Geweldig

Inkheart is a book about a book. As a young man, Mo realizes he possesses the ability to read things out of books. One night while reading a book titled Inkheart to his wife and baby girl, he accidently read out a villain by the name of Capricorn and his crony Basta, as well as a fire-eater by the name of Dustfinger. The unfortunate side effect was that Mo's wife was sucked into the story, replacing the removal of the characters from the book. Mo spends his life searching for another copy of the book, hoping to save his wife. All the while, Capricorn is working to destroy all of the books so he doesn't have to go back. Mo, his daughter Meggie, and Meggie's aunt Elinor end up being drawn into a violent and dangerous situation when Capricorn decides Mo's talent could bring him riches and power. Mo and his family must fight to survive and stop Capricorn's evil plans.

I found this book in the children's section of the bookstore, in the 7-12 age section. I've got to say, any seven year old who can read this book is impressive! This isn't a hard read, but it's long and has a relatively complex plot! How many seven year olds do you know that can read a plot involving two or three separate storylines going at once?

This book had its pros and its cons. I will start by admitting I made the mistake of seeing the movie first. I didn't think it would so seriously affect my opinion of the book, but it did make it a slightly harder read. I had a tendency to think, "Ok, ok, I know- moving on!" Fortunately, there were enough differences between the movie and the book to make it worth my time. In fact, the entire end of the book was different. I will say this though- the book would be significantly shorter if the author didn't have such a tendency to be so wordy. There were a few times where my mind wandered just because I was bored with the current subject.

I'd give this book a 4/5 overall. It was a really cool story, and what book lover doesn't totally relish the idea of being able to read their favorite stories into life?! Who would I read out? I'd definitely start with Mr. Darcy! The storyline has such a unique foundation, but is able to tap into a desire that so many bookworms would love to have fulfilled. I couldn't imagine possessing the ability to read myself into my favorite stories! I'd be fighting battles alongside Eragon, flirting with danger (aka Eric Northman), and playing quidditch with Harry Potter! How cool would that be?

One thing that really bugged me about the book was the quotes that kicked off each chapter. These quotes were excerpts from other books, usually only a line or two long. I realize they are easily ignored and I could have just started reading the chapter without looking at them, but I like to be thorough. I think the idea is cool, however the excerpts had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I mean, if you're writing a chapter about some prisoners trying to escape, pull a line from another story about escaping imprisonment or something! I read the excerpts and all I could think was, "What in the world does this have to do with what I'm reading?"

I wish there had been more action. It was a lot of conversation and description of setting, with only a few chapters dedicated to anything happening. Oftentimes, it would start with a conversation between characters during the day, and say something like, "They had scoped out the camp during the night." At one point the characters were shot at, and you only hear about it second-hand from another character. Why couldn't we join in on that part?

I did enjoy the story though. It was unique, and I'm tired of books that fall into a mold! I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new sort of adventure. The heroes don't wield swords or guns, but the power of the written word. This book embraces the "a man's pen is mightier than his sword" mantra. Any book lover could sympathize with Elinor, the old woman who sometimes feels more at home in her books than she does in the real world. Check this one out sometime! I don't think you'll be disappointed. ( )

Just... not interesting, not awful- just... boring. Which is unfortunate because the premise isn't bad: A book-loving young girl named Meggie finds out her father is capable of reading books to life when a villain he read out years ago from a novel named Inkheart comes looking for them.

But the characters never seem to ask the obvious questions any reader would ask in the same situation to discover how the mysterious 'Silvertongue' powers work and they're often many steps behind in uncovering the weakly veiled mysteries. They spend days on end sitting around waiting alternately for the bad guys to catch or for good fortune to turn in their favor for them to escape. Ironically this incompetence turns their self-congratulatory love of books almost into a condemnation of bibliophiles (as at least Dustfinger, and especially Farid are capable of holding some wits about them).

The book of Inkheart itself (upon which the plot cruxes) appears by all means to be a trite work all about the various degrees of completely un-nuanced villainy of its characters. Interesting concepts and plot points that *are* brought up- such as the morality of reading out characters, the perverse author's joy of making tragic things happen to good characters, the power of oral vs written storytelling, and Dustfinger's crush on Resa are disappointingly covered only cursorily. The prose especially is humdrum (except, ironically, when it is describing the vividness of Mo's reading), and ultimately the entire novel feels entirely like it's going through the motions. ( )

Annika ( )

Meggie is 12 years old, has a close relationship wth her father and doesn't really miss the mother she cannot remember. A series of adventres involving some of the blackest villains to grace the pages of a children's novel lead her to an understanding of her father's unique gifts and her mother'sdisappearance into a parallel world that is, actually, a story read aloud by her father. The story seems charming and intriguing but the book is simply far too long and incredibly tedious for very long stretches. I can't imagine that it would sustain the interest of a young reader. ( )