Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy)
by Cornelia Funke
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Book Reviews of Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy)
Book Review: Foolish with a lack of ceativity
Summary: 1 Stars
I tried to give this book a fair chance, but even that was difficult. There are many problems plauging this book including lack of creativity, one sided characters, as well as horrid descriptions of places and people.
Well before i begin with the problems of the book i believe i will speak of it's positive qualities. The only thing that i can think of that is not negative is the mood of the book. She definetly crafted an interesting sort of setting, crumbling villages scattered accross the empty country side, crooks and creeps living in secret towns, and evil men having more power than the police. This all definetly creates an interesting mood, and is the only reason i was tempted to continue reading, but this is where the positive qualities of the book end.
First off, the characters are down right horrid. They are one-sided and lack any sort of depth or intriguing qualities. Capricorn is supposedly the most evil man ever, but you simply dont get that impression from her descriptions of him. The characters seem to have no motive at all and seem to all be archetypes. The only interesting character would have to be DustFinger, a mysterious fire eater/illusionist trapped out of his world desperately trying to find his way back. I think she should have just used DustFinger and his personal quest as the central confilct of the book.
There is also a great lack of creativity, Capricorn (the supposed evilest man in the world) is a cut-and-paste copy of Voldemort from Harry Potter, or Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. Capricorn's followers are the typical foolish buff guys, the classic henchmen of gangster movies which can get very annoying after a while. Mortarmor is the archetypical worried father, Elinor is the archetypical crazy aunt, and Meggie is the archetypical little girl. No creativity is used in the characters, each one is a classic cut-and-past copy of character types that have been used much too frequently.
But the lack of creativity does not only end with the characters, she spares no expense to sprinkle her lack of creative powers all over the central plot. The first hundred pages of the book could have come straight from The Lord of the Rings, and in fact if you describe the plot of the first hundred pages, but leave out the names of the characters, it is an exact copy of Lord of the Rings.
"A mysterious(Gandalf in LOTR/DustFinger in Inkheart) visitor comes to two people (Frodo and Bilbo in Lotr/Meggie and Mo in Inkheart) living in a small country town. The mysterious visitor says that an extrodinary evil has risen again (Sauron in Lotr/ Capricorn in Inkheart) and that the two country people hold the one super powerfull object that can give the evil ultimate power (the ring in Lotr/ The green book in Inkheart). So the two people set off with the mysterious visitor and go to a familar but far away place (The town of Bree in lotr/ Elinor's house in Inkheart)" see? Almost an exact copy of Lord of the Rings.
But luckily the plot changes quite a bit from there, i dont know what i would have done if it continued to copy Lord of the Rings. But her idea is not clever at all, the idea of someone reading and things popping out of the book that they are reading from has been a plot done many times over in the past.
So all in all, the lack of creativity used in the characters and plot causes this book to be down right horrid and annoying. They are making a movie from the book in 2006, and hopefully the director will have some creativity and will be able to make something out of this horrid book.
Book Review: The story that never was
Summary: 3 Stars
--"What's going to happen to his men afterward? What do I do with them?"
"What do you think? The shadow must kill them all!" Meggie whispered back.--
And this is our heroine. I have never seen a heroine more full of hatred than our Maggie, who throughout the course of the story manages to, well, hate nearly every character she meets.
Inkheart had the makings of greatness. It had everything necessary to make a brilliant story. Yet somehow it fell short of the mark. The two main characters, Meggie and Mo, are dull and uninteresting and there is nothing overly 'good' about them. The villian is equally dull and, mor importantly, is after NOTHING. Not world domination, not riches, not power. In fact, he seems perfectly happy living in a run-down village having his minions oerform menial tasks and threatening various people, but for what exactly you never find out. By far the most interesting characters, Dustfinger, Farid, Fenoglio, even Basta by the end are only minor ones.
The best part of the book was the book-binding. Other than that, the love of books pervading the story felt forced and cliched. Anyone can write about people who love books and call them unopened treasures and friends, etc. but that isn't quite enough. In fact, by the end of the book, no one has really read a book of their own free will. Every time Meggie tries to read a book she can't. I watched a show once about three bibliophiles and they never said a single cliche line about book-loving, in fact, nothing was told, but we were shown their love perfectly. They read constantly and you felt their love. Compared to this, Inkheart was nothing.
