Inkdeath

by Cornelia Funke

Summary (as found on the Barnes and Noble website):

The Adderhead--his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo--has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay--Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrenders. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story?

Oh how I longed for this book to come out. I loved Inkheart with all of my heart the first time I read it and still enjoy it very much today. I purchased Inkspell the day it came out and read it immediately. I didn't love it. I really liked the idea behind it, but just couldn't really adjust to the story, and I hated the ending. As for this one? I'm not really sure. I put off reading it for over a month after I bought it (rare for me - I don't buy many books) mostly because I was afraid I wouldn't like it. When I finally delved in, the story took me in. I read it in a couple of days. I enjoyed it quite a bit more than Inkspell, possibly because my expectations weren't as high going in as they were for that book.

As a story on it's own, I think I enjoyed it quite a bit. There is a lot of action and suspense, and I really wasn't sure how it would all come together in the end.

However, for characters that I have come to love, I felt a bit torn. I really loved the character of Mo in the first book. He's a fabulous father and he became one of my favorite characters. I love imagining him reading words to life. He is very different in this book. I wanted to hate him because of it, but I found that I could like the Bluejay as well, just not in the same way. The same is true for formely brave and daring Meggie. In this book she just kind of sits around waiting for someone else to fix it (and pining over two boys). She never takes the initiative to do something on her own.

Also, this book is definately more of a young adult book - more so than the previous two - there was a decent amount of swearing (not a ton, but more than I remember in the previous books) and there quite a bit of dark magic and feel about the book. Not necessarily a complaint, but something that was different this time around.

I can finally understand why Inkspell was originally called Inkblood, though it took until almost the last chapter of this book to figure it out. I wonder if the word was changed in the German edition?

Anyway. I am mostly rambling, so I will try to wrap this up. I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about the book, but I think it is a good conclusion to the story as it began in Inkspell. Inkheart is by far my favorite in the series and will remain so.

One of my favorite bookish quotes:
"'You read too much!' Balbulus was always saying, but what was she to do? Without words she would die, she'd simply die..." (p 287)

probably around 3.5 out of 5 stars