Inkspell
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| Inkspell | |
 First Eng. edition cover |
|
| Author | Cornelia Funke |
|---|---|
| Original title | Tintenblut |
| Translator | Anthea Bell |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Series | Inkheart trilogy |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Meredith |
| Publication date | 2005 |
| Published in English |
October 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 635 pp (first Eng. edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-439-55400-4 (first Eng. edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | Inkheart |
| Followed by | Inkdeath |
Inkspell (original title: Tintenblut which really means Inkblood) is a young adult novel by Cornelia Funke. It was named the 2006 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Children's Literature category
Inkspell is the second novel in Cornelia Funke's Inkworld trilogy. The first novel, Inkheart, (2003) was critically acclaimed and is being made into a major motion picture to be released in January of 2008. The third novel, which was recently renamed Inkdeath was released 28 September 2007 in Germany. This second part of the trilogy, Inkspell, published October 1, 2005, was originally unintended by the author. But as she states in the author's note, it was as her characters in the first book suggested: a story is never fully retained within the covers of a book, and she found herself wondering what would become of her characters after the somewhat ambiguous ending of Inkheart. Its German title, 'Tintenblut', literally translates: 'Inkblood'. For some reason, the publisher or editor of the english (U.S.) edition decided to change the title; but the original title seems more appropriate since blood is a recurring theme (literally and figuratively) throughout the book.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
In Inkspell, a year has passed since now 13-year-old Meggie discovered her ability of reading aloud like her father. Dustfinger has located a poser megalomaniac calling himself "Orpheus" and once again hopes to be able to return to the world of Inkheart. This time Orpheus does read him back into the Inkworld, but Farid is left out of the book. Then it is revealed that Orpheus has been working for Mortola, and Basta tries to kill Farid. Basta is stopped by the hellhound that had taken place of Dustfinger. Farid runs to Elinor's, where Meggie and the others are staying. He persuades Meggie to read him and herself into the book to warn Dustfinger that Basta is back. Gwin (Dustfinger's horned marten) is accidentally read into the book as well.
Mortola, Orpheus, and Basta arrive soon after. Orpheus reads Mo, Resa, Mortola, and Basta into the book, at Capricorn's old fortress. Then Orpheus locks Elinor and Darius in the basement. In the book, Mortola shoots Mo in the chest, and leaves, thinking she has killed him. Resa seems to have regained her voice while Mo hangs on to life by a thread.
Apparently, the Inkworld is split into two realms: one called Argenta, ruled by the tyrant Adderhead, and the other realm, called Lombrica, is ruled by the Laughing Prince. Except now he's no longer laughing since his son, the beloved Cosimo the Fair, has died. The Adderhead, though still in great power, is getting old. Since his daughter had married Cosimo, his only heir and grandson is also the Laughing Prince's heir. Tension is building high on who gets the control over the Inkworld.
Meanwhile, Meggie has found Fenoglio, Dustfinger has found Roxane, his wife from ten years ago, and Farid has found Dustfinger. Fenoglio has been spinning stories and writing poems for the Laughing Prince. One of them includes the story of the Bluejay, a robber similar to Robin Hood who the Adderhead has placed a high bounty on.
Resa and Mo are saved by the Motley Folk, but none of them seems willing to help Mo, except for the Black Prince, an old friend of Dustfinger's. Resa sends Cloud-Dancer, another friend of Dustfinger's, to Meggie with a message about Mo. Just about this time, the Laughing Prince dies, and Basta finds Cloud-Dancer, killing him just before he can deliver the message. Fenoglio finds the message and writes the words that Meggie reads, and Mo starts to recover. Fenoglio explains that he used Mo as a model for the Bluejay, which is why the Motley Folk were reluctant to help Mo.