The book is confusing; and while this may have something to with the fact that its a translation, a lot of it felt due to oversights on the writer's part. The relationship between Meggie and her father is confusing; one minute they are the perfect father-daughter couple, the next she's telling us how he often lies to her. One minute she can read his face like a book the other she can't tell. Character personalities aren't stable and you often find yourself pausing over bits and pieces going 'what?'. Nothing huge, but enough for a break in what should be a smooth read.
The book has no climax, but instead is a series of capture and release and ends rather blankly. Capricorn having wanted nothing much, does it really matter that he is defeated? I still have no idea as to his purpose. The end also felt uneccesarily cruel, with a shrug as to one character's disappearance.
I was very disappointed in ths story and am still wondering how it could possibly have recieved such international praise. I am guessing Funke's previous sucess won this one over ecause this was hardly an amazing read. And its not just personal opinion; as a work of fiction it is hardly up to standards in character design and developemnt, plot and action. The setting was brilliant, however and the mention of many famous books was nice. I also love the excerpts at the beginning of each chapter, although I would have preferred excerpts from lesser-known works instead of famous ones like Peter Pan and One Thousand and One Nights.
Read The Thief Lord instead; it had wonderful characters a great climactic story and an awesome end with a twist, unlike Inkheart, predictable all the way through. I'm sure Inkheart will make a brilliant film, but as a book its boring, long and drawn-out. Its not bad, but I felt it could--and should--have been so much better, since I know how well Funke can write.
Book Review: Better Than One Within
Summary: 4 Stars
Meggie Folchart is twelve years old, and lives with her father, Mo. The pair are very close to each other, and have a shared passion for books - Mo, in fact, is a very talented book restorer. They have lived in their current home for a year, though it seems they have a history of moving from place to place. Strangely, however, Meggie had to teach herself to read - she can't ever remember Mo reading to her when she was small. Meggie's mother, on the other hand, has been missing for many years - she apparently went off on some sort of adventure holiday and never came back.
In the finest traditions of storytelling, Mo and Meggie's adventures start with the arrival of a visitor on a dark and rainy night. Meggie has no idea who he is, but they have met once before - nine years earlier, when Meggie was only three. While Meggie has no real memory of him, Mo remembers him very well. Their visitor is called Dustfinger, a fire-eating juggler with an unusual pet marten called Gwin. Strangely, Dustfinger calls Mo `Silvertongue' - and, furthermore, Mo seems to feel in Dustfinger's debt. Despite Mo insisting he talks to Dustfinger in private, Meggie listens to the conversation through the keyhole of Mo's workshop.
It seems that Dustfinger wants Mo to bring a mysterious book on to someone called Capricorn - another strange name, and clearly an utter villain. Mo, for his part, wants nothing to do with Capricorn, and is determined to keep this book out of his hands. He and Meggie pack up their belongings after Dustfinger leaves, and take off early the following morning. However, Dustfinger clearly expected the pair to run and catches up with them - and persuades Mo to let him tag along...
Since Capricorn is apparently based in the north, Mo has decided to head south and visit Elinor, an aunt of Meggie's mother. Elinor lives near the lakes in northern Italy, and she is also passionate about books - though more as a collector than a reader. She is very well off, and lives in a huge - and very imposing - house. However, Mo believes her fortune is dwindling due to the huge number of rare books she buys. Mo won't show Meggie the book that Capricorn is after, which only makes her even more curious about it. However, he doesn't keep it from Elinor. In fact, Elinor has heard of the mysterious book - it's extremely rare and, apparently, the few copies that become available are generally stolen. Elinor is single, has no children and - to begin with, at least - is rather crusty. There's quite a bit of verbal sparring between Elinor and Meggie when they first meet, but - in time - they warm to each other. Unfortunately, Elinor and her imposing house can't protect Meggie and Mo from Capricorn and his vicious henchmen...although they do pick up some rather unexpected allies along the way.
"Inkheart" is a great read and - despite being pretty long for a kids' book - rattles along a fair pace. There are plenty of nods to other famous books - "Huckleberry Finn", "Tom Sawyer", "Peter Pan", "Treasure Island", "Alice in Wonderland", "The Princess Bride", "Charlotte's Web" and "The Lord of the Rings", for example. (Elinor comments once that "our journey isn't going to be half as bad as those hairy-footed people's quest"). In fact, I could see this book encouraging the reader to reach for any number of those tiles as well - not to mention the sequels that follow on from this book. Totally recommended.
