Book Review: Inkdeath

Book description taken from the book.

'Inkdeath', by Cornelia Funke
Third book of the Inkworld Trilogy

**POSSIBLE SPOILER FOR 'INKSPELL' IN THE BOOK DESCRIPTION. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ 'INKSPELL' YET AND DO NOT WANT ME TO SPOIL A RATHER IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF THE PLOT, DO NOT READ THE BOOK DESCRIPTION**




'The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead, having sacrificed his life for his apprentice Farid's, and now, under the rule of the evil Adderhead, the fairy-tale land is in bloody chaos, it's characters far beyond the control of Fenoglio, their author. Even Elinor, left behind in the real world, believes her family to be lost--lost between the covers of a book.

Facing the threat of eternal winter, Mo inks a dangerous deal with Death itself. There yet remains a faint hope of changing the cursed story--if only he can fill its pages fast enough.'



**END OF SPOILER**

This so far has been my least favorite of the series. It is exciting, and (even though you certainly can't tell at the beginning) it has some family values. For example: Mo...oh, yeah, that's a spoiler, and I already told you that the spoiler ended. So let's just leave it at it has its values. (That's the hard thing about reviewing series', if you aren't careful, you might give plots away in the earlier books.

Oh, yes, and the bad-guys were very well written...most of them.

The negatives, unfortunately, are a lot. First of all, the ending was a little...disappointing. It just left me going "What? Why..." And there is a large amount of romance. A lot is between Resa and Mo, who are married (that is good, actually) and then there's some between Meggie and, not one, but two young men (and that is not good). There's some swearing (a lot by Aunt Elinor, but you may have already guessed that :) and Funke did some things with her characters plot-wise that I wouldn't have done.

What really bugged me was that this book was mainly about out-smarting death until it was inevitable. It seemed sort of...hopeless, y'know? It has a happy ending, but there are some parts of the book that are a bit dark.

Overall...

I'm glad I read it. But I would advise, for you younger readers, that you have a parent look at the book before you do, just to make sure that's it's good for you to read.

Here is the Amazon link if anyone is interested in buying it...

Book Review: Inkspell

Couldn't come up with a description of my own, so I just copied the back of the book.

'Inkspell' by Cornelia Funke
Book 2 of the Inkworld Trilogy

A year has passed, but not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of 'Inkheart' the book whose characters came to life. For the fire-eater Dustfinger, the need to return to the tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller to read him back, he abandons his apprentice Farid and plunges into the pages. Before long, Farid and Meggie are caught inside the book, too. But the story is much changed--and threatening to end tragically.

The book was exciting and engaging, but unfortunetely it did have some faults. Dustfinger's family is...not doing that great, and there's a few mushy scenes. And of course, Aunt Elinor (and a few others) swear and take the Lord's name in vain. However, Dustfinger is willing to sacrifice his life to save Farid, and Mo, Resa, and Meggie are a very close family.

Overall, it was a really good book. Very good to read if you're working on a story of your own, as Funke's writing style is very good. Also, once I read it I immediately added a few weaknesses to my bad guys in Sarea, just in case I ever have to fight them =)

Izori

Book Review: Dragon Rider

I'm back! I finished this while we were out of town. It was 523 pages, not including the bonus material at the back of the book.

"Dragon Rider" by Cornelia Funke

Firedrake, a young dragon living in a valley with the others of his kind, is shocked when he is informed that humans are preparing to come to Dragon Valley. The dragons must find a place to move to quickly--and the only safe place they know of is the Rim of Heaven, a dragon paradise. Some say that it's just a myth, but Firedrake believes that it's real and sets out with his brownie friend, Sorrel, to find it. At the beginning of their adventure they find an orphan boy named Ben, who joins them. The three continue their search with the help of a map made by a rat, but the dangers of their route isn't the only problem. Nettlebrand, a vicious creation of an alchemist who wants to destroy all dragons, is on their trail, also trying to find the Rim of Heaven. Unfortunetely for Ben, Firedrake, and Sorrel, he is closer to finding it then they thinkn.

Even though they have their differences, the three main characters help each other out and would care if one of the others got killed. One of my favorite characters is Lola Graytail, a daring aviator rat. The negative is there's a bit of Hinduism in part of it (the idea that when a person dies, he or she comes back in another form). Overall, it was a very good book.

Izori

Book Review: The Thief Lord

I stayed up at 11 pm reading it, although that is partly due because we got home from a wedding shower at 10:30 and I couldn't read in the car because it was dark. So, on to it.

"The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke

Prosper and Bo, two Italian boys, have just been adopted by their aunt Esther after their parents died. Well, Bo has, but since Prosper's twelve and isn't cute and golden haired, he's sent off to boarding school and only allowed to see his younger brother once a month. Not very happy with that, Prosper runs away, taking Bo with him. In the streets of Venice, they are taken in by a group of children, whose leader is called Scipio, or the Thief Lord. The children make a living off of stealing, and then trading it off to a red-bearded man named Barbarossa. But when the gang (or Scipio, to be more precise) is given an assignment by a mysterious Conte to find an ordinary, wooden, wing by breaking into someone's house, the children learn that there's more to Scipio than they thought. And he's hidden several important facts from them.

It wasn't the best book I read, and it wasn't the best book the author has written, but it was okay. The children, Mosca, Riccio, Hornet (a girl), Prosper, and Bo are very loyal to each other, and Prosper and Hornet protect Bo from most of the stealing. They are also horrified when Scipio tells them that he got an old Nanny in trouble when he stole some jewels, and they encourage him to write to his parents and tell them what's going on when he turns up missing. The bad things are that even though some of the children don't like to steal and feel that it's sort of wrong, they do it anyway. Scipio is willing to abandon his parents (this may be excusable because his parents really are not very good, but still...), and the ending wasn't particularly good. Also there's a slight case of taking the Lord's name in vain. Overall, it was...okay. I liked "Inkheart" better.

Izori

Book Review: "Inkheart"

I wasn't even looking for this book when I saw it in the library, but I am soooo glad I did. And it's long, too! 534 pages!

"Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

When Meggie, a twelve year old girl who lives alone with her father, sees a stranger standing in the yard one rainy night, she doesn't know that it will change her life forever. The stranger, Dustfinger, is here to warn her dad, who she calls Mo, that a mysterious person named Capricorn is after him. And then Meggie finds out that there are a whole lot of things she doesn't know the reason of, like why does Mo never read aloud to her? And what does Capricorn want from Mo, anyway?

It was a really, really, good book. It was exciting and long (which is good for an exciting book; I read it until 11:09 PM and still wasn't finished). And very well written. The only negative is that Aunt Elinor has a habit of swearing. I highly suggest it.

Izori