Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy)
by Cornelia Funke
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Book Reviews of Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy)
Book Review: 5-star storytelling, but with too many other issues for an overall 5
Summary: 3 Stars
Cornelia Funke tells a captivating and exciting tale. I was surprised that other reviewers found the plot simplistic, because I did not find it so at all. Despite my trouble with the book, which I'll detail below, I found it a page-turner after the first 50 pages, compelling enough that I just had to know the ending. The book snippets, too, are cleverly done, in that they really foreshadow the contents of each chapter.
My problems are these:
1) There is a lot of implied violence towards women in this book. Overall, level of violence in the book is not appropriate to the age level stated (9-12), but the thinly-veiled threat of sexual violence in particular (as well as a sexual overtone to Dustfinger's interest in Meggie at the beginning of the book) really makes this a book for readers 16 years old through adult.
2)Another problem I have with this book as a "children's book", is that Meggie does very little to further the plot until the very end of the book. In fact, even then she is the agent of Fenoglio in bringing the drama to a close. He and Mo figure out the "how" of fixing the problem, using Meggie's abilities as merely a tool. A children's book of this type should have a child protaganist at the very heart of both the story and its climax. She should solve the problem.
3)This book (though it might have to do with translation) deperately needs editing. The end of the book is faster-paced, with better word choice, but the first two thirds of the book should be half as long. We spend too much time on description and in roundabout ways of explaining things. Most importantly, too much time is spent in the heads of characters other than Meggie. Not only doesn't it further the plot, but actually distracts the reader from Meggie's experience. Again, she should be the center of the plot. Telling us what is going on in other people's heads destroyed the suspense in several places.
4)The characters seem a little flat, even the ones that don't originate in the book-world of Inkheart. Except maybe Meggie and Dustfinger, the characters really lack psychological complexity.
I'm glad I finished the book (the end of the story is quite fun), but it's a 3 1/2 due to the marketing as a child's book and numerous plot/editorial failings.
Book Review: A book that could have been great, but wasn't.
Summary: 3 Stars
Inheart is a fantasy book about Mo and his daughter Meggie who love to read books. Mo has a interesting gift when he reads allowed. He can bring characters out of a book the only problem is, someone has to go in the book. One night when he was reading inkheart the evil villains of the book came out, but Mo's wife disappeared into the book. Mo tried and tried to read her out but nothing ever happened. Now its been several years and capricorn is looking for Mo (silvertongue) so that he can read him out some treasures and more bad men. This is gets Mo, Meggie and Mo's wife's aunt Elinor involved in a dangerous situation.
They escape with the help of dustfinger who had betrayed them to capricorn, but while Mo was out and Elinor had gone home, Meggie is kidnapped by capricorns men and taking back to the village. While she is there they learn that she has the same ability as her father and are going to make her read out a really bad person. Will Meggie have what it takes to change everything and save them all, even her mom?
Review:
Inkheart for me was a little slow paced, the author has a lot of description and it just doesn't flow real fast when reading it. I did think that it was a interesting story with lively characters, I just wanted to be able to speed through it and it didn't hold my attention well enough for that.
The dialog was great and even funny in parts, but it was all the description in between the dialog that made the story go slower than if it had less description and more dialog.
I do believe that Inkheart was a unique book which to me made it a good read. It had interesting characters and a great plot. It is the first in a series and defiantly one that you couldn't try and read the second one with out all the information in the first book.
I am going to finish this series to see how it ends because I really did enjoy the story and I liked the ending of the first book. I only wish that it read faster for me. I can really see why they decided to make it into a movie because I think seeing it on screen will be great.
Book Review: A pretty good story but not well-fleshed out.
Summary: 3 Stars
I so anticipated reading this book, with its promise of terrible excitement--evil characters escaping from a book into our world. It begins well, with an immediate adventure involving a secret, a book, odd characters and lots of questions from the delightful 12 year old protagonist, Meggie. Quickly, however, the book loses its luster. The characters remain superficial, there is no emotional depth to the story, and the advocacy of the preservation of books becomes tedious. Each short chapter is headed by a title and a supposedly relevant and, most often, lengthy quote which actually detracts from the flow of the story. The quotes are chiefly from books, including "The Borribles Go For Broke", "The Jungle Book", "The Mabinogian", "The Princess Bride" and "Oliver Twist", stories that have probably not been read by the young readers "Inkheart" appeals to. Skip reading the quotes--it makes the story flow more easily.