Book Review: Wonderful Fantasy for All Ages
Summary: 4 Stars
Meggie, 12, and her father, Mo, share a love of books. In fact, their house is full of books. But, despite their constant reading, Mo will never read out loud to Meggie. She wonders why until one day a stranger, Dustfinger, shows up at their house and Meggie discovers the awful truth. When reading out loud, Mo has the ability to read characters out of the book and into real life. Unfortunately, he has no control over which character he reads out and one terrible day when Meggie is 3, he reads out a terrible villain, Capricorn, out of a novel called "Inkheart". As if that wasn't bad enough, Mo inadvertently reads his wife, Teresa, into the book. Nine years later, Dustfinger warns Mo that Capricorn is looking for him because he wants Mo to read more evil characters out of "Inkheart". Mo and Meggie go on the run, but it's not long before Capricorn catches up with Mo, Meggie, Dustfinger and Meggie's Aunt Elinor. When Meggie finds out that she too can read characters out of books, she is in even more danger.
"Inkheart" is a charming fantasy. Cornelia Funke is a gifted writer and readers will be instantly drawn into Meggie's world. The premise of being able to read characters out of books is an intriguing one and Funke utilizes it fully. The characters are well written: Meggie is an engaging heroine; Mo is a loving, if somewhat unreliable father; Elinor is better at dealing with books than people, but grows as a character as the book moves along. Dustfinger is perhaps the most interesting and human character, he is neither totally good nor bad, but, read into the "real" world he longs to return to the world of "Inkheart" and will do anything, even betray his friends, to achieve that goal.
"Inkheart" does have some flaws. One flaw is it's length, at 534 pages the size of the book may put off young readers and those that start it may lose interest along the way. Funke could easily have cut out some minor characters and scenes (Tinker Bell was especially annoying). Also, although Mo reads characters into stories as he is reading characters out of them, Funke seems to forget that at times and uses it only when it is needed as a plot device. Finally, a character that is mute is suddenly able to scream, a development that pulled me right out of the story.
Those minor points aside, "Inkheart" is a wonderful fantasy for young and old alike.
Book Review: Good idea, but the execution of it falters...
Summary: 3 Stars
I decided to read Inkheart after seeing the film a couple of months ago. I'd heard generally positive reviews of the book for years, just never got around to it before the movie release. It's taken me about two months to finish this incredibly dense, seemingly never-ending tome. The novel really failed to "hook" me, so it was too easy to read only a few pages at a time instead of powering on through all 500 pages. The concept is fantastic - what avid reader hasn't, at one point or another, wished either to enter the world of a novel, or hoped that his or her favorite characters were real? I know I have. The idea holds so much promise - what could it mean if someone could read characters, the good and the bad, out of a book? Through Mo the "Silvertongue" reader and his daughter Meggie, Funke takes readers to a place where the line between fiction and reality becomes irrevocably broken. The idea is a fiction lover's dream, but the execution of said idea left me less than enthralled. Funke does an excellent job of world-crafting, but so much time is spent building the world of the novel that I felt left with elaborate sets filled, for the most part (with the exception of Dustfinger), with characters I cared very little about. In a 500-plus page book that clearly aims to be an epic tale of danger and adventure, the lack of main characters that I really connected with too often made the read a chore rather than an escape. That being said, Dustfinger is a welcome exception - his fears, uncertainties, and driving desire to return home all provide welcome emotional depth and resonance to the storyline. The other characters are very "flat," and the plot is generally slow-moving and meandering, with occasional exciting episodes that jerk the story forward just a tad. It's quite possible that Inkheart works best as part one of a trilogy, but since this volume was so hard to get through I have serious doubts about whether or not I'll ever try to finish the series. For me the movie took the good ideas of the book, made the characters more interesting & sympathetic, and improved the pacing and emotional stakes of the storyline. I'm glad I finished the book, but it was too plodding (I wonder if the fact that I'm reading a translation impacts readability?) to make it worth revisiting anytime in the future.