Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

The Inkheart trilogy captured me from the first page. The writing is superb, the story is fascinating. The intertwining of reality and a world brought to life through reading is the dream of every reader. But for Mo and Meggie, it is far from ideal. Characters from the story come to life, while people from their world disappear into the book, most notably Resa, Meggie's mother.

In the concluding book Inkdeath, we begin in Ombra. The character of the Bluejay has begun to resemble Mo more and more. Finally reunited with Resa, Meggie and her mother begin to form a bond. The Black Prince and the strolling players mourn the loss of Dustfinger, but strive to find a way to keep the people from being persecuted. Mo knows that eventually he will have to find a way to kill the Adderhead.

Orpheus, meanwhile, is busy making himself rich by reading into existence all sorts of mythical creatures-even for the Inkworld! Fenolio is frustrated, unable to write, and watches helplessly as more and more tragedies befall his two favorite characters (the Black Prince and the Bluejay). Farid spends more and more of his time with Orpheus in the hopes that he will bring Dustfinger back from the dead. Everyone believes his hope is ill founded.

The Piper crosses a line when he kidnaps many of the village's children, and demands the Bluejay surrender himself or he will send the children to work in the silver mines. Faced with no alternative, and the safety of the children at stake, what will Mo do?

"Blue as the evening sky, blue as cranesbill flowers, blue as the lips of drowned men and the heart of a blaze burning with too hot a flame. Yes, sometimes it was hot in this world, too. Hot and cold, light and dark, terrible and beautiful, it was everything all at once. It wasn't true that you felt nothing in the land of Death. You felt and heard and smelled and saw, but your heart remained strangely calm, as if it were resting before the dance began again.

Peace. Was that the word?" (Funke, 2008).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Funke, Cornelia. (2008). Inkdeath. Chicken House/Scholastic: New York, NY.