Inkheart

This book. THIS.BOOK. It was my favourite as a child. My absolute favourite and I’m so happy to have it again—especially in this stunning edition. Despite being a children’s book, I feel like the writing is so beyond that. It’s gorgeous, and Cornelia Funke is an absolute master of storytelling. I admit, I was scared, being in my 20’s now, that this book wouldn’t live up to my memories and that I’d surpassed being part of the audience for it. That it would read too young. No. It seems I was worrying for nothing. Inkheart is SO accessible and has such rich, vivacious writing I struggled to put it down and stop reading. If you’re going to buy anything anytime soon, please let it be this. You won’t be disappointed.

We’re reading this book to our year 4 class at school and I decided to buy it and read ahead as I was so intrigued by the book from the first chapter. It’s an enthralling story, I always wanted to find out what happened next and found the writing style unflavoured and effective. It’s quite a dark story, pretty menacing in places, great if you like a tale with twists and turns and characters you can really get to know and like (or in some cases, dislike!). As a 45 year old who’s been a keen reader all her life, the premise of the story is fascinating. I’d recommend it to any young person or an adult who’d enjoy a diverting piece of storytelling.

I bought this a while ago for someone else and finally got around to reading it myself last week. It kept me entertained over my lunchbreak and I liked many of the ideas in it. The notion that someone can read characters out of a book. It's probably something many readers have thought about in their subconscious. Sometimes it's impossible to believe that made up characters aren't real, or you ache because they are in your imagination and not in 3D. I loved the quotations from other books at the start of each chapter and they made me want to seek them out and read them too. I enjoyed crusty great aunt Elinor and horned marten Gwin. As far as the story went, I felt it was a bit of a let down and could have been so much more imaginitive than it was. It was like being in the middle of one of those repetitive nightmares where you're being chased and never caught, and everything goes round in circles. Basta and Capricorn made constant threats but never did more than that onstage and it just became boring in the end. You knew every scene Basta was in, he was either going to put a knife to someone's throat or threaten to chop off their hands and then not follow through. Not that I'm advocating a children's novel full of blood and gore, but the constant threat followed by nothing just became annoying eventually. The ending could have been lingered over a bit more and made a lot more dramatic, but I suppose it passed muster. I am looking forward to seeing the film and hoping it has more spark. Verdict. A just above average, mildly enjoyable fantasy novel. Three and a half stars rounded up to four and 7 out of 10.

A fantastic read for kids and adults alike. A fantasy adventure across multiple worlds, and a book within a book. It's easy to see why this is such a well loved story. Truly magical.

I have really enjoyed reading Ink Heart because it is all about a girl who likes to read! Like me! I found the book had many twists and turns in a good way. Most of the characters were very inspiring but some of them were very vicious. I liked the fact that every chapter started with a quote that was linked to the subject of the chapter in some way. I think my favourite character in Ink Heart is Meggir because she is like me. I love the way that this book is written because it really does transport the reader into the world of Ink Heart.

Story okay but a bit long

My daughter and I read this together at bedtime. Although she's 10 so could read it herself we're enjoying it together and I think she gets more out of it that way. The characters are wonderfully drawn out, the author starts each chapter with a quote from other books (e.g. The Princess Bride, Watership Down, The Hobbit, etc). There's no specific location but, if you've travelled a bit, you can imagine it set in any Southern European country (I think!). I didn't think I'd like a fantasy novel but this isn't over the top. Anyway, not sure if this review has helped much but I'd recommend it for a 10-14 year olds. And definitely "reading with mummy time"!!

This book was my book club’s choice - to read a favourite book from childhood. I found it absorbing and full of adventure, mystery and magic, which a child’s book should be. My only criticism is the violence shown towards animals, cats shot or poisoned, dogs kicked. I felt it was completely unnecessary and that menace can be alluded to in other non-graphic ways.

Its been a bumpy ride to finding this book especially this cover....and people been saying that don't judge a book by its cover but seriously look and this beautiful masterpiece of colours and designs..just amazing and mesmerizing.... only few things in life that you can get and worth preserve for..well this is it and it is one of its kind ..of course some may find it expensive and i too but its a worth buying for i didn't spend my money but its a gift and you can not put price on feelings and generous gestures from your loved one. Thank to my sister a lovely person to introduce me to a new unexplored world of books and buying this for me..it will always be in my heart and i will preserve this and cherish this book.thnak you so much and will be looking forward to buy rest for her..

I first borrowed this book at the library. 3 pages in, I ordered it. I felt the compulsion to own it and cherish it. My favourite fantasy book.

Le début m'a captivé mais le manque de cohérence ne m'a pas permis de rentrer dans l'histoire. Je n'ai pas réussi à m'attacher aux personnages. J'ai trouvé l'histoire prévisible. je vais toutefois lire la suite il paraît que c'est mieux.

The story sucks you in. It kept surprising me, I'm normally very good at predicting how a story is going to go but this one had turns I didn't see coming. Story keeps moving, no boring things. Recommend to anyone. Enjoyed it a lot. Cover is gorgeous

I love the plot and the basic story, but the writing is sometimes very long winded and it gets hard to read word to word through the non exciting bits....