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atthelibrarywithmegan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
lemondropshot's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
cececet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
berebo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
agatelee's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I read this as a kid, and the only thing I really remember is being disappointed that Meggie isn't involved or even there during the story's climax.
The first half of Inkdeath is slow and not much happens, but the second half is much more exciting. Like many fantasies, it features a lot of death and suffering for unnamed characters, but this does not largely affect the main characters. The plot is fun once it finally gets going, and the Mo vs. Bluejay identity crisis is an intriguing ongoing theme. I also found the hostile relationship Fenoglio has with his glass man interesting, especially since the glass men are one of his proudest creations as an author.
The first half of Inkdeath is slow and not much happens, but the second half is much more exciting. Like many fantasies, it features a lot of death and suffering for unnamed characters, but this does not largely affect the main characters. The plot is fun once it finally gets going, and the Mo vs. Bluejay identity crisis is an intriguing ongoing theme. I also found the hostile relationship Fenoglio has with his glass man interesting, especially since the glass men are one of his proudest creations as an author.
I finally identified why I'm not connecting with these characters emotionally. The writing jumps from one crisis point to the next, only acknowledging quiet moments of bonding and reflection as afterthoughts.
Finally, [Mo] sat by one of the ponds that had once been a giant's footprint... Only a few days ago he and Meggie had waded into one of the ponds to find out how deep the footprints were. The memory made him smile, although he was not in any smiling mood. (Page 191)
Mo and Meggie are the two most important characters in the story, yet in a 663 page book, there somehow wasn't enough space for us to see this moment play out? This is only the first example I noticed of this issue, and once I was looking for it, it was happening every 25 pages or so. At many major turning points, the narration tells us "this character is making this decision because of a conversation they had a few weeks ago where this emotional moment occurred." It would feel so much more impactful if we got to experience the emotional moment with the character, then in the moment of crisis, we wouldn't need any explanation because we already know how the character feels. Plus, then the action scenes would have more momentum because we wouldn't constantly be pausing the action to deliver a flashback.
An unnecessary love triangle is also introduced for Meggie. Unlike with Farid, the narration actually bothers to tell us about some of the cute moments they have together, so her relationship with the new guy feels (slightly) more fleshed out. I say it's unnecessary because if it were removed, it would change nothing about the rest of the story.
I realize I'm pointing out a lot of weak points, but I did genuinely enjoy the second half of the book. A lot of plans backfired in a "can't turn away from the trainwreck" kind of way, and that kept up a suspenseful underdog feeling. The ending was just okay, but the journey to get there made it worth it.
Overall, I found Inkdeath a fun story, though it took a while to get started. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Inkheart and Inkspell.
An unnecessary love triangle is also introduced for Meggie. Unlike with Farid, the narration actually bothers to tell us about some of the cute moments they have together, so her relationship with the new guy feels (slightly) more fleshed out. I say it's unnecessary because if it were removed, it would change nothing about the rest of the story.
I realize I'm pointing out a lot of weak points, but I did genuinely enjoy the second half of the book. A lot of plans backfired in a "can't turn away from the trainwreck" kind of way, and that kept up a suspenseful underdog feeling. The ending was just okay, but the journey to get there made it worth it.
Overall, I found Inkdeath a fun story, though it took a while to get started. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Inkheart and Inkspell.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death
onetrooluff's review against another edition
2.0
Well, a couple years after reading the other two, I finally got around to finishing this trilogy. The book is so enormous (almost 700 pages) that it was just.... really daunting.
Now, having slogged through it, I guess I'm just glad it's over.
My biggest problem with this book is that I am not very fond of the majority of the characters. I enjoy Dustfinger, and Elinor and Darius... but Meggie, Mo and Resa have way too many relationship issues for me to read about them and actually enjoy it. Mo spends this whole book on a total personality-change bender, which gets constantly blamed on Fenoglio and his words. Meggie can't seem to get along with her mother for more than five minutes, which you'd think she'd make more of an effort to do since she knows just what it is like to not have her mother around. And Resa has a serious, serious case of I-won't-do-what-anyone-tells-me syndrome.
I was slightly happy with how some of the storylines wrapped up because certain fire-wielding teenagers were being giant jerks... but I just didn't CARE about the ending. I also agree with my best friend (who got me started on this series) that some of the characters seemed to have a total personality 180 in this book, and it just didn't feel right. They also completely change their minds about their ultimate goals, and that didn't really feel right either.
