Review: Inkheart (and free giveaway!)

Title:  Inkheart

Author:  Cornelia Funke

Published:  June 1, 2005

# of Pages:  500

ISBN:  0439709105

My rating:  2.5/5

One cruel night, Meggie’s father reads aloud from a book called INKHEART– and an evil ruler 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. Meggie must learn to harness the magic that has conjured this nightmare. For only she can change the course of the story that has changed her life forever. This is INKHEART–a timeless tale about books, about imagination, about life. Dare to read it aloud. 

I am going to make this review super-short, because basically, I did not really like Inkheart.  I can’t pinpoint why exactly, because all of my assumptions told me that I would love it – fantasy revolving around a girl, book about books coming alive, a bunch of fun and interesting characters, etc. – but somehow, I didn’t.  I never connected with any of the characters, I never became immersed in the story, it just generally did not work for me.  Obviously I didn’t hate it – it is a 500 page book that I did finish – there were definitely parts that piqued my interest and kept me raeding.  But overall, I never clicked with the story and I can’t say that I’ll be continuing on with the series.

I can absolutely see the merits of Inkheart, however.  There IS plenty of action and adventure, I love the fact that the heroine of the story is a young girl, and the concept is wonderful.  I would encourage anyone to give the book a try, because like I said, I cannot figure out exactly what about it I didn’t “get”.  But overall, for me, Inkheart was just not my cup of tea.

More reviews (all of these bloggers liked the book more than I did) –

• Naida at The Bookworm
• Nymeth at Things Mean A Lot
• Jena at Muse Book Reviews
• Eva at A Striped Armchair
• Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews
• Susan at Bloggin’ Bout Books
• Petunia at Educating Petunia

Now, since I didn’t enjoy Inkheart too much, I won’t be keeping it on my personal bookshelf, which is good news for YOU readers!  The other piece of good news for you readers is that I also have a copy of Inkspell on my bookshelf that I don’t plan to read, either.  So I will be giving away BOTH books this week!  I received both books via Bookmooch, so they are definitely used, but still in decent condition and absolutely readable.  I will pick two winners, one for each book, next Monday evening (the 17th).  Just leave me a comment on this post, specificing which book you’d rather win – if you’d take either, just say so and you’ll go in for both drawings.  Make sure you leave me a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck everyone!