Scholastic Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy, Book 1): Volume 1

My daughter and I read this together at bedtime. Although she's 10 so could read it herself we're enjoying it together and I think she gets more out of it that way. The characters are wonderfully drawn out, the author starts each chapter with a quote from other books (e.g. The Princess Bride, Watership Down, The Hobbit, etc). There's no specific location but, if you've travelled a bit, you can imagine it set in any Southern European country (I think!). I didn't think I'd like a fantasy novel but this isn't over the top.Anyway, not sure if this review has helped much but I'd recommend it for a 10-14 year olds. And definitely "reading with mummy time"!!

While I like the premise, I really feel this book is a huge letdown. Far from being a wondrous adventure through fantastic lands, it is basically just a road-trip where the gang get captured a lot. By half way I was groaning whenever the villains appeared because it generally meant someone was going to get locked up in a shed for thirty or forty pages. Having said that, I did love Farid, the barefoot boy from Arabian Nights, even if I really felt let down by the plot. Honestly this could have been something, but I think Funke really fails to exploit her story's main mechanic to its fullest and most interesting potential.

Much, much better than the movie, although while reading it I visualised the film characters in the lines of the book and they fitted perfectly. Having read the whole trilogy now I can highly recommend all the books, escpecially for bibliophiles who like to 'disappear' into their tomes and have to drag themselves kicking and screaming back out of them again at the end. Wonderful, dark, funny and so very deep.

A fantastic book in so many ways, and foR the first half I was completely gripped by the action, however I agree with other reviews that it is far too long. For me it became rather turgid from two thirds onwards. It felt like hours and hours of 'execution' planning and build with little news of the the most engaging character..Elinor. Such a shame, I found myself switching off, having been unable to put it down initially.

I ordered this edition to complete my collection of this series in this particular edition. The first one that arrived was covered in a big red blotch so I complained and World of Books sent me another copy with no extra charge. Super impressed. The second copy was of suitable quality, so happy out!