Inkspell

By: Cornelia Funke

Narrated by: Brendan Fraser

Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of Inkheart, the book whose characters came to life and changed her life forever.

But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater brought into being from words, the need to return to the tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the ability to read him back, Dustfinger leaves behind his young apprentice Farid and plunges into the medieval inkscape once more.

Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and before long, both are caught inside the book, too. There they meet Inkheart's author, Fenoglio, now living within his own story. But the tale is much changed, and threatening to evolve in ways none of them would ever have imagined. Will Meggie, Farid, and Fenoglio manage to write the wrongs of a charmed world? Or is their story on the brink of a very bad ending?

©2005 Cornelia Funke (P)2005 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

• 2006 Book Sense Book of the Year, Children's Literature

"Readers who enjoyed Funke's Inkheart are in for a treat with this sequel." (Booklist)

Inkspell indeed

I am not sure why this book was rated 1 star by another customer, but I found the book to be a truly enjoyable title. I got lost in this inky world and can't wait for the last book.

Brendan Frasier was a little distracting at first and I don't like his "Elinor" voice, but after a while, I grew to like him. Though, I still prefer Lynn Redgrave's reading of Inkheart.

This is a worthy sequel to Inkheart (Please read that one first, or you will be lost). The translation is excellent and the book sounds as if it were originally written in English rather than German.

A must read for all book lovers who still have that sense of wonder about the worlds between the pages of a book.

Mixed thoughts, enjoyable story

I had some mixed feelings about the narration. At first it really bothered me. As I listened more, I really was dragged into the story. Since the primary part of the audio is the storyline I tried to focus on what the characters were actually doing. As the story progressed I came to really enjoy the narration. I think the problem with this narration is it follows Lynn Redgrave. It is really hard to change from a woman to a man narrator when the characters stay the same.

I am looking forward to InkDeath. It should help us wrap up a great story/series.

great narrator

The series was smartly written with good description detail. The narrator was awesome. I have listened to several and I enjoy that I get to hear very distinct voices for each character and also the sounds like laughing, sighing, snoring, and chewing. I would recommend letting him read more often.

Buy It!

more than worth the money, the narration is amazing, trust me you need this in your collection!

Inkheart

The story was imaginative but it was clearly geared to young adults. It did not hold my interest. The characters were simplistic - good or bad with the one exception. If anyone like the Harry Potter books, this would be another choice for them to read. Otherwise, don't bother.

Brendan Fraser Detracts

The book was fun, exciting, and well-paced, as all of Cornelia Funke's works are. (BTW anyone know why she writes under a different name in Germany???) Anyway I liked Brendan Frasers reading of Dragon Rider, but found him really annoying in this book. He used horrible voices for Elenor and most little children. For me, his overacted narration bumped the book from 4 1/2 to 3 stars.

amazing

great performance by Mr. Fraser and the story is so well written. anyone who enjoyed the movie inkheart will be so happy with this continuation of the story into the ink world.

A Good Sequel

I preferred the first book, but I suspect the reason was I loved the narrator, Lynn Redgrave. Brendan Fraser does a great job, but I thought Redgrave was better. One notable exception was Fraser's interpretation of Dustfinger, which made him sound much younger and more like a romantic lead, which proved appropriate for this story line. His reading of other characters, like Fenoglio and Elinore, were annoying. I also cannot stand Orpheus. We will see if that is to Fraser's credit in the next book where I assume the character figures prominently as a villain.
I agree with other readers that the ending was not what I expected, but there are definitely plenty of loose ends for a follow-up.

A good fairy tale

ranks among the classics but has a refreshing air of the modern. Finally, a masterpiece for our generation.

Dreadful narration

I listened to the first book with my daughter, we both enjoyed the story and the narrator. In this second book, the narration is truly bad. It is important to tell your narrators that they are "reading", not dramatizing a play. Some changes in accent, volume and intonation are fine, and even help the reader, but full dramatization is dreadful.