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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Inkspell wasn't as good as Inkheart. Mainly because everything to so confusing, and I just ... didn't like it all that much. But when you get into the book, it's pretty good.
Star Rating: 4.5 stars
I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all the new worlds I was diving into so I decided to take a break from new-to-me reads and read something familiar. Since I am trying to re-read a lot of my favorite series in preparation for the continuing books that are coming out, or to finally get caught up on the series I have gotten behind on (college made me get majorly behind on my reading), or just to re-read them because it is a few years since I read them, I had a lot of options, but I decided to go with Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. This is a continuation of the Inkworld trilogy, and if I am remembering correctly (It has been a few years since my last re-read so I may be confused), it is my favorite in the series. A year after the events of Inkheart, things are starting to settle down in Meggie, the main character’s of this series, life. However, one day, a visitor appears at her aunt’s house where Meggie and her family live. His sudden appearance launches Meggie and her family back onto the roller-coaster ride that they fought so desperately to get off in the 1st book.
My favorite part of this book is Funke’s writing style because it is very atmospheric. There is a scene in the beginning of this installment of the series where the character of Dustfinger gets sent back to the Inkworld by a person that has the magic of this world. The magic of this world surrounds books and reading aloud, in that, when certain people read aloud, they are able to make characters come out of the book they are reading or read other people into the book. Dustfinger is one of these characters, but I won’t explain in what way because they will spoil the 1st book in the series. Anyway, he gets sent to the Inkworld, and the way that Funke explains the setting of the Wayless Wood and how it is making Dustfinger feel to be back there so perfectly. She makes the world leap off the page and you feel like you are right there alongside Dustfinger experiencing everything and I just love it. I read for stress-relief, escapism, and to manage my extremely severe anxiety and depression so I really appreciate it when the author makes the world so easy to travel into.
Another thing that I love is how she brings fairy tale/fable tropes into this book because although she sticks to a classic fantasy framework, she doesn’t make any of the characters cliché. To illustrate my point, I am going to provide you with 3 examples. First off, the main villain in this story is called the Adderhead and is obsessed with snakes rubies, and silver, which are all objects that are associated with villainy and dark characters in fairy tale. Second, we have the Adderhead’s daughter, Violante, who is very intelligent and well-read so is seen as being not very beautiful. In the book, she is, literally, described as follows- “her face looked as if someone had drawn it on a stained piece of paper with a pencil too pale for the purpose, and the dark silk of her dress made her look even plainer. The only thing you noticed about her face was the purple bookmark, as big as a poppy, disfiguring her left cheek.” This fits the fairy-tale/modern-day troupe that says you can only be smart if you are ugly and only be beautiful if you are dumb. Finally, the character of the Barn Owl is a physician who is way beyond his time in medicinal knowledge and therefore described as looking like an owl (the owl is because he has knowledge normal individuals don’t have and the owl is, traditionally, associated with wisdom) or a mole (the mole analogy comes from the fact that he spends most of his time in a room filled with towers of books all the way to the ceiling like a mole in his burrow). Although Funke initially sets up her characters in these traditional fable roles, over the course the story, she does try to allow them to break free, and I hope this process continues into the next book because it was one of the things I loved the most.
The final thing I want to talk about is the themes expressed in this book because I found them really impactful. The 1st one is the idea that you can become so obsessed with a story and want to be a part of it so bad, that you would do anything and not being a part of it causes physical pain. I know that this can be true because I experience it on almost a daily basis. I have extremely severe anxiety and depression and read to cope with that, and sometimes, I become so unhappy in my life here, that all I want to do is jump into one of my favorite character’s stories and go on adventures with them. I think that in the books, I won’t be scared of leaving my room; following my dreams, talking to people, and going to see all the places that I have wanted to see my entire life. Because of these feelings, I can relate immensely when the characters are desperate to get either into a story or out of it. Another idea is expressed when Meggie starts to wonder whether her own world could be in a book that someone else is reading. As she and her family jump back and forth between story and read characters out of different stories, she starts to lose track of what is part of the real world and what is part of story. I thought this was a very interesting idea to explore in what is classified as middle-grade/young YA book and I thought the effect it is starting to have on Meggie and the other characters involved is interesting.
All in all, I enjoyed this book just as much as I did when I first read it. I can’t wait to complete my re-read in December (that is when I have it scheduled) by reading Inkdeath, the last book in this trilogy. If you haven’t read this series yet, then you should give it a try.
