A review by nytephoenyx
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

adventurous inspiring mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I have always been utterly transported by the story of Inkheart.  The magic and simplicity of Cornelia Funke’s ideas makes me feel as though I could never be a successful writer because of how creative and clever she is, and also, sometimes it feels like all the very best stories are taken.  And I mean that in the best way possible.

Sure, Inkheart isn’t perfect.  For one, at about 550pgs., it is far too long.  The pacing is quite slow and our characters spend a lot of time sitting around and waiting and worrying about things.  For that, I’m not sure if Funke is to blame, or if there’s something to the translation that is more exciting in German.  The writing weaves and tarries and wonders before moving on to anything truly interesting, and Meggie spends at least 50% of this book in a prison cowshed, being dragged back and forth and fretting and being sad and lonely.

She’s also a bit… flat, I guess.  Not underdeveloped, but unresponsive.  There are a great many magical things happening around her, but she takes these in stride, emotionally.  As such, things from her POV are generally a bit blah, even though there is magic afoot and they shouldn’t be blah.  But then again, I have never cared for Meggie.  Every POV is more interesting than Meggie’s.  And, in my opinion, the very best character is Elinor.  Because there’s nothing like an ordinary person with a deep love of something she knows cannot be real…. getting to fall into something she’s only ever dreamed of.  Besides, Elinor is bright and brave and deeply interesting, especially in her belief that she is not special when in fact she often steals the moment.

Inkheart is one of those rare books for me where I am here for the world and the story.  How wonderful, how incredible would it be to read a book aloud and taste the words on your tongue and be able to draw characters out of the pages?  Even though this magic is laden with consequences, it’s just… the very idea, you know?  This is the same sort of magic that enchants me about The Eyre Affair, even though these are very different books.  It’s the magic I love so much in this trilogy, for whatever faults it may have otherwise.

As a children’s book (although these days, I’d call it YA… it was simply published before YA was a thing), this is long and complicated, but it is so, so worth it.  Funke has an incredible imagination that I envy, and her world is so intricate.  There are some dark characters, although they may not seem so dark compared the way some villains are written today.  Of these, I think Basta is the best developed.

As the trilogy gets older, Inkheart is more often overlooked as there are newer, shinier books to read.  In my opinion, this trilogy deserves to be a YA fantasy classic because it’s just the sort of story that is timeless and extraordinary and even though the reading it takes me a long time… it’s worth it.  It’s so worth it.  I recommend this book to anyone who loves secrets and magic and two worlds bleeding together and father-daughter stories and believes that our world could be just a little more fantastical.
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