Scan barcode
A review by sarahetc
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
4.0
I promised myself I'd write a whole big review of this as a series when I finally finished the third. But things have been very, very busy and all the mental energy and time I would have used to do that has gone to work, so I'm going to fail. Nevertheless, he's an attempt.
Inkdeath is a wonderful conclusion to a brilliant story right up until the moment it's not. It's a full five-star, four-alarm fire of a book until about two-thirds of the way through when the realization of the repetitiveness of the last couple hundred pages creeps in and then the final denouement fully lets you down. All I can think is that Funke very much wanted to write a little bit about everything she had previewed in the first two books. I think it started to come apart when Fenoglio wrote the giant as a deus-ex-machina and there was such attention paid, so quickly, so another possible/likely death experience for The Black Prince. The first had been powerful! In fact, I got to it at about midnight, when my youngest (aged 11)-- who was reading along with me-- was asleep and I took a pic of the page (not yet knowing the outcome) and messaged it to her saying, "I know you're asleep but I HAVE CONCERNS!!" And then, of course, relief. And then... more of the same.
The actual climax was so straightforward as to be disbelievable. Like, really? I get we had to have Dustfinger and Resa in a number of different conundrums, but they were also repetitive. It ends exactly how it says it's going to end. Three words. I appreciate well-drawn fantasy, I do. And maybe it's because I'm 47 lousy years old, but I can't help but think that among all the people present in that final moment, it didn't need to be so complicated. It could have been a flea-flicker of a toss of the White Book while Dustfinger yelled and pointed, "Hey! Look over there!" And then Mo just opened it and wrote. It's three words. That's five seconds. I realize I just wrote a worse ending. But do you feel me? Ugh. I'm just... I'm too old? I'm afraid I'm too old. I'll try to come back and edit this with more perspective when Daphne finishes.
The series overall is fantastic. Would recommend to anyone, but give it to a grown-up with a caveat about the end. I'm sure it suffers from having been released in the midst of the densest of the Harry Potter years. Those are still good and worthwhile, but for people looking for fantasy series for young readers, this might actually serve better-- magic without a system, worldbuilding without excessive referentiality, and many fewer morally gray characters.
Four stars here, 4.5 for the whole series.
Inkdeath is a wonderful conclusion to a brilliant story right up until the moment it's not. It's a full five-star, four-alarm fire of a book until about two-thirds of the way through when the realization of the repetitiveness of the last couple hundred pages creeps in and then the final denouement fully lets you down. All I can think is that Funke very much wanted to write a little bit about everything she had previewed in the first two books. I think it started to come apart when Fenoglio wrote the giant as a deus-ex-machina and there was such attention paid, so quickly, so another possible/likely death experience for The Black Prince. The first had been powerful! In fact, I got to it at about midnight, when my youngest (aged 11)-- who was reading along with me-- was asleep and I took a pic of the page (not yet knowing the outcome) and messaged it to her saying, "I know you're asleep but I HAVE CONCERNS!!" And then, of course, relief. And then... more of the same.
The actual climax was so straightforward as to be disbelievable. Like, really? I get we had to have Dustfinger and Resa in a number of different conundrums, but they were also repetitive. It ends exactly how it says it's going to end. Three words. I appreciate well-drawn fantasy, I do. And maybe it's because I'm 47 lousy years old, but I can't help but think that among all the people present in that final moment, it didn't need to be so complicated. It could have been a flea-flicker of a toss of the White Book while Dustfinger yelled and pointed, "Hey! Look over there!" And then Mo just opened it and wrote. It's three words. That's five seconds. I realize I just wrote a worse ending. But do you feel me? Ugh. I'm just... I'm too old? I'm afraid I'm too old. I'll try to come back and edit this with more perspective when Daphne finishes.
The series overall is fantastic. Would recommend to anyone, but give it to a grown-up with a caveat about the end. I'm sure it suffers from having been released in the midst of the densest of the Harry Potter years. Those are still good and worthwhile, but for people looking for fantasy series for young readers, this might actually serve better-- magic without a system, worldbuilding without excessive referentiality, and many fewer morally gray characters.
Four stars here, 4.5 for the whole series.