INKSPELL by Cornelia Funke

"Stories never really end, even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page."

As the sequel to INKHEART, I had high expectations for this book. Dustfinger finds yet another person who can read people into stories, and uses him to go back to his own land of Inkworld. But his little friend, Farid gets left behind. Meggie reads him - and herself into Inkworld to find Dustfinger. But back home, the evil Basta and Mortola want to go to the Inkworld too, and get Mo to read them in. But things are not well in Inkworld - for anybody. Mo is arrested because everyone is certain that he is the Bluejay, a renowned robber and huge annoyance to the tyrannical Adderhead. The writer Fenoglio, Meggie, Farid, Dustfinger, and a few new friends must find a way to stop the Adderhead and save Mo before it's too late.

I was hoping to find one of those books that are amazing and obscure when I read this, but I was disappointed. The trash talk is infinitely worse than in INKHEART, and they introduce an annoying, crazily silly, ridiculous romance between Meggie and Farid that made me mad and sick to the stomach. On the good side... well, it was well written and a clever story, but you can find that in many other books that are far more worth your precious time. It's just not worth digging through the dumpster to find a Hershey's Kiss. Skip it! Read something else.

Author: Cornelia Funke ~ Original title: Tintenblut ~ Translator: Anthea Bell ~ Country: Germany ~ Language: German ~ Series: Inkheart trilogy ~ Genre(s): Fantasy ~ Publisher: Meredith ~ Publication date: 2005 ~ Media type: Print (Hardback & Paperback) ~ Pages: 635 pp (first Eng. edition, hardback) ~ ISBN: ISBN 0-439-55400-4 (first Eng. edition, hardback) ~Preceded by: Inkheart ~ Followed by: Inkdeath

Check out this trailer for the upcoming INKHEART film! I'm not recommending it - of course I haven't seen it. Be sure to read up on it before you watch it. I'll try to get some info up here as soon as I can when I find out that it's worth seeing.

INKHEART by Cornelia Funke

Yes the title says "Tintenherz". That's because this novel was written by a magnificent German author by the name of Cornelia Funke. Translated into English as "Inkheart", this book is about a man and his daughter who have a strange power. When Meggie's father Mo reads aloud, the books come to life. This power is not as wonderful as you may think, especially when he read a book called "INKHEART" that was filled with dastardly characters to his wife. Before he could blink an eye, the room was full of men in jet black clothes: Capricorn, Basta, a friendly juggler called Dustfinger - and Mo's wife was gone. Mo found that if something is read out of a book into our world, something from our world must take it's place. But it was too late. He tried for a long time to read her out of the story, but to no avail. Nine years later when Meggie is twelve, Dustfinger shows up at their door, telling Mo that Capricorn wants the books and is on his tail - again. There is an iffy part here where Meggie listens to the conversation instead of going to bed. Yet another when they go to see an aunt she's never met and Mo does not tell her why or what they are running from. She refuses to get in the car until she knows everything. This Aunt Elinor is a gruff book collector. A little grumpy, but a loveable character as the story goes on. Together they confront and escape Capricorn several times, drag the author of INKHEART into the action, and make everything right in a stunning climax. Or do they make EVERYTHING right?

This book is amazingly creative and well-written! I can't believe I didn't hear about it before I saw the preview of the upcoming movie about it. However, I've already mentioned some slight disrespect by Meggie to Mo, but everything indicates that they are best friends and very close. Also it would be nice to give this book to your mom at the precise moment you hand her a black sharpie. Elinor likes to use a naughty word, as does Basta on occaision. I HIGHLY recommend you get a reliable sharpie-user, because this one is just too good to miss! I do hate it when they ruin good books with all that cussing. Upon further research, I have just discovered that this book is only the first in a trilogy. I see very few things left unsaid, but it is an exciting find! Again, GET A SHARPIE-USER!!!!! Don't miss this one!!!!!

ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine

"If someone told me to hop on one foot for a day and a half, I'd have to do it... If you commanded me to cut off my own head, I'd have to do it. I was in danger every moment." ~ Ella from Ella Enchanted

Ella of Frell was given the gift of obedience at birth from a foolish fairy. But the gift is closer to a curse! Whatever anyone commands she must obey, whether it be cooking herself for hungry trolls or putting on a black dress. When her mother dies, Ella's life seems to go topsy-turvy. She is left under the guidance of her merchant father, who doesn't seem to care anything about her. But in Prince Char and the cook, Mandy she still has friends. Her father presently announces she must go to finishing school, and in doing she becomes acquainted with the worst company imaginable: two nasty girls named Hattie and Olive. There she stays for a time, obeying every order from the school mistresses and Hattie, until she runs away to try to break the obedience spell.

In the proceedings of this NEWBERY HONOR award winner, Hattie and Olive become Ella's stepsisters, and in obeying their every wish she becomes a maid. But she secretly keeps a correspondence with Prince Char, and the two gain more and more affection for each other. But will the curse keep Ella from marrying? Can she break the spell?

I read this book aloud to my two sisters and we all had a great time laughing and sighing over it! Sometimes my brother even stopped by to hear a sentence or two and got a giggle. Surprisingly, Louie (10) loved it much more than us older ones! It's a fun and well-written read that's interesting enough for teens; yet still short, easy, and funny enough for younger kids. The author is very talented, and the girls liked the humorous writing strain of the book that could still retain some seriousness. I picked up another book of Levine's that is in the same setting as ELLA ENCHANTED, and got universal groans when I told Lane and Louie that Lucinda is up to her old tricks again! Don't know anything about the movie, but you can count on the book being a healthy read for any age!

Author
Gail Carson Levine
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Fantasy
Publisher
Harper Trophy
Publication date
1997
Media type
Hardcover, Paperback & Audiobook
Pages
240 pp
ISBN
ISBN 0-06-440705-5

THE CHILDREN OF HURIN by J.R.R. Tolkien

"What? Can it be? A Tolkien book I've never heard of?" Such were my thoughts as I looked up at a gray book with gold letters in the "T" section of my library. I stood on tiptoes and checked it out. Neat cover! I like neat covers and I like Tolkien! I took it home and read it through.

This book takes place in the First Age of Middle Earth. As the name implies, the story centers around Túrin son of Húrin and his kin. Húrin, the mortal man who dared defy Morgoth the Evil One. Morgoth cast a spell upon him that bound him to a chair to watch the fate of his two cursed children, and he could neither move, nor die until the Evil One so wished. And so the story tells what is seen by Húrin.

His wife, Morwen, seeing that her husband did not come, sent her son Túrin over the mountains to become a man, and not a thrall. King Thingol of Doriath received him and treated him as a son. There he was well-treated by all, except for one of the king's lieges, who taunted him and scorned his family. Outside the castle Túrin finds him and pays him for his mockery by chasing him through the forest naked. When the frantic pursued one comes to a rocky stream, he tries to jump across it, but falls to his death. "Unhappy fool! From here I would have let him walk back to Menegroth. Now he has laid a guilt upon me undeserved". The king's nobles catch up to them there, and guess that Túrin has slain the man in his anger. So Túrin leaves Doriath to live as an outlaw, accidently kills his best friend, and runs into other misfortunes.

Meanwhile, his mother has given birth to his sister, Nienor. The two set out to find Túrin and meet the Dragon Glaurung. His words put Nienor into a craze when she awakes, she remembers nothing of her past. Túrin finds her, and, not knowing she is his sister, names her Niniel and eventually marries her. But he still has Glaurung the Dragon to deal with.

I enjoyed this book very much! It is typical Tolkien - what higher praise is there than that? The violence is as usual with his work, not described. It is a hard read, and probably only engaging for teens. If you are teen or adult, check out this book at your library!



Author
J. R. R. Tolkien;
Christopher Tolkien (ed.)

