Inkspell (Inkheart Trilogy) [Hardcover]

Just a few chapters into Inkspell, Mo (a.k.a. "Silvertongue") sagely says to his daughter, "Stories never really end, Meggie, even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page." A fitting meta-observation for this, the unplanned second installment in Cornelia Funke's beloved now-trilogy.

Of course, it's that sort of earnest, almost gushing veneration of books and book-loving that made the absorbing suspense-fantasy Inkheart so wonderful in the first place, with that lit-affection getting woven integrally into the plot (Inkheart being both Funke's first book in the series, and the fictitious book within that book, authored by the frustrated Fenoglio, now trapped within the book, er, within the book. Fenoglio, perhaps not surprisingly, self-referentially wishes in Inkspell that he had written a sequel to Inkheart.) Inkspell should serve as a special treat for fans of the first book, as characters from Inkheart who have found themselves in the "real world" (if there is such a thing) find themselves read back into their own mythic, word-spun world--along with some of our favorite "real-world" characters. As with the previous book, Funke's greatest accomplishment here is telling such a rich and involving (and fun!) story, while still managing sweet, subtle commentary on the nature of words and meaning. Expect a tantalizing finale, too--as Funke says, "No reader will forgive me the ending, though, without a part three." (Ages 8 and up) --Paul Hughes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of the extraordinary events of Inkheart, and the story whose characters strode out of the pages and changed her life forever But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater created from words, the nee to return to the original tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the magical ability to read him back into the story, Dustfinger leaves behind his young apprentice Frid and plunges back into the Inkworld of his past. Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and soon they find their way inside the book too. There they meet Fenoglio, the author of the original Inkheart, now living within his own story - but discover it much changed, and threatening to evolve in sinister ways he could never have imagined. But can Meggie, Farid and Fenoglio 'write' the wrongs of a charmed world about to be fought over by rival princes and rebels?