Inkheart (Inkworld, #1) by Cornelia Funke

Inkheart (Inkworld, #1)

by Cornelia Funke

4 stars

Reading this book was like reading a poem; one that speaks directly to my soul, because its sole intention is to praise the marvel of books.

Mo, a “book doctor”, has the ability to bring things out of books when he reads them out loud; but something else has to go in. What goes in is picked randomly, and the first time Mo realizes he can take people out while reading a book titled “Inkheart”, his wife and two cats go in, in stead of the antagonist, Capricorn, his second in command, Basta, and a street artist, Dustfinger. Capricorn’s intentions are to stay out of his book by owning every single copy, and have Mo in his control to have him read out of books whatever he desires. Nine years later, Mo and Meggie (his daughter, who knows nothing of all of this) are forced into motion upon the arrival of Dustfinger, who warns Mo about Capricorn’s quest to capture him and obtain the copy of the book in his possession.

The concept of the book is incredible, and it’s made even more amazing by very well developed characters and excellent writing. The relationships between books and Mo and Meggie are beautifully portrayed, often personifying books, depicting them as living things that interact with both of them in a myriad of wonderful ways. In this work of art books whisper, chase nightmares and keep fear away, promise things, watch and stay silent, sense feelings, tell stories...

“She felt almost as if she could hear the books whispering on the other side of the half-open door. They were promising her a thousand unknown stories, a thousand doors into worlds she had never seen before.”

And this really was a work of art. It’s filled with very realistic characters and captivating descriptions of accidents of the world: the day and the night, the wind, fire, and more.

“I had a private word with the wind,’ he said. ‘There’s one thing you should know: if the wind takes it into its head to play with fire then even I can’t tame the blaze. But it gave me its word of honour to keep still tonight and not spoil our fun.”

One of the things I loved about this book is the amount of unlikable characters. This is one of the few books I’ve thoroughly enjoyed with unpleasant MCs, and it’s all the better for it. Take, for example, Dustfinger. The more I found out about him, the more I disliked and felt sorry for him. He is simply a sad, resentful man that, sure, was dealt a horrible hand in life; but he handled his destiny very poorly. For some reason, he doesn’t believe he deserves any love, and he rebels against this idea by being completely selfish, bitter and very ready to give up on others (like he must have been let down before?). What I felt was the most outrageous of his actions was having the knowledge of Resa’s identity and not sharing it. And still, even with all of his flaws, or because of them, I find him a very interesting character. And I love how fire is such a big part of his life that his mind seems to work in conjunction to it.

“He had always been afraid of death, which he imagined as cold, like a night without fire. Now, however, he dreaded something else even more. Its name was sorrow, and it had been stalking him like a second shadow ever since Silvertongue lured him into this world. Sorrow that made his limbs heavy and turned the sky grey.”

Mo I absolutely loved. He is kind, and compassionate, and an incredibly talented reader, and an amazing father. I loved how much he cares for everyone he comes across that’s even barely vulnerable; how truly honest he is; how he wears his heart in his sleeve and is an open book (the irony is not lost there).

Meggie is also amazing. She is smart and very likable, and Farid’s infatuation with her is very endearing.

I really enjoyed this. It took me a while to finish it but every second was worth it. There are still a lot of loose ends, even when the main problem was resolved, and I really do wanna know how everything plays out.