I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all the new worlds I was diving into so I decided to take a break from new-to-me reads and read something familiar. Since I am trying to re-read a lot of my favorite series in preparation for the continuing books that are coming out, or to finally get caught up on the series I have gotten behind on (college made me get majorly behind on my reading), or just to re-read them because it is a few years since I read them, I had a lot of options, but I decided to go with Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. This is a continuation of the Inkworld trilogy, and if I am remembering correctly (It has been a few years since my last re-read so I may be confused), it is my favorite in the series. A year after the events of Inkheart, things are starting to settle down in Meggie, the main character’s of this series, life. However, one day, a visitor appears at her aunt’s house where Meggie and her family live. His sudden appearance launches Meggie and her family back onto the roller-coaster ride that they fought so desperately to get off in the 1st book.
My favorite part of this book is Funke’s writing style because it is very atmospheric. There is a scene in the beginning of this installment of the series where the character of Dustfinger gets sent back to the Inkworld by a person that has the magic of this world. The magic of this world surrounds books and reading aloud, in that, when certain people read aloud, they are able to make characters come out of the book they are reading or read other people into the book. Dustfinger is one of these characters, but I won’t explain in what way because they will spoil the 1st book in the series. Anyway, he gets sent to the Inkworld, and the way that Funke explains the setting of the Wayless Wood and how it is making Dustfinger feel to be back there so perfectly. She makes the world leap off the page and you feel like you are right there alongside Dustfinger experiencing everything and I just love it. I read for stress-relief, escapism, and to manage my extremely severe anxiety and depression so I really appreciate it when the author makes the world so easy to travel into.
Another thing that I love is how she brings fairy tale/fable tropes into this book because although she sticks to a classic fantasy framework, she doesn’t make any of the characters cliché. To illustrate my point, I am going to provide you with 3 examples. First off, the main villain in this story is called the Adderhead and is obsessed with snakes rubies, and silver, which are all objects that are associated with villainy and dark characters in fairy tale. Second, we have the Adderhead’s daughter, Violante, who is very intelligent and well-read so is seen as being not very beautiful. In the book, she is, literally, described as follows- “her face looked as if someone had drawn it on a stained piece of paper with a pencil too pale for the purpose, and the dark silk of her dress made her look even plainer. The only thing you noticed about her face was the purple bookmark, as big as a poppy, disfiguring her left cheek.” This fits the fairy-tale/modern-day troupe that says you can only be smart if you are ugly and only be beautiful if you are dumb. Finally, the character of the Barn Owl is a physician who is way beyond his time in medicinal knowledge and therefore described as looking like an owl (the owl is because he has knowledge normal individuals don’t have and the owl is, traditionally, associated with wisdom) or a mole (the mole analogy comes from the fact that he spends most of his time in a room filled with towers of books all the way to the ceiling like a mole in his burrow). Although Funke initially sets up her characters in these traditional fable roles, over the course the story, she does try to allow them to break free, and I hope this process continues into the next book because it was one of the things I loved the most.
The final thing I want to talk about is the themes expressed in this book because I found them really impactful. The 1st one is the idea that you can become so obsessed with a story and want to be a part of it so bad, that you would do anything and not being a part of it causes physical pain. I know that this can be true because I experience it on almost a daily basis. I have extremely severe anxiety and depression and read to cope with that, and sometimes, I become so unhappy in my life here, that all I want to do is jump into one of my favorite character’s stories and go on adventures with them. I think that in the books, I won’t be scared of leaving my room; following my dreams, talking to people, and going to see all the places that I have wanted to see my entire life. Because of these feelings, I can relate immensely when the characters are desperate to get either into a story or out of it. Another idea is expressed when Meggie starts to wonder whether her own world could be in a book that someone else is reading. As she and her family jump back and forth between story and read characters out of different stories, she starts to lose track of what is part of the real world and what is part of story. I thought this was a very interesting idea to explore in what is classified as middle-grade/young YA book and I thought the effect it is starting to have on Meggie and the other characters involved is interesting.
All in all, I enjoyed this book just as much as I did when I first read it. I can’t wait to complete my re-read in December (that is when I have it scheduled) by reading Inkdeath, the last book in this trilogy. If you haven’t read this series yet, then you should give it a try.
Not quite s good as Inkspell, but whenever is the second in a series as good as the first? Still a good read.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-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:
Complicated
I absolutely loved it!!! The character, the story, everything!