Después de Corazón de Tinta y Sangre de Tinta, en este fulminante final de la trilogía, hay sombras negras en Umbra... Han pasado solamente pocas semanas desde que las Mujeres Blancas se llevaran consigo a Dedo Polvoriento. Meggie y sus padres están viviendo en una pacífica finca abandonada que les hace casi olvidar las pesadillas que pasaron en el Castillo de Noche, aunque cuando oscurece y Meggie mira impaciente por la ventana esperando a Farid escucha el grito de un grajo... y entonces su padre desaparece en el bosque.

Inkdeath is the conclusion to the inkheart trilogy. The book picks up where Inkspell left off, and brings the reader on various twists and turns along the way. The story is fine, but I found it had more weaknesses than the previous two. While I enjoyed a lot of it, I found the book very lengthy, without adequate time on the relationships between characters. Meggie is largely sidelined, which is unfortunate as she played such a major role previously, and Elinor is barely there. Meggie and Farid's relationship just kind of fizzles out, and we flash forward to her with a new character. Orpheus becomes the new villain, and at the end just flees North - and somehow never bothers them again? The story winds up feeling rushed at the end, despite being a nearly 700 page children's book. Though I loved Inkheart, the conclusion fell a bit flat for me. Still an enjoyable read, but I am not sure it stuck the landing for me. ( )

What an absolute pleasure it was reading this book! After the very disappointing book 2, Corneila Funke pulled it all out in Ink Death! All our heroes get plenty of screen time and plenty of room to grow. Adapt, change, and grow plus a very healthy dose of optimism meant that even when things were looking bleak, there was always hope.



As for villains... well! Capricorn and Basta may have been really nasty and easy to hate ones... but with the Adderhead and Orpheus the level of nastiness expanded! How many times did you just want to wring Orpheus' neck? How often did your own nose wrinkle up at the prospect of the Adderhead?



A wonderful, wonderful book! ( )

An interesting story ( )

Inkdeath is a darker book than Inkheart and Inkspell. This third book and trilogy finale shifts its focus away from magic and adventure and into something more sinister. There are more villains than ever before in the Inkworld and allies are less stalwart. While the magic of Inkheart leads me to love the trilogy, it is Inkdeath that engrossed me the most.

There is not so much action in Inkdeath as there are high stakes. Of particular interest to me is Mortimer’s transformation. I saw the Inkheart film long before I read any of the books, and Mo will forever be Brendan Fraser in my mind. Watching the way that character evolves to fill the role needed of him in the Inkworld is fascinating and a bit heartbreaking (which makes it that much easier to relate to Meggie and Reesa). Between besting cruel rulers and saving children and having a meeting with Death, there is so much going on in Inkdeath to appeal to any reader, but it’s Mo’s descent that shines most in this novel. I have no idea if this was Funke’s intent or just my personal interpretation, but I really like it.

To be sure, this book has its flaws. It’s far too long and feels like it ambles along sometimes. Where there are so many ticking clocks and things at stake, Inkdeath‘s leisurely pace frustrated me as a reader. While Funke is not a particularly urgent writer, the pacing of the book was further agitated by the multiple POVs. Inkdeath has five main POVs – Mo, Reesa, Meggie, Fengolia, and Orpheus. Meggie and Mo still hold the spotlight, but that is an awful lot of voices. There are also characters that have one or two POV chapters, such as Elinor, Dustfinger, and Farid. From a writer’s perspective, I really enjoy telling the story from the voice of the character who is in the right place at the right time. From a reader’s perspective, it’s a bit much. I personally didn’t get the voices tangled, but by this time I’m well familiar with each of the characters and found their individual internal monologues easy to navigate. Others may not be so fortunate.

The Inkworld remains as vivid and interesting as ever. One cannot help but to side with Fengolio a bit in this one, despite his cantankerous nature – he created an incredible world and Orpheus’ machinations cheapen the magic a bit. There’s also a new setting conjured by Fengolio that I just… didn’t buy. The blue faeries and the Fire-Dancers and the Black Prince and his Bear – all the elements from the original story before humans entered the world and began mucking about – remains as wonderful as ever.

As much as it pains me to admit this, there are characters I really enjoyed in Inkheart and Inkspell that just don’t seem to have a purpose. Farid and Meggie are left mostly to following in their heroes’ shadows and being angsty. Elinor is absolutely one of my favorite characters, and I am begrudgingly forced to admit she doesn’t add much. In fact, Elinor has never been much more than a means-to-an-end to move the story along in places, which is a shame before I adore her. Orpheus, our villain, is so cartoonishly bad that he reminds me of the Bowler Hat Guy from Disney’s Meet the Robinsons. His physical description is nothing like the character, but it’s the only way I can picture him. The characters are all fun and interesting, but they just don’t bring as much to the story as I wanted.

One of the magical things about Inkdeath was that I spent so much time worrying after Mo or for the poor glass men who were constantly abused by Fengolio and Orpheus that I didn’t think of all these things that bothered me until hours after I finished the book. The main premise of the Inkworld trilogy revolves around a man who reads worlds from books and makes them come to life. That same breathless magic is in Inkdeath as vibrantly it is the rest of the trilogy. You dive in, and you are immediately caught up in the world around you. It’s so easy to forget about life for a while.

For all the qualms I have about the trilogy – whether it be translation or fact, but wouldn’t it be amazing to read them in their original German?- I still think that this collection is one of the most creative stories I’ve ever read and I adore the story they tell. I very much recommend it to readers of all ages. ( )