Ex dente leonem reviewed Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (inkworld, #1)
Review of 'Inkheart' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
A spellbinding paean to the magic of the written word.
Paperback, 448 pages
Catalan language
Published April 18, 2008 by RBA Libros, S.A..
4 stars
(79 reviews)
Aquesta novel·la de Cornelia Funke és màgica i fantàstica. Cor de tinta són molts llibres en és un viatge al món dels llibres, una gran novel·la d’aventures i una declaració d’amor als grans textos universals que captiven els lectors. I també, una lluita ferotge entre ficció i realitat, i entre el bé i el mal. Qui són realment Dit de Pols, Capricorn o Llengua Màgica? La jove Meggie ho acabarà endevinant per les respostes que trobarà en un vell poble de les muntanyes de Ligúria...i també en un llibre. Quan Mo, el pare de Maggie, saluda un estrany visitant que apareix a casa seva, la nena sent que aquella persona emana un perill, potser una amenaça contra el seu pare... i llavors fugen al sud, a la casa de tieta Elinor, propietària d’una de les més fascinants biblioteques que es puguin imaginar. Maggie descobrirà que els forasters que misteriosament apareixen …
Aquesta novel·la de Cornelia Funke és màgica i fantàstica. Cor de tinta són molts llibres en és un viatge al món dels llibres, una gran novel·la d’aventures i una declaració d’amor als grans textos universals que captiven els lectors. I també, una lluita ferotge entre ficció i realitat, i entre el bé i el mal. Qui són realment Dit de Pols, Capricorn o Llengua Màgica? La jove Meggie ho acabarà endevinant per les respostes que trobarà en un vell poble de les muntanyes de Ligúria...i també en un llibre. Quan Mo, el pare de Maggie, saluda un estrany visitant que apareix a casa seva, la nena sent que aquella persona emana un perill, potser una amenaça contra el seu pare... i llavors fugen al sud, a la casa de tieta Elinor, propietària d’una de les més fascinants biblioteques que es puguin imaginar. Maggie descobrirà que els forasters que misteriosament apareixen i desapareixen, com aquell visitant nocturn,anomenen el seu pare Llengua Màgica, ja que té el do de donar vida als personatges dels llibres quan llegeix en veu alta.
Monirah reviewed Inkheart (2020 Reissue) by Cornelia Funke
Review of 'Inkheart (2020 Reissue)' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
Rating is for the audiobook version, narrated by Lynn Redgrave, who did Elinor far more justice than I could have had I read it myself.
Angrboda reviewed Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (inkworld, #1)
Review of 'Inkheart' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I'm a little ambivalent about this one. I'm not sure I'm going to finish the series, but if I do, it'll be after a bit of a break.
It started out well and I really liked it in the beginning, although I was constantly a little thrown by Meggie basically calling her father by name. It raised a lot of plot-related questions quite quickly which made me curious. Chapters are often fairly short, so I felt like I was racing through it.
Then after the first third or so, it started getting to be a bit more of a struggle. The plot felt slow and meandering even though at this point there had a lot of interaction with the Bad Guys and running away from danger and stuff. It feels like it could have been tightened up here. No further plot questions raised, not much in the way of hints …
I'm a little ambivalent about this one. I'm not sure I'm going to finish the series, but if I do, it'll be after a bit of a break.
It started out well and I really liked it in the beginning, although I was constantly a little thrown by Meggie basically calling her father by name. It raised a lot of plot-related questions quite quickly which made me curious. Chapters are often fairly short, so I felt like I was racing through it.
Then after the first third or so, it started getting to be a bit more of a struggle. The plot felt slow and meandering even though at this point there had a lot of interaction with the Bad Guys and running away from danger and stuff. It feels like it could have been tightened up here. No further plot questions raised, not much in the way of hints or things the characters find out.
I think I'm basically bothered by Capricorn, really. He feels like a caricature. I get that he's the evil dude and all, but I don't know why? The reader isn't given the slightest hint of his motivation or background or anything. I'm not asking for all his secrets to be revealed, but I do need something or other. Otherwise he's just a villain being villainous just for the sake of being the villain, and that may well be why the plot feels so pointless. What is he trying to achieve? I get that I'm somewhat out of the target audience for this book, but even so.
It also bothers me that Mo keeps claiming that he doesn't know how his power works, what triggers it, or how to read something specific out of the books, and yet when Meggie discovers she can do it, she seems to be able to do it in a deliberate way, reading a specific character out. When she becomes so excited about being able to do it, I'm quite bothered about how the consequences of doing it doesn't even cause so much as a passing thought. Her own mother disappeared into a book when Capricorn was read out, yet she never stops to wonder what else disappeared into Peter Pan when Tinkerbell came out. I know she's just a child and children aren't always entirely aware of action and consequence, but her own mother! You would think that would have left an impression. It seems a weird power to be excited about having, really. Sounds more like something of a curse to me. And at no point does anybody seem at all interested in trying to work out why or what exactly this magic is and how to utilises it usefully and safely.
Towards the end, it started picking up again. At last something new happened, another hint at something, something to keep the reader interested. At this point it was pretty much the only mystery left apart from 'why is Capricorn so evil?' and 'how will we reach the conclusion', but the clues were quite blatant and the confirmation came soon thereafter, so that didn't last long.
I found throughout the book my interest waxed and waned with the emergence of plot points until I was close enough to the end that the thought of being nearly finished accounted for most of my interest.
It's not a bad book by any means, and large parts of it was very enjoyable. I liked the character of Elinor almost immediately. She's not really written in a way where she's meant to be particularly likable, but aspects of her character resonated with me.
Avarla reviewed Tintenherz by Cornelia Funke (Goya LiT)
Review of 'Tintenherz' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Tintenherz hatte ich besser in Erinnerung, wenn auch möglicherweise nur, weil ich die Geschichte als Kind sehr geliebt habe. Bei hören des Hörbuchs ging mir die ganze Geschichte zu langsam vorwärts, ich denke es lag daran, dass ich im Kopf ständig schon weiter bei den bekannten Figuren und Plot-Twists war, die ich so mag. Je später im Buch und je mehr Figuren aufgetaucht waren, desto ruhiger und entspannter wurde ich. Vielleicht bin ich zu alt für die Geschichte, vielleicht habe ich nicht genug Zeit zum letzten durchlesen gelassen oder vielleicht hatte ich die Geschichte einfach noch zu gut in Erinnerung, es war definitiv ein anderes Erlebnis.
Auch bin ich ab und an über den Erzähler, Reiner Strecker, gestolpert, der die einzelnen Wörter sehr korrekt ausspricht, was in meinen süddeutschen Ohren sehr harsch klingt.
Kattas reviewed Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy) by Cornelia Funke
Review of 'Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is a novel I will probably reread at some point in the not too distant future. While it dragged at times, it is based around one of my favourite fictional motifs - the book as generator of a world - and it does this spectacularly.
