Inkheart

By: Cornelia Funke

Narrated by: Lynn Redgrave

Imagine it were possible to bring the characters from a book to life. Not like when you listen to an audiobook with such enchantment that the characters seem to jump off the pages and into your bedroom...but for real. Imagine they could actually climb out of the pages and into our world.

Then imagine if those characters brought their world into ours.

This is the story of young Meggie, who lives a quiet life alone with her father Mo, a bookbinder, until one cruel night when Mo reads aloud from Inkheart, and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books.

Somehow, Meggie and Mo must learn to harness the magic that conjured up this nightmare. Somehow they must change the course of the story that has changed their lives forever.

This is Inkheart, a timeless tale about books, about imagination, about life.

©2003 Cornelia Funke (P)2003 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Heart-stopping language that impels the reader....a true feast for anyone who has ever been lost in a book." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Will delight not just fantasy fans, but all readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters." (School Library Journal)

Wonderful Roadtrip Book

I listened to Inkheart with my children ages 6 and 9 on a cross-country trip this summer and we all loved it, a journey within a journey. The characters are wonderful and the story is well written. There are definitely some intense moments which are on the dark side for the younger audience, as well as some slower paced sections that might not entertain the shorter attention spans. The plot is intriguing and terrific for all book lovers, adults and kids alike- although having said this, kids with experience in complex and lengthy stories will like it the best (ones who can listen to or read Harry Potter for example.) Overall an enjoyable listen, Lynn Redgrave's voice is made for reading aloud, and highly recommended!

Best Narrator

The narration of "Inkheart" is the best so far of all the audiobooks I've listened to, and the story itself is very engaging. I highly recommend it for those looking for a story that pulls you in.

Why it's so good

We loved that words where like magic, we dislike that they killed the shadow. And meggie was our favourite character

Beautiful!

This was a beautifully told book the actress they chose was perfect I liked her pace.

Loved this story!

The reader of this tale was right on and a pleasure to listen to. The story itself is a must read for all book lovers everywhere. If you really love books and can enter the world of your story then you cannot help but to smile at Eleanor and enter this world of fiction.

15and up

Because there is cusing and a lot of violence. But other than that it's awsom

Don't Judge a Book by Its... movie

Okay, maybe you saw the movie, and it was fun, but it was somehow missing. That is because it is all but impossible to take a book that celebrates the power of books and convert it for the silver screen. As a lover of classic fiction, this series captured my attention and thrilled me with each step and with each character. Amazingly, the plot does not get lost or weakened by the borrowed characters from other worlds. Instead it succeeds in providing a fun, new look at many of them while still carrying the books plot forward. However, one does not need to know the borrowed characters in order to follow the book. Instead, be prepared to want to read their books so as to get to know them better.

Wonderfully Read World

I very much enjoyed the audio of Inkheart as much as the writing. I'm not a reader of fantasy or series generally, but as a book lover, I found the idea of the intermingling of fiction and reality especially inviting.

This is my favorite book from my childhood.

This book brings because so many memories. As it's said in the book, when you read a story ever time you open that book again it remains you of the first time you read it, and where you were.

Listening to it now, it's easier to pick up what all the different stories reference are. I feel like it's something I can appreciate now.

One of the best I have purchased.

Lynn Redgrave did a fanstic job reading this classic book! I think I would purchase any book that she read!