Cornelia Funke’s Inkworld Trilogy concludes with Inkdeath

I fell in love with Cornelia Funke's Inkworld in the first two books of her trilogy, Inkheart and Inkspell.  In them, Funke introduced a world made of my favorite things: words.  Protagonists Mo and his daughter Meggie have a special ability in that when they read aloud, they can read things in or out of books (oh the possibilities!).  In the earlier books, they'd met a host of characters from a book named Inkheart, including the original author Fenoglio.  At the end of the second book, Mo and Meggie are living in the Inkworld, as it appears to be writing itself and Mo is taking on the characteristics of a Robin Hood-esque man known as the Bluejay.

This final volume in the Inkworld Trilogy, Inkdeath, picks up where Inkspell left off.  Mo/Silvertongue/Bluejay is fighting the unjust Adderhead's rule with his partner the Black Prince.  Meggie believes she is in love with Farid, a boy read out of Arabian Nights.  Mo and Meggie have been reunited with their wife/mother Resa, who had been trapped in the Inkworld for almost ten years.  

After too long of a reintroduction to the Inkworld, Funke finally gets into the plot of this conclusion.  The Adderhead's men have killed all the men in Ombra, and have threatened to take all of the children as well and put them to work in the silver mines unless the women of the city turn in the Bluejay.  Much to the chagrin of his wife and daughter, Mo offers himself in lieu of the children and is placed under arrest and has to await the arrival of the Adderhead.  In a previous book, Mo cheated death by binding a blank book that guaranteed the Adderhead's immortality.  The book is rotting now and needs to be rebound.  

The same book can be the end of the Adderhead if Mo can find the time and opportunity to write three words in it.  Death has made a bargain with Mo.  If he can right his wrong and take back the Adderhead's immortality, he will be allowed to live his normal life span.  If, however, he is unable to do so before spring (the bulk of Inkdeath takes place during the late winter months), Death will come to claim both him and Meggie.

The above paragraphs show only a small fraction of the plot and characters found within this book.  After the initial back story, which I thought was mostly unnecessary, I found Funke's writing and storytelling to be just as captivating as I'd found in the earlier books.  As with any beloved story, any additional book in the series is a welcome return for this reader, and the Inkworld is no exception with its beautiful, fantastical imagery and memorable characters.  Where the first two books were written decidedly for younger children, however, Inkdeath is unequivocally darker and filled with more adult themes.

Fenoglio has taken to drinking instead of writing.  The minor villain Orpheus is seen with his hand always groping up an unwilling maid's skirts.  The deaths are gorier, the Adderhead is literally rotting away, and characters are tortured.  All these things I can live with, and would even consider letting nine-year-old DramaGirl read.  The biggest disappointment I had with Inkdeath was the lack of Meggie.  She was the glue that held the first two books together, even moreso than her father, and she was all but absent from this final installment.  

Overall, the pleasure of returning to the Inkworld was greater than the disappointments I found in this book, but keep in mind that it's nowhere near as enjoyable as Inkheart and Inkspell were.  And this is not a series that can be read out of order.  Even with the lengthy back story, each book depends on the ones that have preceded it.

The Inkworld Trilogy

Inkheart ~ Inkspell ~ Inkdeath