The book I read is called Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke. The genre of this book is fantasy-adventure, and it takes place in 2003. I can infer that it takes place somewhere in Italy because one of the characters says that the Romans built the roads. Funke has written one other book that takes place in Italy, so I suppose that this one does too. The book is about a girl named Meggie whose life changed when she realized that her father and she were able to read people and objects out of books. Meggie experienced one of the most enchanting and thrilling times of her life as she fought Capricorn, an evil ruler who was released from a book called Inkheart.

One rainy night, a stranger named Dustfinger came to warn Meggie Folchart and her father Mo about Capricorn, an evil man who wants a certain book in Mo’s possession. The trio decided to hide the book at Meggie’s rich aunt Elinor’s large mansion; it would be a perfect hiding place because Elinor had millions of books in her library. But one of Capricorn’s men, Basta, found out where they were hiding the book and came to kidnap Mo. Of course, he took the book with him. Since Basta couldn’t read, he was fooled into taking the wrong book!

When Meggie found out that they took the wrong book, she heeded Dustfinger’s words of wisdom. She knew that Capricorn would kill Mo if he didn’t get what he wanted. So Elinor, Meggie, and Dustfinger went to the Devil’s Anvil, Capricorn’s village with the real book. Arriving at the village, Elinor and Meggie found out that Dustfinger was in fact a traitor who had been hired by Capricorn to “bring the girl and the book.” But Dustfinger himself had been betrayed by Capricorn, who had promised Dustfinger a copy of the book, but never gave it.

Meggie wondered what could be so important about the book when she and Elinor were shoved into a small slum home at the side of Capricorn’s village. Mo was in the same house, and he explained everything that both Meggie and Elinor were dying to know: who were these people, and why was the book so important? Mo explained that nine years before this, he was reading aloud to Meggie’s mother from the special book, Inkheart, when Capricorn, Dustfinger, and Basta, who were characters from Inkheart, appeared in their living room. At the same time, Meggie’s mother, Teresa, vanished into the paper pages of the book. This was the very reason that Mo never read aloud again, fearing Meggie’s safety.

Soon Capricorn wanted to hear Mo’s voice again. He wanted Mo to read some gold out of Treasure Island. Mo successfully did this, but Capricorn wasn’t satisfied. So Mo began to read out of Ali and the Forty Thieves. Much to his surprise, a boy, about Meggie’s age appeared in the room, and one of Capricorn’s men disappeared. This boy’s name was Farid. Capricorn decided that the gold he had was enough for the day. Then Capricorn did something that horrified Elinor, Meggie, and Mo. He burned every single copy of Inkheart except for one, which he kept as his personal copy. He did this in case anybody tried to read him back into the book.

That night, the betrayed Dustfinger went to seek his revenge. He decided to free Elinor, Meggie, Mo, and Farid. Farid, who was fascinated by Dustfinger’s fire-eating talent, followed him everywhere. The five went to a nearby village. Elinor, who still had her credit card, checked them into a luxurious hotel to stay for the night. The next day, Mo, Meggie, Farid, and Dustfinger went to meet Fenoglio, the author of Inkheart, in case he had a copy, while Elinor drove home.

When Elinor reached home, she cheerfully went into her library to see her rather large and unhealthy collection of books. But Capricorn’s men had been there first and had burned all of her books. Not even the picture books had been spared. Elinor, weeping loudly, ran to her car and drove directly to the hotel. Meanwhile, Mo told Fenoglio everything about what had happened. He also suggested a plan of what to do. Outside, Farid and Dustfinger ran away towards Capricorn’s Village. Getting the last copy of Inkheart was the only way that Dustfinger could return to his own world. Mo got a call to get Elinor from the hotel. When he had gone, there was a knock on the door. It was Basta!

