Inkspell

Inkspell

By Cornelia Funke

Meggie shares with her father the perilous ability to read things and even characters out of books. In this sequel to Inkheart, Meggie discovers that she can also read people into books. Dustfinger, the fire-eater, is sent back into Inkheart, by Orpheus, another person with the strange ability. Meggie, and Farid, Dustfinger’s apprentice, soon follow him; Meggie more because she wants to see the Inkworld, and Farid because he never wants to leave Dustfinger’s side. Resa and Mo are read into the Inkworld by Orpheus, mainly because Mortola and Basta, the surviving villains from the first book, who also go back into the book, drag them in to take revenge on Mo for killing Capricorn, the main villain that had been in Inkheart.

Mo is seriously wounded by Mortola, and Meggie finds Fenoglio, the author of the story, now living inside the book. He agrees to try to help Mo by writing new sections of the book, but the story seems to be evolving in ways that even he can't control. As rulers die, kingdoms go to war, and multiple villains team up for revenge and conquest, Meggie finds herself in a spiraling adventure where she must rescue her parents. But she finds herself falling in love with Farid.

In addition to the bloody violence depicted in this story, there are lots of references to violence in the past, and the threat of violence hangs over most of the book. There is an edge to the violence here as well; it is somehow more vicious, hate-filled, and senseless than in most fantasies. It is not a lighthearted read.

As with much fiction, or even non-fiction, one can discuss the relationship between reader and book. But this one twists in deeper than most to the interaction between author and creation, and the ways in which some fictional worlds take on certain