Inkspell

This sequel to the successful INKHEART is equally compelling for young readers who wish the pages of a book could come to life. With an earnest desire to experience the excitement of life inside fiction, young Meggie secretly wrangles passage to Inkworld and quickly wishes she hadn't. Reader Brendan Fraser weaves the unfolding events in a hushed, contemplative undertone, almost as if quietly reading out loud to himself--a pitch suitable for this story-within-a-story. Fraser provides richly distinct voices for the humans, including Meggie's father, Dustfinger, reprised from INKHEART. But Fraser also provides sheer delight to the listener with sounds such as the twittering of fairies and the buzzing of bees. N.M.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

October 17, 2005
In this spellbinding follow-up to Inkheart
, Funke expertly mixes joy, pain, suspense and magic. In the opening chapter, Dustfinger returns to Inkheart
, the fantastic novel (within Funke's novel of the same name) from which he was sprung, and his "devoted" apprentice, Farid, asks Meggie to use her magical reading powers to send him into the story. Meggie, lured by the "place of marvels and adventures," goes with him. Her parents soon follow. The omniscient narrator allows readers to jump from the "real" world to Inkworld, where a war is brewing between Ombra Castle and the evil Adderhead's Castle of Night. Worse, Meggie's father, Mo (aka Silvertongue), is mistaken for a Robin Hood–type figure known as the Bluejay and is to be executed. Readers will race along with Meggie and other Inkheart
favorites as the characters try to create a "happy ending." Funke again cleverly plays with the power of words: Fenoglio, the author of Inkheart
, now lives in the world he created and continues to write new story lines—which play out in often unintended ways (e.g. he bases the Bluejay character on Meggie's father, putting Mo in danger). This is a thick and dark book (the Magpie shoots Mo, nearly killing him, and Basta appears for a final showdown), as well as sophisticated—especially the romance blossoming between Farid and Meggie, and Dustfinger's complicated relationship with Meggie's mother. There is much left to explore; readers will eagerly await the last in the planned trilogy. Ages 8-up.

February 1, 2006
Gr 5-8 -Fourteen-year-old Meggie is back at home after the intrigue and adventure she encountered inInkheart (Chicken House, 2003), the first volume in this projected trilogy. In this second episode, the calm of her life is shattered when Farid, protégé of the fire-eater, Dustfinger, begs her to use her magical ability and read him into Dustfingers story. Meggie longs to see the enchanted world she has only encountered through the pages of a book and travels with Farid into the story. Events quickly spin out of control. Evil characters fromInkheart re-emerge to extract revenge. Battle lines are drawn between two kingdoms. Several individuals are intent on re-writing the story to ensure their own happy ending. A multitude of intriguing characters are kept straight by the tour-de-force performance of actor Brendan Frazier who distinguishes each one with a different accentfrom Dustfingers Scottish burr to Fenoglios Brooklyn inflection to Orpheuss southern drawl. His performance is so convincing that listeners must remind themselves that this is not a full-cast production. Action, romance, and danger are delivered with just the right inflection and pace in this stunning performance. Expect the popularity of the series to climb asInkheart has been optioned for movie rights.Tricia Melgaard, Centennial Middle School, Broken Arrow, OK

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.