Now that the Laughing Prince is dead, the Adderhead's men are going to attack Lombrica. In a desperate move to turn the story around, Fenoglio writes of a new Cosimo the Fair. Meggie reads him to life, and Cosimo does drive the Adderhead's troops from Ombra. While this is happening, Farid comes distressed about Dustfinger. Farid asks Meggie to come stay with him at Roxane's farm, kissing her before he leaves. To Fenoglio's great disappointment, the new Cosimo did not handle things as wisely as he hoped: Cosimo had declared war on the Adderhead.
Capricorn's surviving fireraisers have joined the Adderhead and lead a brutal raid on the Motley Folk's camp, capturing the Black Prince, Mo, Resa, and the rest of the Strolling Players. Dustfinger leads Farid and Meggie to the camp shortly after and they follow Firefox. They free the Black Prince and find out that Mo is still alive but held prisoner at the Adderhead's castle.
Next, they go to a mill in the Adderhead's land to receive a message. There, however, Basta is waiting, having intercepted the letter. There is a brief fight in which Farid saves Dustfinger's life, and he, Dustfinger, and Meggie escape. They go to the Barn Owl, a physician who had helped Dustfinger before. Fenoglio, meanwhile, hatches a plan to defeat the Adderhead. He gives Roxane a letter to bring to Meggie with words that could finally turn the story around. Unfortunately, Meggie is captured by the Adderhead's men before she could finish the last two sentences that were supposed to protect Cosimo. Since she did not read them, Cosimo is later killed, along with his troops, by the Adderhead's men.
According to Meggie's and Fenoglio's plan, Meggie tells the Adderhead that Mo can save him from what he fears most---death---if he lets all the prisoners go. Mo will bound the Adderhead a blank book that can make the Adderhead immortal, as long as the book remains intact. Meggie did not say the whole truth, that the book could kill him too if "heart", "spell", and "death" are written in it. The Adderhead agrees to the deal. (These words are the names of the books in the series: Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath) Mo binds the book, setting the plan in motion, but the Adderhead had already found out about the trick because he read Meggie's letter. The Adderhead tests the book's magic on Firefox, having Firefox write his real name (not "Firefox", as he prefers to be called.). The Adderhead then has the words scraped out,(killing Firefox, who has had a sword run through him) and writes his own name on the blank pages, and locks away the book. Satisfied, he lets Meggie, Resa, Mo, and the other prisoners go.
They all meet up with Dustfinger and company but are soon attacked by Capricorn's old fire-raisers. In the heat of the battle, Basta's knife sinks into Farid's back while he and Meggie are winning a small battle and instantly kills Farid. Mo then finally kills Basta.
After the battle, Farid is laid to rest and Dustfinger asks Meggie, "You'd like him back, too, wouldn't you?" It turns out that there was a story the Strolling Players tell about a fire-eater whose son was taken by the White Women. Yet the fire-eater managed to save his son by making a deal: that if he went with the White Women instead, they'll give back the son (since they like to be entertained by fire). Likewise, Dustfinger summons the White Women and trades himself for Farid. By the time Meggie comes back with Roxane, Farid had come back to life and only Dustfinger's body is left behind.
Farid begs Fenoglio to do something, but Fenoglio has sunk into depression now that his story has gone horribly wrong. Then Orpheus comes into the world of Inkheart, whether by his own or because of Fenoglio's words and Meggie's voice. Orpheus claims he can find a way to bring Dustfinger back, but Roxane is skeptical, since people had said the same thing when her little daughter had died years ago and by believing in their words, it only caused her more pain and sorrow. She sets her mind on preserving Dustfinger's corpse with herbs at an isolated place where she won't allow anyone else near, especially Farid.
In the end, Farid and Orpheus go with Meggie and her parents back to Lombrica. The future for Inkheart looks grim, now that the Adderhead is immortal while the Laughing Prince and Cosimo are dead. However, the last page ends with Farid saying determinedly, "I'll bring Dustfinger back. This story will have a happy ending. I swear!"