I think my problem is this: These people really do love books and stories more than I do. I lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve to read, and there are certain stories that I simply adore, but I am having a really hard time thinking of a single one I would actually wish myself into, knowing that it would pull me out of my actual life. Most of all, I wouldn't want to actually go live in a story as consistently dangerous as Inkheart! The constant peril... I'd be done with it in a week or so.
I guess if you reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally love danger, power, peril and playing the hero, Inkheart is the book/world for you.
Now, having slogged through it, I guess I'm just glad it's over.
My biggest problem with this book is that I am not very fond of the majority of the characters. I enjoy Dustfinger, and Elinor and Darius... but Meggie, Mo and Resa have way too many relationship issues for me to read about them and actually enjoy it. Mo spends this whole book on a total personality-change bender, which gets constantly blamed on Fenoglio and his words. Meggie can't seem to get along with her mother for more than five minutes, which you'd think she'd make more of an effort to do since she knows just what it is like to not have her mother around. And Resa has a serious, serious case of I-won't-do-what-anyone-tells-me syndrome.
I was slightly happy with how some of the storylines wrapped up because certain fire-wielding teenagers were being giant jerks... but I just didn't CARE about the ending. I also agree with my best friend (who got me started on this series) that some of the characters seemed to have a total personality 180 in this book, and it just didn't feel right. They also completely change their minds about their ultimate goals, and that didn't really feel right either.
I think my problem is this: These people really do love books and stories more than I do. I lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve to read, and there are certain stories that I simply adore, but I am having a really hard time thinking of a single one I would actually wish myself into, knowing that it would pull me out of my actual life. Most of all, I wouldn't want to actually go live in a story as consistently dangerous as Inkheart! The constant peril... I'd be done with it in a week or so.
I guess if you reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally love danger, power, peril and playing the hero, Inkheart is the book/world for you.
ennabananaz's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most impactful and beautiful series I have read as a child !
awriterslament's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't really like Inkdeath. Seriously.
I mean, everything was very exciting, I enjoyed almost - almost - every moment of the book, but I especially hated it when Funke makes Meggie end up with Doria in the end.
It had me sitting there, with my mouth wide open. I was really indignant, because I thought that she didn't do Farid any justice. I am a total Farid fan, and I was really mad at Meggie for choosing him over Doria; the Gary Stu who's overly perfect.
Aside from that, it wasn't exactly happily ever after, which made me happy in a sense, because I like something different for a change.
I mean, everything was very exciting, I enjoyed almost - almost - every moment of the book, but I especially hated it when Funke makes Meggie end up with Doria in the end.
It had me sitting there, with my mouth wide open. I was really indignant, because I thought that she didn't do Farid any justice. I am a total Farid fan, and I was really mad at Meggie for choosing him over Doria; the Gary Stu who's overly perfect.
Aside from that, it wasn't exactly happily ever after, which made me happy in a sense, because I like something different for a change.
brittney_tyler's review against another edition
5.0
Star Rating: 5 stars
Note: This will not be a comphernsive review as this is the final installment of the Inkworld trilogy.
If you had power to mess with life and death, should you? When does a story quit being a story and being real? If it was possible to journey into your favorite story, would you or should you? These questions are addressed within the pages of Inkdeath, the final installment in the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke. This trilogy tells the story of Mortimer (Mo) Folchart, a bookbinder with an angelic voice. His favorite thing to do is to read stories out loud to his wife, Resa, and his daughter, Meggie until the day he decides to read Inkheart, and his wife disappears into the words, replaced by a couple of outlaws named Basta and Capricorn and the strolling player they happened to be torturing at the time, Dustfinger. After this occurs, Mo hides the book away and vows to never read aloud again, although he does instill a love of reading in his young daughter. A decade later, Dustfinger returns to Mo’s house and tells him that Basta and Capricorn are searching for him because they want him to read more characters into our world from Inkheart. Mo packs up Meggie and flees with Dustfinger, thus starting a chain of events that will affect not only our world, but the world on the other side of the pages of Inkheart. Will Mo be caught by Capricorn and Basta? Will Mo and Meggie ever be reunited with Resa and on what side of the words will this reunion happen? Will Dustfinger ever get to go back to the world he misses with every beat of his heart? All these questions and more will be answered over the course of the Inkworld trilogy.
