etc). And I completely agree with Mo's reasoning.
On the other hand, I - like Meggie and Elinor and Fenoglio and Dustfinger - would do an awful lot to be transported into the Inkworld. It sounds beautiful. The Wayless World and the bustling streets of Ombra, even the silver towards of the Castle of Night. I know everyone gets attacked and people get hanged and there's never any food to go around and the Adderhead is a tyrant, but just to spend one night with the strolling players. It would be a dream come true.
The end battle was brilliant. Just when you think everything's going to be fine, there's still that nagging feeling at the back of your mind. And then it happens all so suddenly that you have to read it a couple of times to get it into your head. And this book ruined my life, I swear. If I hadn't been in class when I read it, I would have cried my eyes out. Luckily, I had the distraction of Macbeth analysis to take my mind off the blow. It didn't help much, mind you.
I recommend this book to everyone. Fantasy, romance, mystery, action, anything. It's just beautiful. I would read the first book first, if I were you. But to be honest, you could probably gather enough knowledge about their past by reading this book. Also, I prefer Inkspell to Inkheart - mainly because I think the imagery has a lot more opportunity in this book. I love Inkheart, don't get me wrong. But the Inkworld is nothing compared to ours.
Image Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_W1QqG4cpBZs/S2VONx77WkI/
AAAAAAAAGl8/CySYhAc3_3I/s400/Inkspell.jpg
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