It turns out that Basta had seen them leaving the hotel and had followed them until Fenoglio’s house. Fenoglio tried to convince Basta that he indeed had written Basta’s fate in Inkheart. Basta, who was still unconvinced, took Fenoglio with him as well as Meggie. That way, Mo would come looking for Meggie to Capricorn’s Village. Basta reached Capricorn’s village at the same time that Dustfinger did. He and Farid hid in an abandoned house at the edge of the village. Meggie and Fenoglio were kept in a room in Capricorn’s house. Mo and Elinor arrived at the outskirts. In theory there was a three-way attack towards the village: two from outside, one from inside.

In Meggie’s room, she read aloud from Peter Pan when something miraculous happened. A small fairy appeared in the room: Tinker Bell! Meggie couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw that she had the same power as her father. Both Basta and Fenoglio knew about this, so obviously Capricorn was notified. Capricorn tested her abilities with The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Lo and Behold, a tin man appeared. Fenoglio asked Meggie to keep the tin soldier. Since Basta was very superstitious, Fenoglio was able to convince Basta, with the help of black-magic, to give him some paper. Fenoglio had a plan.

Dustfinger had gone to Capricorn’s house to find the book. He had some help from one of Capricorn’s maids Resa. Resa was mute, but she could read and write, and she had taught Dustfinger how to read and write too. He told Resa to find the book for him. Too bad Basta saw him and put him in a jail. Meanwhile, Farid found Elinor and Mo and tied them up in case they acted foolishly and blew Dustfinger’s cover.

When Capricorn found out about Dustfinger, he put him on to an execution, which was to take place soon. Meggie wanted to visit Dustfinger before his execution. Basta accompanied her to the cell, where Dustfinger, taking advantage of Basta’s superstition, He scared Basta into letting him out of the cell. Basta, who hadn’t realized what happened, realized that he himself was in the cell, locked. Cockerell, one of Capricorn’s men, just laughed at the fact that Dustfinger was able to lock Basta in the cage. When Capricorn found out about this, he was so furious that he decided to put Basta on the execution. During Dustfinger’s escape, Capricorn’s men found out about Resa, and she was also put on execution.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the village, Farid decided to free Mo to go look for Dustfinger, and then maybe try to save Meggie. Mo had no idea that her daughter had the same power that he did. Elinor, who was left with the car, was enraged. She wanted to go to the police. She managed to get herself out, and drove to the nearest police station. A police officer volunteered to come to the village to see what was going on. Capricorn met the two at the gate of his village and lied to the police office. When the police officer left, Capricorn put Elinor on the execution. When Elinor got to the cell she was shocked to see her favorite niece, Teresa (Resa) Folchart, Meggie’s mother in the cell with her.

All of the characters knew that the monster who was going to execute the three prisoners was none other than the Shadow, Capricorn’s hellhound from Inkheart. And it would be Meggie who would read him out for Capricorn. That’s where Fenoglio’s plan came into action. He wrote a new version of the Shadow on the paper that Basta had given him. This version had a happy ending. During the execution, Fenoglio distracted the antagonists, while Meggie reached into her sleeve and took out the paper that he had written. She read out the Shadow, and it killed Capricorn instead of the prisoners. When he did this, all of the evil characters from Inkheart, and any other book would go back to where they came from. The shadow then died, and all the creatures from Inkheart that had died to form him came to life again. The plan went perfectly – Besides the fact that Fenoglio himself disappeared into Inkheart.

Soon Mo, Meggie, Elinor, and Teresa joined together again and went back to living there old lives again. Elinor enjoyed having company of the creatures that had come back to life from the Shadow’s death. Dustfinger and Farid disappeared somewhere to conjure up their own magic. Basta and Mortola, Capricorn’s mother, who were the only evil characters from a book who remained in this world, went to find a way to avenge Capricorn’s death. How they did this is not explained in the book, but is in the sequel, Inkspell. The Folcharts decided to stay with Elinor, who would start to build up her collection of books again. All was well, for now.