[edit] Character histories
- Mortimer "Mo" Folchart: (also known as Silvertongue and the Bluejay) A bookbinder who can read out characters from books. In 'Inkspell', he goes through a dark phase after Mortola shoots him, nearly killing him. At one point, he imagines himself killing the Adderhead's soldiers, something unlikely of him in 'Inkheart'. In the end, however, he succeeds in killing Basta, whom had just thrown a knife into Farid's back. Mo accepts his position as the Bluejay - a robber that everyone around him fears and respects. By the end of the book, he learns to kill - a result of extreme rage, pain, and fear.
- Teresa "Resa" Folchart: Meggie's mother, Mortimer's wife, Elinor's niece and the first person to enter and return from Inkworld. When she had been read back out to the real world by a stammering bookreader, she had lost her voice; however, when she was read back into the Inkworld by Orpheus, she regained her power of speech. She also loves Mo.
- Meggie Folchart: Mo and Resa's daughter, who can read characters out of books. She also can read characters into books, demonstrated in the 9th chapter of Inkspell. Developed a crush on Farid in the beginning of the book, which turned into strong relationship.
- Dustfinger: (also known as the Fire Dancer and the Matchstick Eater) A fire-eater that was once read out of Inkheart. He has three scars on his face made by Basta's knife. Dustfinger is great friends with the fairies and water nymphs. When Silvertoungue reads a boy out of Thousand and One Nights (Farid) the boy becomes his shadow. Later Dustfinger thinks of Farid like an adopted son. He spent 10 painful years away from his world and family before finding a way to return. Even after returning to the Inkworld, he fosters a sort of crush on Resa, and seems to think that she should be freed from her life with Mo, much to Meggie's discomfort. He gets Orpheus to read him into the Inkworld, but Orpheus purposely leaves Farid behind. At the end of the book, he sacrifices his life to bring Farid back to life, an idea he got from a legend about the White Women.Funke says that Dustfinger will return in Inkdeath.
- The Black Prince: The leader of the strolling players and Dustfinger's best friend. An expert knife thrower. He has a faithful pet bear.
- Elinor Loredan: Meggie's great aunt, a bibliophile that houses Mo, Meggie, Resa, and Darius.
- Gwin: Dustfinger's horned marten. Dustfinger had tried to keep him in the real world, because in the novel Inkheart (by Fenogilo), he was to be the cause of Dustfinger's death. Dustfinger tried to save Gwin and died in the attempt. Gwin was very jealous of Jink in Inkspell,but soon the two martens become friends. In the books they say that Gwin never bited Farid. Gwin rarely bites Dustfinger.
- Farid: A boy read out of The Book of a Thousand and One Nights who falls in love with Meggie. He is also Dustfinger's apprentice in the art of fire-eating, also like an adopted son to Dustfinger. He dies at the end of Inkspell but is brought back to life by Dustfinger because Dustfinger trades his own life for Farid's. Farid is desperate to get Dustfinger back. At the end of 'Inkspell' Farid whispers into Meggie's ear and says " I'll bring Dustfinger back. I swear!"
- Fenoglio: (also known as Inkweaver) A good-natured old man, and the author of the Inkheart in the story. He was accidentally read by Meggie into the book at the end of Inkheart. At the end of Inkspell he says he will never write another word because of what happened to his "new" Cosimo.
- Orpheus: (also known as 'Cheeseface' by Farid) A man who possesses the power to read things out of books. He works for Mortola. He calls himself by that name for the Greek god of the lyre, Orpheus. He is very vain and believes himself to be the best reader in the world, and superior to Mo and Meggie. Orpheus read Inkheart as a child and Dustfinger became his favorite character, so although normally self-centered and annoying he cares about Dustfinger's fate (this is later taken advantage of by Farid).
- Roxane: Dustfinger's wife. She is a former minstrel woman and now an herbalist. She holds great animosity towards Farid because she thinks he is Dustfinger's biogliocal child from another relationship. Her animosity toward him grows even more at the end of the book because she is mad at Farid and says he should have stayed dead.