There are also many allusions within the story to books, both overt and covert. It's fun to a certain extent, when one recognizes the story the author is referring to, but again, this device becomes trite with overuse. There are many, many references to titles of books that are the favorites of characters, what they are reading, what books they have brought along with them, etc. Enough already! Let's get on with an original story!
"Inkheart" is my first encounter reading Cornelia Funke. I'm disappointed with the author's descriptors that "tell", rather than allow the reader to paint murals with imagination. Such words as `hatred', `scorn', and `rage' are overused and become redundant, causing this reader's eyes to glaze over. All too frequently a character's odd facial expression or mannerism is depicted and followed by an interpretation that doesn't quite correlate to the movement. Perhaps nuances are lost in translation. Perhaps "Inkheart" might be more alluring with a different translator.
Although lacking luster, the story retains its muster, and remains a fabulous candidate for a screenplay. I'm looking forward to the movie.
Book Review: Disclaimer: I'm an adult...
Summary: 3 Stars
...and a novelist...and a screenwriter.
OK, now that I've gotten *that* out of the way...
This book is the equivalent of someone telling a story that contains all kinds of fabulous stuff...but just isn't up to the task.
There were times I had to remind myself of the audience. That 'bloat' is usually the stuff of mainstream, adult fiction. Because at around 550 pages, it's a good 200 pages too long. I applaud the author's commitment to telling the tale, but seriously: 'Less is more'.
On top of this, the dictum that 'If you're going to use the words you clearly get wholesale, if you're going to be indulgent, then please make it worth your while...and that of the readers'.' If Ms Funk had greater ability to tell the story with the flourishes it deserves, the result -for me, remember- would have been far more satisfying. As it was, I wasn't spellbound. I wasn't enraptured. I was hardly captivated.
Several 'sins' were committed that made the novel leave the impression it did:
-The fact that there's no primary hero. This is an adventure. A quest. In any great tale, there's one great hero. This one doesn't. Not Mo, not Meggie, not nobody.
-That Meggie calls her father 'Mo' and not 'Dad' put distance between the two characters (for me). I was never on-board with their relationship. In fact, I'd say that one of the author's shortcomings was in the area of relationships. Sad really, because there was so much there, ready to be mined.
-Mo is a wuss. And not a terribly well-drawn one, either. Again, another weakness: characterizations.
-The climax was...a fizzle. Ho-hum.
I'm very much looking forward to the movie. Because I suspect that many of the 'weaknesses' of the novel will be corrected in the adaptation. Such as the relationship between father and daughter. The 'hero' aspect. And the ending.
Here's my prediction: many, many fans of the book will HATE what they've done in the film...and not be able to admit they've improved on it.
Book Review: I enjoyed the book a lot more than the recent movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first installment of the Inkheart series.
Meggie's father Mo has been hiding from town to town for nine years. So much that their van is more of a house than their present abode.
One night, a strange character by the name of Dustfinger comes to their house to warn Mo about Capricorn. They all escape to a castle owned by Meggie's aunt, Elinor, a spinster that has spent all her life collecting books. Here they are captured by Capricorn's men, as Dustfinger gives them way. The bad men steal a strange book from Mo.
Unbeknown to Meggie, Mo has an interesting talent: when he reads aloud, things, and sometimes people, come out of their stories and into the real world! (Silvertongue) Unfortunately things from the outside world may also go back inside the stories.
Even though Mo works at restoring books and owns a large amount of then, he stopped reading aloud nine years ago when Meggie's mother disappeared as he created Capricorn and Dustfinger. They were characters in a book titled Inkheart, the book that was stolen that night.
The evil Capricorn wants to use Mo's talents to bring himself great wealth and power. He destroys the last known copy of the book, so Mo searches the author of the book, Fenoglio, who is also captured by Capricorn's men
After escaping from Capricorn's village, they all go separate ways and Meggie discovers that Mo isn't the only one who can read things to life. So can she.
This is an enchanting story full of adventure, suspense, and magic. The characters are vivid and delightful. Unlike many books for younger readers there is a distinct emphasis on the importance of family as seen in the close relationship between Meggie and her father. Lightly magical, humorous, and fun, Inkheart will appeal to those who like adventure and fantasy, and to anyone who ever wished a story could come to life.
The book is fantastic. A page turner. I read the 560 pages in a two and a half days.
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