Inkheart Trilogy Review

 Inkheart Trilogy Review

Title: Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath

Author: Cornelia Funke

Publisher: Scholastic 

Trigger Warnings: Death, violence

Rating: As a series in general 3.5-4/5 stars. Separate book rating (3/5, 4/5, 4.5/5)

Story: 

This series is comprised of a really interesting plotline and amazing characters. 

The series begins with the first books prominent main character of Meggie seeing Dustfinger outside her bedroom window. She has no idea who he is or why he wants to speak to her father who she refers to as Mo. 

Mo (Mortimer, Bluejay, Silvertongue, bookbinder (he goes by a lot of names in the series)) read Dustfinger out of Inkheart ten years prior to when Meggie (who is thirteen (or twelve turning thirteen) in the first book) saw him. Mo has the ability to read items and characters out of books. And at the end of the first book, you find out that Meggie also has that ability.

The main villain in the first book Capricorn takes him in order to use his ability leaving Meggie, her Great Aunt Elinor, and Dustfinger to go after him. 

During this series of events, they meet several other characters including Farid and the author of the book Fenoglio. 

Overall the first book is my least favourite book in the series. I was a little disappointed by book one so I went into book two a bit more hesitant. However, I absolutely loved the second and third books in this series.

I really like how in the second and third books you get to see more chapters following different characters, unlike book one which like I stated earlier primarily followed Meggie. 

Also instead of the characters being in our world, they go into the world of Inkheart in books two and three. The ink world is so interesting and intricate. As soon as I got into book two I was officially hooked. If I ever reread this series I think I would just skip over book one and start at the second one. 

However, not everything is how the characters imagined the ink world to be. Many of the characters from the book they were expecting to see were either dead or changed in some way. Nothing is as it seems. 

And in the ink world, Mo becomes someone else. He becomes the Bluejay which is a character that is like Robbin Hood. 

I really enjoyed Violante's character as well as Roxanne (Dustfinger's girlfriend), Brianna (Dustfinger's daughter), and Resa (Mo's wife). I thought the female characters in this series were powerful and played such a massive role even though in the ink world women are seen as less and are not equal to men. Even death in this book is pictured as having a woman's voice. 

There is also the fact that this series doesn't really focus on romance that much in my opinion. I wish though that there were more scenes with Meggie and Doria so that it would have been easier for me to see why she picked him over Farid. 

Also, I was really shocked at the end when Farid decided to leave and wander around instead of staying with Dustfinger. 

Also what angers me the most is that Orpheus remained alive by the end of the series. I hate that character so much. 

I also was not expecting the plot twist with Jacopo's (Violante's son) character in Inkdeath at all. I was honestly shocked because he acted so much like his grandfather (The Adderhead) who is the main villain of the series starting in book two.

The writing in this story is not really fast-paced at all, and because of that, it took me awhile to get through the books. 

An interesting fact about this series though is that it was originally published in German. Another interesting fact is that there is going to be another book in the series.  

Quotes: 

Inkheart

• "Books have to be heavy because they hold the whole world inside them."
• "Writing stories is a kind of magic, too."
• "Nothing is more frightening than a fear you cannot name."

Inkspell

• "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."
• "A book always keeps something of its owner between the pages."
• "What are stories for if we don't learn from them."

Inkdeath

• "A reader doesn't really see the characters in a story; he feels them." 
• "Hope. Nothing is more intoxicating."
• "Nothing is more terrifying than fearlessness."

Would I Recommend: 

I would definitely recommend this series to my cousin who is in junior high but I don't think I would have rated this series as high as I did without having read it before when I was also in junior high. Especially the first book. I would almost say if you wanted to read this series to skip it since the second book begins with a character overview that details what happened in the first book with all the characters. If you like Middle-grade fantasy series, with not that much romance this series may be the one for you. But it definitely is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I do intend to read the next book in the series when it comes out though. 

Thank you so much for reading my review and feel free to comment down below. Did you read the series? What did you think?