- Brianna: Dustfinger and Roxane's daughter. She is a maid to Violante and in love with the man who believes himself to be Cosimo the Fair.
- Rosanna: Dustfinger and Roxane's second daughter. She died from fever two winters after Dustfinger left. Roxane buried her behind the house where she used to play.
- Jehan: The son of Roxane and her deceased second husband. Also named after Roxane's second husband who died while trying to save farm animals in a barn fire.
- Jink: Another horned marten. Dustfinger caught Jink when he found him scaring Roxanne's chickens, and keeps him to take the place of Gwin as his pet marten when he returned to the Inkworld.
- Darius: (Also known as Stumbletongue) A man who can read out characters from books though often damages them when he stutters, called Stumbletongue by Basta. Later lives with Elinor, Mo, Meggie, and Resa helping Elinor build up her library once again.
- Mortola: (also called the Magpie) Capricorn's mother who seeks revenge against Mo for killing her son.
- The Adderhead: (also know as the Adder or the Silver Prince) An evil King of the Southern part of the Inkworld also known as Argenta. He finds pleasure in hanging people.
- Basta: One of Capricorn's henchmen, now working under the Adderhead. He is superstitious and is never seen without his knife or mint leaves. He made the scars on Dustfinger's face because they "fancied the same woman." Mo kills him at the end of the book.
- Slasher: One of the Adderhead's assistants.
- Firefox: The Adderhead's herald. He got his name because he is a fire-raiser, and his cape is made of fox tails. He is killed by the Adderhead's blank book.
- The Laughing Prince: (since his son's death, known as the Prince of Sighs) He is the ruler of the Northern part of the Inkworld also known as Lombrica.
- Violante: The Adderhead's unhappy daughter, and Cosimo's youthful wife, nicknamed "Her Ugliness" for a birthmark on her cheek. However, the birthmark disappears after Cosimo the Fair is "resurrected." She is enchanted by bitter-sweet stories and is ridiculed for her ability to, and love for, reading. A clever character. She is jealous at her maid Brianna because she is always with Cosimo.
- Cosimo the Fair: Violante's deceased husband and Adderhead's archenemy. He is the son of the Laughing Prince. He is later revived by Fenoglio (albeit through creating a new Cosimo) only to be ultimately destroyed by the Adderhead's army. He has black hair.
- Jacopo: The spoiled son of Violante and Cosimo. He is the heir to both Argenta and Lombrica. He enjoys watching the Strolling Players.
- Cloud Dancer: Dustfinger's old friend who helps Resa by delivering a message to Meggie for her. He is also killed by Basta's knife at Fenogilo's house. He was a tightrope walker for the strolling players, but since he had an accident and fell off his tightrope he can no longer "dance in the clouds" as he says in the book. Instead he delivers messages for people in Lombrica to earn money.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
In the year 2006, a play was produced in Germany of 'Inkspell', under its German title: 'Tintenblut'. However, the play strays from the book, including cutting out some characters and important details and scenes. On August 30, 2007 the Junges Theater (Young Theater) in Bonn, Germany, is going to do a musical production of Inkspell. It's film in 2010. It is assumed that if the new Inkheart (film) does well, New Line will make Inkspell into a movie adaptation.
[edit] Trivia/Goofs
In the edition published by Chicken House Inc., there is a grammatical mistake, when Fenoglio says "That's dangerous country!" When he means to say "That's a dangerous country!". Another mistake, also in the Chicken House edition, can be found on page 277, while Meggie is reading she reads, ",and the sight of him, familiar as it was, yet turned their faces pale," When it should say, ",and the sight of him, familiar as it was, turned their faces pale." A major goof was found on page 175-176, when Resa is talking about how Dustfinger used to call to the fairies when he and Resa used to live in the Inkworld, when in fact, Resa and Dustfinger were never in the Inkworld at the same time.
[edit] External links
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