Cornelia Funke Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Inkspell
Inkspell
Author(s) Cornelia Funke
Translator Anthea Bell
Illustrator Carol Lawson (map, chapter head illustratons)

Cornelia Funke (chapter-end illustrations)

Cover Artist Carol Lawson (map, chapter head illustratons)

Cornelia Funke (chapter-end illustrations)

Country Germany

UK
US

Publisher(s) Cecilie Dressler Verlag (Germany)

The Chicken House (UK)
Scholastic Inc. (US)

Inkspell is a 2005 young adult novel by German author Cornelia Funke originally released in Germany under the title Tintenblut. It was translated into English and released in October 2005 by Anthea Bell. It is the second book in the Inkheart trilogy.

Dedication

under construction

The Blurb

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of the extraordinary events of Inkheart, and the story whose characters strode out of the pages and changed her life forever.

But for Dustfinger , the fire-eater torn from his world of words, the need to return has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the magical ability to read him back, he sets in motion a dangerous reversal that sees the characters of Inkheart transported to a charmed Inkworld, about to be fought over by rival rebels and princes.

But can Meggie, Farid and Fenoglio ‘write’the wrongs of the Inkworld in time to avert disaster?

Detailed Plot Summary

A year has passed, and Meggie now lives in Elinor's house along with Darius, Mortimer, and Resa. But Dustfinger is extremely desperate to return to the Inkworld. He and Farid seek out several Silvertongues, all of whom fail to send him back. When he finds a crooked storyteller named Orpheus, Orpheus obliges, but doesn't send his apprentice Farid back into the book as they arranged; he then steals the book from the boy and hands it over to Basta, who still desires revenge for the death of his master, Capricorn.

Dustfinger, now in the Inkworld, regrets the fact that Farid didn't come back with him but didn't suspect that Orpheus intended it that way. Dustfinger as he travels home through the Wayless Wood as Dustfinger talks to a friend, Cloud-dancer. It turns out Dustfinger has a wife and two daughters. One of these daughters, Rosanna, has died of fever when he was stuck in this world. The other daughter, Brianna, works for 'Her Ugliness', Princess of the Inkworld. Dustfinger then travels back to his wife Roxanne who remarried while he was away and had a son. However her second husband burned to death. Meanwhie, Farid, desperate to rejoin Dustfinger, convinces Meggie to read him into the book so he can warn Dustfinger about Basta, and then become his apprentice once more. But this time, Meggie wants to know how to read herself as well as Farid into Inkheart, despite the fact that reading oneself into a story was previously thought impossible. Meggie successfully enters the "Inkworld" unharmed in any way. Meggie's family is heartbroken when they read the note she left.

Soon after they arrive, Mortola, Basta, Orpheus, and a "man built like a wardrobe" barge into Elinor's house, and take Mo, Resa, Elinor, and Darius prisoner. Mortola orders Orpheus to read Basta, Mortola, and Mo into Inkheart, but Resa comes with them by accident. Mortola has brought along a rifle, and shoots Mo. Resa discovers that her voice has come back to her as she cries. Resa and Mo hide in a secret cave with the strolling players (known also as Motley Folk) while he recovers, but they soon assume that the injured Mo is the mysterious gentleman-robber, the "Bluejay", a fictional hero created by Fenoglio's words made into song for the Motley Folk to sing.

Fenoglio has been working as a court scribe in Lombrica's capital city of Ombra, and once reunited with Meggie he asks her to read Cosimo the Fair back into the story, since he died a death the author never planned for him. Meggie doesn't feel right to interfere with the story so much but is soon convinced by Fenoglio as it will be a double of Cosimo, not Cosimo himself. Reluctantly Meggie agrees to read the words but soon regrets it when she realises that it has gone wrong. Cosimo has none of his doubles memories and doesn't seem to love his wife and child anymore. Instead he 'spends his nights' with Dustfinger and Roxanne's daughter Brianna. Violante begs Fenoglio to convince Roxanne to deal with Brianna and tell her not to upset Violante's marriage. Fenoglio attempts this but fails, a mixture of Roxanne's reluctance to tell her daughter what to do and Roxanne's distracting beauty. Fenoglio thinks that Roxanne is 'too beautiful' for Dustfinger.

Cosimo's return upsets the Adderhead, ruler of the neighboring region of Argenta, whom planned to take over Lombrica once The Laughing Prince passed away. With the rightful heir to the throne of Ombra mysteriously brought back to life, but with no memories of 'his own' life, a war is imminent.

Mo and Resa are captured by the Adderhead's men along with many other strolling players in the cave, sold out by one of their own. Meggie, who had also been able to read a few of Fenoglio's words to aid her father in recuperating, joins Dustfinger and Farid in searching for her parents and the strolling players. Along with the Black Prince, de facto leader of the Motley Folk, they launch a successful rescue mission, but Mo is unable to escape because of his fatal wound and Resa stays behind with him. Meggie goes willingly into the Adderhead's Castle of Night and, fulfilling a prophecy she and Fenoglio dreamed up and "read" into reality, offers him a bargain: Mo, a great bookbinder rather than the robber they believe him to be, will bind the Adderhead a book of immortality if he releases Meggie, Resa, Mo, and the rest of the strolling players. What he neglects to tell the Prince of Argenta is that if three words are written in the book ("Heart", "Spell", and "Death", referencing the titles of the books), the person who signed his name in the book to gain immortality will die instantly. However, his lieutenant Firefox, disbelieving of the entire concept from the beginning, is chosen to test it. Firefox is made immortal, surviving a fatal stabbing without suffering any consequences, but then Taddeo, the Adderhead's librarian, kills him by writing the three words in the book. Satisfied that the book works, the words are all erased and replaced by the Adderhead's name, consequently making the Adderhead invincible. Mo picks up Firefox's sword as they leave and claims it as his own, feeling a strange coldness within him; he believes his anger and sadness at the events thus far are changing him into a different person.

The Adderhead decided, as celebration for his wife giving birth to a healthy son to release all of the prisoners from his cells, but the Black Prince suspects that he instead plans to sell the prisoners into slavery. Together the robbers plan to free the prisoners, during the raid Mo learns to fight and kill. Unfortunately Basta kills Farid. Basta is then killed himself by Mo.

Later Dustfinger talks with Meggie saying that she would like Farid back too. He the sends Meggie to Roxanne to tell her that he will always find a way to get back to her. Roxanne realizes what Dustfinger plans to do and runs to him, she is too late however and watches the White Women take away Dustfinger, thus Farid is the Gwin that becomes the death of him in Fenoglio's original story. Farid is then brought back to life in Dustfinger's place and the story ends with Meggie reading Opheseus to the Inkworld so as to resurrect Dustfinger. Farid decides to become Orpheus' servant so that Dustfinger's resurrection shall come sooner.

Advertisement