Since this is the concluding novel of the trilogy, I cannot talk in too much detail because everything is pretty much a spoiler, but I did want to talk about my two favorite scenes since they are the main reason why I rated this book 5 stars. My favorite scene or rather setting was the Castle in the Lake and everything that went down there, although to talk about that would be a spoiler. I can, however, talk about how I feel that this castle is a direct reference to the tales of King Arthur. In the King Arthur legends, there are multiple references to mystical/magical places lying at the center of lakes (Sir Tristan, one of King Arthur’s knights falls in love with a women locked in a tower in the center of a lake, leading to Lancelot’s, the famous Knight of the Table Round, birth. She is known as the Lady of the Lake.) In Inkdeath, it is said that the lord of the Castle of the Lake kept his daughters locked away there from the outside world until one of them fell in love with the Adderhead (one of the villains of the trilogy) and ran away, later to become Violante’s, one of the major characters of the Inkworld trilogy, mother. See the allusion? The Castle in the Lake could also be a reference to Avalon, the mystical land where Arthur is sent to await his call back as the Once and Future King. (In Inkdeath, there are multiple characters that have dealings with Death, but it would be a spoiler to tell you how or why, just know that there is an allusion there.) Speaking of that, my other favorite scene is the one where Death steps into the picture. I can’t talk about it here because of major spoilers; just know it was one of my favorite parts of the book. I love when a book uses multi-layered allusions and references and dares the reader to see if they can find them all. It makes the reading experience so much better and when a book does this, I tend to rate it very highly. ☺
All in all, I loved this concluding volume to this amazing and epic trilogy, so much so, that it is my favorite one in the entire set. This is definitely a trilogy worth reading to its end! 5 stars!
Note: This will not be a comphernsive review as this is the final installment of the Inkworld trilogy.
If you had power to mess with life and death, should you? When does a story quit being a story and being real? If it was possible to journey into your favorite story, would you or should you? These questions are addressed within the pages of Inkdeath, the final installment in the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke. This trilogy tells the story of Mortimer (Mo) Folchart, a bookbinder with an angelic voice. His favorite thing to do is to read stories out loud to his wife, Resa, and his daughter, Meggie until the day he decides to read Inkheart, and his wife disappears into the words, replaced by a couple of outlaws named Basta and Capricorn and the strolling player they happened to be torturing at the time, Dustfinger. After this occurs, Mo hides the book away and vows to never read aloud again, although he does instill a love of reading in his young daughter. A decade later, Dustfinger returns to Mo’s house and tells him that Basta and Capricorn are searching for him because they want him to read more characters into our world from Inkheart. Mo packs up Meggie and flees with Dustfinger, thus starting a chain of events that will affect not only our world, but the world on the other side of the pages of Inkheart. Will Mo be caught by Capricorn and Basta? Will Mo and Meggie ever be reunited with Resa and on what side of the words will this reunion happen? Will Dustfinger ever get to go back to the world he misses with every beat of his heart? All these questions and more will be answered over the course of the Inkworld trilogy.
Since this is the concluding novel of the trilogy, I cannot talk in too much detail because everything is pretty much a spoiler, but I did want to talk about my two favorite scenes since they are the main reason why I rated this book 5 stars. My favorite scene or rather setting was the Castle in the Lake and everything that went down there, although to talk about that would be a spoiler. I can, however, talk about how I feel that this castle is a direct reference to the tales of King Arthur. In the King Arthur legends, there are multiple references to mystical/magical places lying at the center of lakes (Sir Tristan, one of King Arthur’s knights falls in love with a women locked in a tower in the center of a lake, leading to Lancelot’s, the famous Knight of the Table Round, birth. She is known as the Lady of the Lake.) In Inkdeath, it is said that the lord of the Castle of the Lake kept his daughters locked away there from the outside world until one of them fell in love with the Adderhead (one of the villains of the trilogy) and ran away, later to become Violante’s, one of the major characters of the Inkworld trilogy, mother. See the allusion? The Castle in the Lake could also be a reference to Avalon, the mystical land where Arthur is sent to await his call back as the Once and Future King. (In Inkdeath, there are multiple characters that have dealings with Death, but it would be a spoiler to tell you how or why, just know that there is an allusion there.) Speaking of that, my other favorite scene is the one where Death steps into the picture. I can’t talk about it here because of major spoilers; just know it was one of my favorite parts of the book. I love when a book uses multi-layered allusions and references and dares the reader to see if they can find them all. It makes the reading experience so much better and when a book does this, I tend to rate it very highly. ☺
All in all, I loved this concluding volume to this amazing and epic trilogy, so much so, that it is my favorite one in the entire set. This is definitely a trilogy worth reading to its end! 5 stars!