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STEP INTO THE MAGICAL WORLD
The Inkworld story continues in Inkspell. While I am still entranced by the world created between the pages, some of the magic and the thrill seemed to be missing.
A year after the events in Inkheart, Meggie and her parents are living with Elinor. Dustfinger is still desperately searching for a reader to read him home, Farid in tow, and finds one in Orpheus. Orpheus helps him, but he has brought Basta and Mortola with him, intent on exacting revenge. Farid escapes from their clutches and runs to Meggie, begging her to read him into Inkheart, so that he can warn Dustfinger. Meggie agrees, but wants to go with him to see the splendid things her mother has told her. Mo and Resa follow her into the pages soon after, held at gunpoint by Mortola. Thus begins a journey, an adventure that will result in disillusion, destruction and death.
The book began shakily, with Meggie dying to visit Inkworld, not really caring about how her parents will feel, but suddenly getting all sentimental and homesick once she has landed among the pages. There is a whole cast of new characters, their names as fascinating as the earlier ones: Adderhead, the Black Prince, Bluejay. But I was a little irritated with the female characters. Elinor was a flimsy shadow of herself, her sharp tongue and brains lost somewhere. But the biggest disappointment was Meggie. She is infatuated with Farid for most of the book and acts and sounds like the damsel in distress. However, the presence of Dustfinger more than made up for Meggie’s faults. He is not your save-the-world hero- he has his flaws, is sometimes selfish and scared, but summons up courage when he needs it most, and that’s what makes him human. His gesture for Farid, at the end, was noble and heartbreaking, it is my favorite bit. And I liked Fenoglio too, grumpy yet caring, trying so hard to set his story right. However, the book does become more interesting somewhere down the line, as the twists and turns start to show themselves. But some plot elements seem contrived- how did Resa get her voice back, how can Orpheus read out stuff from books without inadvertently causing things to disappear, though Mo is a better reader than him? It’s not a bad book; it’s actually a very good book, the writing quite lyrical and evocative. The Inkworld which we had glimpses of in Inkheart comes alive in this book, and is more magical than I thought it would be. I really wish I (or someone else, I'm not too particular) would read me into the Inkworld, I'm dying to go live there, Adderhead or no Adderhead.
The Inkworld story continues in Inkspell. While I am still entranced by the world created between the pages, some of the magic and the thrill seemed to be missing.
A year after the events in Inkheart, Meggie and her parents are living with Elinor. Dustfinger is still desperately searching for a reader to read him home, Farid in tow, and finds one in Orpheus. Orpheus helps him, but he has brought Basta and Mortola with him, intent on exacting revenge. Farid escapes from their clutches and runs to Meggie, begging her to read him into Inkheart, so that he can warn Dustfinger. Meggie agrees, but wants to go with him to see the splendid things her mother has told her. Mo and Resa follow her into the pages soon after, held at gunpoint by Mortola. Thus begins a journey, an adventure that will result in disillusion, destruction and death.
The book began shakily, with Meggie dying to visit Inkworld, not really caring about how her parents will feel, but suddenly getting all sentimental and homesick once she has landed among the pages. There is a whole cast of new characters, their names as fascinating as the earlier ones: Adderhead, the Black Prince, Bluejay. But I was a little irritated with the female characters. Elinor was a flimsy shadow of herself, her sharp tongue and brains lost somewhere. But the biggest disappointment was Meggie. She is infatuated with Farid for most of the book and acts and sounds like the damsel in distress. However, the presence of Dustfinger more than made up for Meggie’s faults. He is not your save-the-world hero- he has his flaws, is sometimes selfish and scared, but summons up courage when he needs it most, and that’s what makes him human. His gesture for Farid, at the end, was noble and heartbreaking, it is my favorite bit. And I liked Fenoglio too, grumpy yet caring, trying so hard to set his story right. However, the book does become more interesting somewhere down the line, as the twists and turns start to show themselves. But some plot elements seem contrived- how did Resa get her voice back, how can Orpheus read out stuff from books without inadvertently causing things to disappear, though Mo is a better reader than him? It’s not a bad book; it’s actually a very good book, the writing quite lyrical and evocative. The Inkworld which we had glimpses of in Inkheart comes alive in this book, and is more magical than I thought it would be. I really wish I (or someone else, I'm not too particular) would read me into the Inkworld, I'm dying to go live there, Adderhead or no Adderhead.
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Sigh, I can't make up my mind about whether or not I want to continue with this series.