Robyn and I had read Inkheart together and enjoyed it, so when the sequel came out, we rushed to get it. We just finished it together recently. I liked it, but I think it suffered from the same thing many sequels suffer from: it's just not as fresh as the first book, and this one is definitely setting up for a third book, which makes it feel less finished. There are just too many questions left unanswered at the end of it.
A brief plot summary: Mo, Meggie, and Resa have been reunited and are now staying with Elinor, when characters start showing up again: Dustfinger finally managed to get himself back into Inkheart thanks to Orpheus, a man who also has the gift of magical reading. But that leaves Mortola and Basta who are out to get revenge on Mo ... eventually we end up spending most of our time in the world of Inkheart, where the old author Fenoglio struggles to keep "his" story under control.
The dedication of the book mentions that Funke's daughter Anna gave plenty of advice during the writing of the book: "I very much hope that the story of Meggie and Farid has its fair share of the book now?" It may be a bit much, in my opinion. Meggie is growing up, of course, and much of the book deals with new feelings of romance between her and Farid. Depending on the age and gender of the reader, this could either be "ew, yuck" or "awww, how sweet" or (in my case) "come on, just get on with the story!"
Overall, it's still a neat idea and the "Inkworld" is an adventurous (if not entirely original) place to explore, but the story feels like a lot of setup without much payoff. But I still want to find out what happens next, so expect to see a third review once the next book comes out.
Fed to jonathan's brain | March 12, 2006
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