Inkdeath

By: Cornelia Funke

Narrated by: Allan Corduner

Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

The Adderhead - his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo - has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay - Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrenders. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story?

©2008 Cornelia Funke (P)2008 Listening Library

great book, lousy voices!

The story was as spellbinding to me as the last two, but to not have Brendan Fraser as the narrator was a major disappointment!!! I'm sure Mr. Corduner is good with other works, but he didn't even TRY to match the voices Brendan had established in the previous books. The Black Prince had a high wimpy voice, Fenolio was suddenly changed from New Yorker-ish to Russian, Orpheus went from Southern to British, Roxanne and Brianna went from French to the same general part of the world as Fenolio! Very frustrating. It even made me hate hearing Meggie after a while; she was so whiny and nasally. On the plus side, he did well with Eleanor; she was annoyingly whiny and nasally already! Sigh. Please get Brendan back for any more or at least someone similar!

Death

I was charmed by Inkheart and was pleased to find Inkspell an even better read, more involved, more mature perhaps.... In Inkdeath I am having a hard time even recognizing my favorite characters. At first I thought it might just be Corduner's narration.. Everyone sounds ill tempered and whiny or downright mean and nasty. Then I began to realize that, while the narration certainly wasn't helping, the characters sound that way because they are written that way. Not a single character is likeable, not even Meggie or her mother Resa who take turns treating one another with hostile contempt. In the previous books I appreciated Cornelia Funke for not flinching when it came to addressing a certain amount of real violence and suffering in what is generally considered to be children's fiction. I am not a believer in completely glossing over some hard facts about what can happen in the real world or in the imaginary. Inkdeath however is one of the bleakest and cruelest stories I have ever attempted, and is certainly not a children's book. Death and torture is everywhere, and includes the casual deaths of tiny children in very brutal ways. If you don't want your fond memories of the first two books to be forever distorted, stay away from Inkdeath.

Great Narration, but a slow start

I read the first two books in the series (no, you can't skip them) and was nervous about listening to the third based on the bad reviews for the other narrator for Book Two. However, Allan Corduner does a great job. The book starts off slow and really picks up after the first few hours.

Too many words!

I read Inkworld and listened to Inkspell, enjoying both. Alas, I found Inkdeath to be a different experience. The basic storyline is intriguing, and the book comes to a splendid conclusion, with a few nice plot twists in the end. However, the author seems to have wanted to give her readers plenty of volume in the volume, padding it with prolonged and repetitious interior monologues--lots of mental handwringing on the part of the good guys, and excessive meditations on torture and painful means of execution on the part of the villains. If one is reading the book, one can skim over all that; but as a listener I found myself getting irritated and wishing they'd just get on with it. After the wonderfully voiced narration of Inkspell by Brandon Fraser (who might be a SilverTongue himself), the ponderous tones of the current narrator only added to the tedium. This is one I think would be better read than heard.

My most liked fiction book series ever!

im a 39 year old male with 2 children ages 7 and 12 Who is used to books by Stephan King and Dean Koontz but was blown away with this series! It is a GREAT series just simply a great series! I have no problem with My 12 year old reading it but My 7 year old is too young for some of the things that happen in the story, but dont get Me wrong it is not tacky but the part's in question talks a little about a bad king and His Love of torture! But all in all I approve. Note: the book's only bad language in the series is the aunt says d@m* a few times and I think maybe the word sometimes used for butt was used once! Again it is a Great book series, but start with the first book!

Whole lotta Bad Guys

The narrator is superb, once he gets comfortable. My only complaint is about the story: an awful lot of torture, darkness and despair. I almost gave up at one point, not sure I could trust Cornelia Funke. But it did turn and the narrator does such a great job with the Adderhead.

Needs a strong editorial sweep

I loved Inkheart and Inkspot, but I thought Inkdeath dragged and was repetitive. I agreed with Fenolio..."This book has too many characters!" "Will this book never end?" I guess you have to read it (or listen) to follow the book to its conclusion, but for this book, less with have been better.

Excellent fantasy!

Well written and well narrated. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Rushed

There is so much going on in this final installment that the storyline is just jumping around from scene to scene without giving the attention to detail that the story deserves. I was very disappointed by the fact that the heroine had her role stolen by other characters only to act as the girl who only needs to decide between suitors. It was a big slap in the face to women everywhere. So much for having a strong young heroine to save the day here, all she had to do was bat her eyes. The first two books in the series were much better!

BEST YET!

I have read all three books in the series, all fabulous. This one was a great ending to a eternally great story. The narratorvoice not as good as the first two but still really good, I hope they will make more like these!!!