My favorite scene from Inkheart was Capricorn’s final scene in the book. The characters involved were Capricorn, Meggie Folchart, the Shadow, Mortola, Basta, Teresa Folchart, Elinor Loredan, Fenoglio, and many other minor characters who were watching the execution. The scene takes place in an old football field in Capricorn’s village. There are two important aspects of the scene: what happened, and what was supposed to happen. Capricorn had planned his “party” very well. What was supposed to happen was that Meggie would first read the Shadow out of Inkheart for him, and then he would execute his three prisoners: Basta, Elinor, and Resa (Teresa). Then the Shadow would rejoin him and murder for him, or do anything he wants it to do. But things went haywire when Fenoglio’s plan went into action. Fenoglio had invented a new version of the Inkheart passage out of which Meggie would read the Shadow. Except, his version had a happy ending. And in case any of the antagonists saw Meggie take out the paper that he wrote, he devised a plan for it. Meggie would put her right hand over her hair to push it back, and then Fenoglio would try to persuade the antagonists to stop the execution. Meanwhile, while the attention of the antagonists was on Fenoglio, Meggie would take the sheet of paper that Fenoglio wrote out of her sleeve and align it to the part where Fenoglio’s original Inkheart story turned into his modern one. Meggie would then read the Shadow to life, but Meggie would continue reading the story into Fenoglio’s new lines, and the Shadow would kill Capricorn instead of the prisoners, and all the men of Capricorn’s who came from Inkheart and had their hand in some of Capricorn’s murderous affairs would go along with him, thus releasing all the creatures that died an unfortunate death by the hand of Capricorn, and the others who died to form the Shadow. The plan was foolproof. And it turned out exactly as Fenoglio had planned. But one little thing happened that was not in the plans of Fenoglio. Fenoglio himself vanished into thin air just as Capricorn’s men had. And a bad thing also happened, two bad things. Mortola, Capricorn’s mother, and Basta did not vanish, but ran away to seek revenge against Meggie and her family, somewhere far away…

Inkheart was a great book, I beyond doubt liked it. The best thing about the book was the thrilling runaway and hiding scenes. It may seem boring seeing the characters run away and hide from danger over and over again, but it was actually quite breathtaking. In the scene in which Mo and Farid were building “camp” in Capricorn’s village, two of Capricorn’s men came by and the two had to hide underneath in a sewer. I could imagine what they might be thinking, because getting caught was a matter of life and death.

Many people have read Inkheart before, and they gave me a good review, making me choose the book. I would tell other people that this book is great, and it’s filled with suspense. People who like fantasy-adventure books injected with a blast of suspense will adore this book as I did. I would not recommend this book to people who like boring novels in which the story goes nowhere until chapter 35.

Inkheart is in a series called Inkworld by the author Cornelia Funke. I haven’t read any of the others because Inkheart is the first, but the others are called Inkspell, and the upcoming Inkdeath. The people who gave me reviews of Inkheart also had read Inkspell, which they said was a good book as well. Most probably, I’ll read that book soon too. I’ve read one other book by Cornelia Funke, called The Thief Lord, and it was as good as this one. The book was made into a movie called Inkheart, which will be releasing on Jan 30, 2009. Judging by the book, I expect the movie to be very good. Cornelia Funke personally chose Brendan Fraser to play Mo, so I expect the role will be very good.

I have many other thoughts about Inkheart. When I read Inkheart, it reminded me of a few other books/movies that I have read or watched. One book it reminds me of is the other one by Funke, The Thief Lord. Although the books aren’t related, the style of writing that Cornelia Funke has is clearly visible. There is a Bollywood (Bombay’s Hollywood) movie in which a famous comedian/comic character Govinda pokes a TV screen and pulls characters out of the TV show. This is similar to this story as the Folcharts can read characters out of books. The title has a lot to do with the story. In the story, the first book from which Mortimer Folchart reads out a living being is called Inkheart, which is also the same name as the title. Three characters are directly related to Inkheart; Basta, Capricorn, and Dustfinger. These three characters are the ones released from Inkheart.

To finish, I just say that Inkheart was a very nice book. I will read more books by Cornelia Funke after this because of the last two that I read.