Cover artist
Alan Lee

Country
England

Genre
Fantasy novel

Publisher
HarperCollins in UK,
Houghton Mifflin in USA

BLOODLINES by Karen Traviss

"To see a Jedi take up his lightsaber against civilians is shocking. But to see the son and nephew of the leader of the jedi council doing it is heartbreaking." ~ Master Cilghal, Jedi high council

Sounds horrifying indeed. But such are the acts of Jacen Solo in the next book of The Legacy of the Force series, BLOODLINES. What is even worse, his apprentice, Ben Skywalker does not know any better than to follow in his master's footsteps. Lumiya, the dark sith continues to subtly train Jacen in the ways of the sith, and by now he knows that the dark side is his destiny. The war in all but name continues between Corellia and the Galactic Alliance, but Han and Leia Solo have new things to worry about. They hear the of the assured return of the most sinister bounty hunter in the galaxy, and the only man ever to get away from the sarlaac's stomach - Boba Fett. But he is afflicted with a terminal illness that gives only a year or two to live. But does Fett sit back and relax? No. He is trying to find and mend a rift with the daughter he never met. Fett gets a little help from a girl by the name of Mirta Gev and begins the search. Meanwhile, the Solos receive the news that Han's cousin, Thracken Sal-Solo, has put a contract on him. The bounty attracts Fett's daughter, and Jacen Solo killed her by interrogation without revealing it to his parents. Boba Fett finds Han and they work out a deal. Fett can use Han as bait for his daughter as long as Han gets some assistance from Fett in the removing of his evil cousin. Can they all work together? Is Jacen now a full-fledged sith?

BLOODLINES is a great continuation of the Legacy of the Force series! The storyline is well thought-out and this book is cleaner than it's prequel, BETRAYAL. There is, of course, the usual violence of bombing, shooting, and lightsaber fights as is the norm with Star Wars, but if you are allowed to watch the Star Wars movies, you would be allowed to read this book! I rate it a G for older kids and adults, but a parent should read this first if you are an eight-year-old wanting to read this book.

Author
Karen Traviss
Language
English
Series
Legacy of the Force
Galactic Year
40 ABY
Subject
Star Wars
Genre
Science Fiction
Publisher
Del Rey
Released
29 August 2006
Pages
416
ISBN
ISBN 0-345-47751-0
Preceded by
Betrayal
Followed by
Tempest

ELDEST - by Christopher Paolini

Say hello to a book whose contents I have thought long, hard, and painfully about. It exceeds the expectations set by fans from it's prequel, ERAGON, with a thought-out plot, well-written words, and the classic "Whoa! Didn't see that coming!" The boy Eragon, now a great hero of the Varden travels to Ellesmera, the land of the elves to complete the training begun by Brom. Still scarred by his experience with the shade, Durza, he has a hard time of it, yet still is encouraged by his master. Saphira too, learns much from her dragon master, Gladyr, yet one of the "iffy" things comes in when Saphira realizes that she is not the last dragon as she supposed, and attempts to convince Gladyr (rather violently) to elope with her. It doesn't go into details and she is sorrowfull about her actions later, but it still gave me some grief, as I was reading the book partly to see if my younger siblings could read it too.

Remember Eragon's cousin, Roran? In the first book it seemed that adding Roran in was a little pointless, but in this book he defends his town from the Ra'zac and leads his people to safety. But... as you probably guessed, more sorry lovelornity. Roran ends up proposing to Katrina not only without her father's consent, but knowing her father would put his foot down and run him out of town with an axe! The father is the mean traitor though, but it wouldn't leave me reconciled to my actions if I were Roran.

Eragon and Saphira return later to the Varden to assist in battle against Galbatorix. There, in the last part of the book, the plot just comes together and jumps out at you in a stunning revelation.

There's a little more on the down side of the story here. A romance between Eragon and Arya was hinted at in the first book as you probably noticed. It is continued here by Eragon, but discouraged by Arya and everybody else. Basically if you don't think well of this kind of romance, this book is not for you. If I remember correctly there was also a word of mild language by Orik the Dwarf in a drunken stupor. Master Oromis teaches Eragon a theory that there is no god and nothing to worship in the world. I was disappointed that this book didn't quite hit my "great book" note, but I rate it PG. I wish my mom had read it first, because I am still iffy about this story.

Author:
Christopher Paolini
Illustrator:
John Jude Palencar
Country:
United States
Series:
Inheritance Trilogy
Genre(s):

fantasy fiction
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf