Review: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

 
Publisher: Scholastic 
Pages: 534 
Source: Personal Copy  

Meggie has been raised by her father Mortimer (Mo), a bookbinder, lover of all books. Meggie shares her father's great love of books. Mo have been running away from a long time, he's trying to escape a dangerous man named Capricorn. One moment Capricorn was a character in a book, suddenly him and two other characters were standing in Mo's living room. Yes, characters from a book called Inkheart... Mo has the magical ability to read characters and objects out of books. Meggie has no idea of his ability, she was very young when Capricorn, Dustfinger and Basta arrived. Her father has tried to protect her and has chosen to tell her nothing of these events. Mortimer is quite evasive, and when asked refuses to answer many questions, including what happened to her mother Teresa. Meggie is aware that her mother is alive, where exactly is she, she has no idea. Honestly, she doesn't miss her because she has no recollection of her. 

Capricorn is a dangerous, frightful and heartless character. He's been searching for Mo for years, and he plans to force Mo to use his ability for his own advantage. Of course, this is not a good thing. He wants Mo to retrieve a faceless executioner named Shadow also from Inkheart. Once Dustfinger arrives at their home during the night forcing them to uproot once again, Mo has no choice but to start answering some of Meggie's questions. Dustfinger is pulled in both directions. He wants to go back into the world of Inkheart, Mo has no idea how to send him back and Capricorn has the last copy of Inkheart. Dustfinger is on the fence about who to help since both have something that he needs and he's mostly looking out for himself. There's a lot going on in the novel, but it is very well written. I really don't want to give any spoilers away. You'll have to read it for yourself. 

The characters in Inkheart are very original, and well developed. This book is simply a book for book lovers. Although, it was very long and at times I wished it was shorter I did really enjoy it. I would recommend it, and since it's a trilogy I plan to continue the series. It is an excellent fantasy novel. During our book club discussion it seemed that there were mixed reviews. Some were wanting to continue the series, others were not. This was my first novel by Cornelia Funke, and I will be looking out for more of her books.