2023 REREAD: I was really into 'Inkheart' at first - which I haven't read since I was a kid - and I was prepared to admit that I had been wrong about it since then. Sadly, over halfway through its flaws become more apparent. Messy, unfocused, dragging, overly-long, the characters being less likeable by the chapter, and the completely uncommented-on sexism (there are many examples I can give - don't get me started on Capricorn's female slaves - but the one I've chosen for this review is when Elinor can't name any female heroes from books, which Meggie can compare herself to. A woman who is an avid book collector and has read thousands upon thousands of books her whole life can't name a single female hero. Even in a moment of crisis, WTF?!). Meggie is kind of believable for a twelve-year-old, but her heartlessness towards her missing mother, an old man, and a toddler made me stop rooting for her.
I stopped enjoying the book 320 pages in.
'Inkheart' is a story full of fantastic ideas, and good writing most of the time. It's such a shame that its execution, its writing which got sloppier the further it went on, couldn't keep my attention for long. It really could have done with being shorter, too.
It's still better than its sequel.
Both copies I read as both a child and an adult are library copies. I love libraries.
Final Score: 3/5
Original Review:
A children's fantasy with an epic, original premise.
Mortimer "Mo" Folchart and his twelve-year-old daughter Meggie have the inherent gift of conjuring book characters into the real world whenever they read out loud from said book. They can also send real people into the book's world, with no guarantee of “reading” them back. Their gift is not to be used lightly, for it could easily be a curse. It is because of this ability that the tortured Mo, who also happens to be a book-repairman, is referred to as Silvertongue by the very fictional characters he brought to life. Unfortunately these characters are baddies, and people with a grey morality who might find every opportunity to betray those who will help them.
Story time has never been so whimsical and scary!
'Inkheart' has the makings of a classic, even the potential to rival 'Harry Potter'. However I think there are a number of factors that hinder it in the execution field.
There is its length. 550 pages is too long: too many chapters contain lots of meandering and wandering around which could have been removed on the editing board. And maybe it’s just the German-to English translation I read, but 'Inkheart' does feel like it desperately needs an editor or at least more editing done to it. The writing isn't bad, it's just very wordy with bouts of over-description and not much action.
The secondary characters, such as Dustfinger and Elinor the aunt, are far more interesting than Mo and Meggie, who mostly seem to be doing the rounds depending on where the story needs them to go - from point A to B. Mo is Meggie's father, however he is written like a big-brother (Meggie even calls him Mo instead of Dad or Papa or something like that) and he keeps making irresponsible choices that threaten to endanger his daughter. Mo has no reason to be as careless as he is, when looking at his past.
Despite some genuine moments of perspective clarity about the world no longer being normal in her eyes, Meggie doesn't react much to what happens around her. She is the everygirl, the one the reader is meant to follow and relate to. But the most she expresses is annoyance akin to a buzzing fly as opposed to helpless, confused horror that storybook bandits are hunting her and her family down. She even vilifies an old author and an innocent child at one point - an inkheart indeed! She doesn’t seem to care much about her missing mother either, even after finding out she didn’t abandon Meggie on purpose.
I felt little emotion and investment from Mo and Meggie, even though they have every incentive to be emotional and sympathetic given their circumstances. They are just there, with not much personality or substance to them, especially in their decision-making. How ironic that the literal book characters in 'Inkheart' feel more real and more charismatic than the actual real-world people, with the exception of Elinor, who at least expresses more than a written equivalent of dull surprise.
And the romance between Meggie and Farid, an 'Arabian Nights' character, has no development whatsoever. It happens because the book says so, and because the two are opposite genders and are close in age. It is completely unnecessary.
Still, Tinker Bell appears briefly in 'Inkheart', as do brownies and other fairy tale creatures from books. So there is a lot to like and even love here. There is the idea of literary villains wanting to live in the real world because that's where there is no author to pull the strings and decide who lives and dies, and where the good guys don't always win. This is brilliant. Again, too bad it wasn't explored more.
For what it is, 'Inkheart' isn't a total waste of potential. At best it's a nice albeit long book about books for book lovers (mainly of fantasy). It reads like an old, dog-eared book with a sprinkle of fairy dust around the rough edges, which was perhaps intentional. But that's just me.
Final Score: 3/5
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