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Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
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Book | Searching... Putnam Main Public Library | FUN | Juvenile | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Putnam Main Public Library | FUN | Juvenile | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The masterful conclusion to the epic, award-winning, NYT bestselling INKHEART trilogy by internationally acclaimed author Cornelia Funke.The Adderhead--his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo--has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay--Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrenders. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story?
Author Notes
Author Cornelia Maria Funke was born in Dorsten, Germany on December 10, 1958. After graduating from the University of Hamburg, she worked as a social worker for three years. After completing a course in book illustration at the Hamburg State College of Design, she worked as a children's book illustrator and designed board games.
Her desire to draw magical worlds and her disappointment over the way some stories were written inspired her to write her own children's books. Her book, The Thief Lord, won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for the best translated children's book of the year and the Book Sense Book of the Year Award. She has also received the Book Sense Children's Literature Award for Inkheart and Inkspell.
Funke has written numerous books including Dragon Rider, When Santa Fell to Earth, Igraine The Brave, Reckless, Saving Mississippi, Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath, Igraine the Brave, and The Princess Knight. Inkheart was adapted into a film. Cornelia Funke was voted into the Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2005.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Cornelia Funke is the internationally acclaimed, bestselling author of The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider, and the Inkheart trilogy, along with many other chapter and picture books for younger readers.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Cornelia Funke brings her popular fantasy trilogy to a close with this final story (Chicken House, 2008). Meggie, the heroine from the first two books, remains in the Inkworld with her mother and her father, Mo. The kingdom is in chaos: the immortal Adderhead sits on the throne, plunders villages, and steals children to work to death in the silver mines. Mo has appointed himself guardian of these innocents and assumes the identity of the Bluejay as he works to spite the Adderhead at every turn. Dustfinger returns from the dead and teams up with Mo to bring peace to the Inkworld. Narrator Allan Corduner impressively brings the story to life and keeps each of the dozens of characters recognizable. His transition from one voice to another is smooth, and the pacing is good. But at close to 20 hours, this novel is not for everyone. Fans of the series will be disappointed in Meggie's minor role, but will enjoy the series' satisfying conclusion. Library collections where the first two audiobooks are popular should consider this an essential purchase.-Tricia Melgaard, Centennial Middle School, Broken Arrow, OK (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This concluding volume in Funke's bestselling trilogy picks up where Inkspell left off, but sputters for a hundred pages filling in backstory. (Even then, an addendum is needed to identify a cast of 114 characters.) The Inkworld, full of dark magic, is under siege; the savagery of the Adderhead and his minions now extends to taking all the peasants' children until somebody delivers, as ransom, the Bluejay, a Robin Hood-style character whose identity has been assumed by Mo, Meggie's father (it was Mo who started all the trouble by reading several villains right out of the book-within-a-book, Inkheart--don't even consider reading this series out of order). The Inkheart author, Fenoglio, now living in Inkworld himself, has turned to drink; the odious Orpheus, when he's not under a maid's skirt, rewrites Fenoglio's work (editors!) to benefit himself. The interesting metafictional questions--can we alter destiny? shape our own fate?--are overwhelmed by the breakneck action, yet the villains aren't fully realized. More disappointingly, the formerly feisty Meggie, barely into her teens, has little to do but choose between two suitors. Funke seems to have forgotten her original installment was published for children. Ages 9-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A monumental third installment brings the Inkheart trilogy to a grueling, blood-spattered, mortality-obsessed close. The Inkworld is in disarray: Its author, Fenoglio, has lost his ability to write and, therefore, shape events; the odious Orpheus, however, has taken to recycling Fenoglio's words to control the narrative/world himself. The evil Adderhead, whose immortality was bound into the White Book by bookbinder-turned-people's champion Mo/the Bluejay, finds his body decomposing and demands a new Book; can Mo use the opportunity to end the villain's life altogether? Can Dustfinger come back from the dead? Will Resa's baby be born into peace or violence? Is Meggie falling out of love with Farid? (Thank goodness there's an A to Z of Names and Places!) Where the first volume was thoroughly young Meggie's story, this narrative alternates among a dizzying array of characters, most of whom are adults who betray distinctly adult concerns. While Funke's storytelling is as compelling as ever, the natural audience for this brooding saga seems, sadly, to be teens and up and not the children who so eagerly responded to Inkheart. (Fantasy. 13 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Funke completes the trilogy that began with Inkheart (2003) in this long, eventful novel. Although the scene frequently shifts from one set of characters to another, there is rarely any relief from the sense of encroaching menace that takes many different forms. The unusually large cast is helpfully identified for readers in the appended eight-page, cross-referenced list of characters and places in the trilogy. Though some of the violent scenes are not for the fainthearted, readers who loved the detailed world building and the adventure in the earlier books will probably enjoy this one as well. Still, others will find it less satisfying than its predecessors. From the initial premise of a bookbinder who reads aloud so beautifully that he can draw a story's characters out of the pages and into his own world, the earlier volumes were booklovers' books. This one seems more plot driven, or perhaps driven by the necessity of bringing so many intertwined stories to a satisfying conclusion.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2008 Booklist