Cornelia Funke's Inkworld Trilogy
"Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" - Inkheart
DISCLAIMER: I have read the first book in this series, Inkheart, a total of five times.
My siblings and I have listened to it being read aloud three times, I read it to myself once and read it aloud to my youngest sister another time. And I'm pretty sure I’m gearing up to read it a sixth time, so you could say that I’m a little bit biased.
But seriously: these books are just that good.
On the surface, this is simply because Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath are a book-lover’s books. But what makes them so timeless and engaging are the characters. It’s not just that the plots keep you up at night or that Funke’s writing style is so artful; it’s that her characters are so vivid that you feel as though they could step right out of the pages and be a part of your own world.
Which is, actually, the premise of the entire series. Meggie’s father, Mo, can lure characters out of books with the power of his voice. He is a "silvertongue." But there is a price that he doesn't recognize until it's too late: anything that is read out of a book must be replaced by something from our world. Meggie and Mo’s enduring love for each other, and Mo’s love for the wife he lost to the pages of the book Inkheart when Meggie was very young, are what holds these characters together throughout each book and what ultimately causes them to choose good over evil, selflessness over selfishness.
That said, there is a reason that my mother read the first book aloud to us back when we first discovered Cornelia Funke. And there are a lot of other reasons why I didn’t read the second and third books until I was 12 and 13. And while it’s ultimately up to the parents to decide what’s best for their children at a particular age, I want to give just a brief overview of what to expect from the Inkworld books. Inkheart: Good points: Meggie and Mo are truly very close and would do anything for each other. Ultimately, the good characters end up choosing to act selflessly out of love for each other. There is a definite line between good and evil here, although some of the characters walk that line dangerously out of fear, indecision or selfishness.
Possibly objectionable points: To start with, there is some mild cursing, hence why our mother read it aloud to us first: she tended to subtly insert the phrases “darn” and “bloody heck” frequently while reading.
"I prefer a story that has the good sense to stay on the page where it belongs." - Elinor
Violence and darker subject matter are also some points of caution, although there is nothing overly-graphic or out of its place. The story can be intense at times, and bad people do bad things. This occurs particularly towards the end of the book, where a dark “Shadow” is read from the book Inkheart to kill the villain’s prisoners.
For mature material, there is a fleeting scene where two of the characters witness a group of the villain, Capricorn's, henchmen harassing a group of his maids. One of them briefly attempts to lift one the skirt of one of the maids with his gun.
The final point I want to make has to do with the situation surrounding the disappearance of Meggie’s mother, Resa, into the pages of Inkheart, being replaced by three men from the world of the book: Dustfinger, Capricorn and Basta. We know that Mo tried for many years and through many sleepless nights to reclaim his wife from the pages to no avail. What we don’t find out until the final third of the book is that Resa is not only still alive, but living once again in our world after being read from the pages by a stuttering man. The transfer left her mute and a servant to Capricorn, preventing her from making it back to her family. Dustfinger, a wandering fire-eater who longs only to return to the world of Inkheart, has definite feelings for Resa and has known for several years that she is actually Mo’s wife without tell him about her return.
Inkspell: Good points: Throughout this second book, we are constantly witness to the love Meggie, Mo and Resa have for each other as they are willing to risk everything to protect one another. Self-sacrifice is a strong pillar towards the end of the book when one of the characters gives his life for a young boy.
“Stories never really end...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.” - Inkspell
Possibly objectionable points: While we run into some of the same objectionable material that readers found in Inkheart, Inkspell is darker in content and the violence is considerably more graphic. Also, there are some mature (though not graphic) situations that go farther than the first book. We discover that Dustfinger’s eldest daughter has begun working at the Castle of the Laughing Prince and is currently concubine of the Prince’s heir, Cosimo. This in itself would be pretty problematic, except that Cosimo is also married.
Obviously, these people need some marriage counseling.
There is also a romance that begins to grow between Meggie and a boy named Farid, who was read by Mo out of Tales from the Thousand and One Nights. There is some kissing farther into the book. (Which would make our nine-year-old brother shout, “Yuuuuck!!!” at the top of his lungs.)
Inkdeath: Good points: This book is riveting from start to finish. The characters remain true to who they are and do not disappoint readers of the last two books. While the book is significantly darker than the previous two, it ends with one of the most powerful symbols of goodness: the birth of a young child, the hope of the future. This symbolism is beautiful and uplifting and reminds us that no matter the intensity of the darkness, there is hope in new birth.
“A reader doesn't really see the characters in a story; he feels them.” - Inkdeath
Possibly objectionable points: This book carries over a lot of the issues from the previous two books, including mild language, violence and some mature content (like I said, these people need marriage counselors big-time).
As far as mature content goes, we have some situations from the last book that are a source of strain for the characters. There is a scene where Cosimo’s wife tries to convince Mo to leave Resa to be with her, which he refuses to do. Also, one of the characters, a man named Orpheus, is a rather immoral individual and tends to spend too much time with his maids.
The violence in Inkdeath is not out of place; this is the third book, the characters have been through a lot, and it is only when the darkness becomes the most intense that the light will finally break through. That said, we get some pretty disgusting descriptions; the Adderhead (the main villain from the past two books) bathes in fairy blood at one point to relieve his ailments.
That’s pretty disgusting.
When people ask me about the Inkworld trilogy, my first question for them is how old their child is. While it appears as though there is a lot of objectionable material in these books, there is nothing that would keep me from giving them to a 12 (maybe 13)-year-old kid to read.
The thing that remains consistent throughout the books is the depth of the characters and the reality of their relationships. Funke is masterful at creating an incredible world that readers can inhabit. Her writing is incredibly vivid, and while it does not shy away from the darker aspects of life and adventure, her characters carry in their hearts a need to fulfill themselves and, ultimately, to save those they love—even if it means the loss of their own lives.
And that’s why I’m continually drawn back to this story. Not because the characters never make mistakes, but because of their love for each other and the redemption that it promises.