Inkdeath (Audiobook)

Synopsis: Life in the Inkworld has been far from easy since the extraordinary events of Inkspell, when the story of Inkheart magically drew Meggie, Mo, and Dustfinger back into its pages.With Dustfinger dead, and the evil Adderhead in control, the story in which they are all caught has taken an unhappy turn.Elinor, left alone in the real world, believes her family to be lost - lost between the covers of a book. But as winter comes there is reason to hope - if only Meggie and Mo can rewrite the wrongs of the past and make a dangerous deal with death....Here is the fantastic finale to the epic Inkheart Trilogy from best-selling author Cornelia Funke.

Review: Although I bought this in paperback I eventually decided to download the audio. The main reason for this was that I found reading 'Inkspell' a trial, I enjoyed it, but because I couldn't commit the time to reading it, I picked it up and put it down far too often and literally got lost in the story, but not in a good way. Anyhow, I'm glad I did because listening to Allan Corduner's reading of Inkdeath was an absolute pleasure. At first it was a bit odd, having read the first two books, I had my own voices for the characters and they weren't for the most part anything like Alan's but after a couple of chapters I forgot about my versions.I was glad to have a copy of the book to use for reference, it has a synopsis of both Inkheart and Inkspell at the start and a comprehensive A-Z list of characters and place names which came in pretty handy especially at the beginning.

click here for the rest of my review - possible spoilers

Back to the story then, since the death of Cosima the Fair, Ombra has been ruled by the decaying but immortal, Adderhead, and governed by his brother in-law, the Milksop. Farid is still mourning the death of Dustfinger, and now slaves away working for Orpheus, desperately hoping that he can persuade him to somehow read Dustfinger back into the story. Orpheus has started to put his own stamp on the story, he creates riches for himself and does his best to ingratiate himself to the Milksop. He conjures up weird and wonderful creatures that had only ever been heard of in fairy tales before. He finds all the right words to use from Fenoglio's original text, he rearranges and mixes them to suit himself. He finds himself growing rich on 'what he can entice from another man's word's'.

Fenoglio is living in Minerva's little attic room, he has turned to drink and lazes about in bed for most of the time, he is despondent and has given up writing, whatever his good intentions Inkworld has started to shape it's own story. Orpheus uses his glass man to spy on Fenoglio, he fears that he may take up his pen again and then he will lose some of the control and influence he has gained.

Mortimer, Meggie and Resa are living with the Black Prince and his band of robbers who are trying to protect the citizens of Ombra from the Milksop and his army. Mo has assumed the identity of the mythical Bluejay, an outlaw immortalised in verse by Fenoglio in Inkheart, strangely though it feels as though the Bluejay has always been a part of him, merely sleeping until Fenoglio's world had brought him to life. At the end of Inkspell, the Adderhead, using Meggie and Resa as bait, had forced Mo to bind a book for him which would make him immortal. He wrote his name in the blank pages but what he didn't know is that Mo had ensured that the book itself was dying. As the book begins to decay, so does the Adderhead, sunlight hurts his skin, his limbs are bloated, every step and every breath is painful to him, he emits a rotting stench so powerful and repellant that it is torture to be anywhere near him. And he knows that this agony will continue forever. He cannot sleep and he spends his time plotting revenge on the Bluejay, he needs to capture him and force him to bind another book that will restore him to full health, and then he will kill him.

Mo also knows that he needs to re-visit the Castle Of Night and write the three words in the book that will permanently rid Inkworld of the Adderhead. But it's dangerous, the Adderhead keeps the blood soaked book with him at all times, how will Mo ever be able to get hold of it? He is surprised when he is offered help in his quest from an unlikely source, the Adderheads daughter ... Her Ugliness ... Violante also want's to see her father destroyed. But can Mo trust her?

Meggie is in turmoil also, would they all be better off returning to this world?, can she persuade Fenoglio to take up his pen again and can she read his words to help keep the Bluejay safe? She's annoyed with Farid, who spends most of his time with Orpheus obsessing about Dustfinger. There is another boy that has caught her eye, the Strong Mans younger brother Doria, is it possible to love two boys at the same time?

I loved the twists and turns of the story, Cornelia manages to tie everything up together beautifully and she keeps the suspense building. The question I most wanted answered (or was most fearful of finding out the answer to) was 'will Dustfinger be brought back to life'?, he's got to be everyone's favourite character hasn't he? but I was also eager to find out whether the Folchart's would return to this world or stay in Inkworld. The quality of Cornelia's writing shines out. I still think that Inkheart was the best book of the trilogy, I just thought it was storytelling at it's most perfect, but I really enjoyed this one too. The ending won't be to everyone's taste, there's one outcome in particular that is disappointing, but it felt right for the story as it developed. I liked the way that she hints at adventures yet to come involving new characters, that we've only just met. We probably won't hear about these adventures, but they will be happening just the same.