Rating: 
Summary: Classic fun for book lovers
Review: Written in the expansive style of an old children's classic, Inkheart is a story for those who truly love books. Forget the old formula of a normal person getting caught in a fantasy world, Inkheart turns that tradition on its head when characters from a fantasy novel get sucked into our world. Meggie's father has always had the talent of bringing things out of the books he reads aloud, and it's his great misfortune that the first time he brought people out, he inflicted a particularly amoral villain on the world. Many years after the event, that villain has taken over a remote village, and has plans for the future. Meggie, her bookbinder father, and her book-collecting aunt must stop this heartless scoundrel from using them to expand his little empire.
The characters are detailed, multi-dimensional and engaging, and the story is a page-turner, with unexpected twists and turns. It was difficult to put down!
While the ending was satisfactorily resolved, there are enough loose ends that this book is simply screaming for a sequel to be written. I hope there will be one!
Rating: 
Summary: great premise weakly executed
Review: The premise of Inkheart, that some have the ability to call out characters from books by reading aloud, is absolutely wonderful. At first, of course, one thinks how great to have such a talent--to call out Bilbo or Willy Wonka or Aladdin, but what if you couldn't then return them to their homes--how tragic and cruel for them. Or even worse, what if you couldn't control your talent, so reading aloud Lord of the Rings might mean you'd get to talk to a hobbit or an elf, but also means you could just as easily be suddenly facing a troll or an orc or even worse, Sauron himself. Adding another achingly sharp layer,
what if whatever was called up from the book didn't simply appear but has to replace someone else in your world so that your best friend or father or mother got sent into the book world?
All of this is great fodder for a novel, opening up literally limitless characters. Unfortunately, Inkheart falls short in the execution. The story's main plot involves the struggle between the 12 year old main character (Meggie) and her father (Mo) and an evil villain (Capricorn) and his henchmen whom Mo accidentally "read" into being years ago, losing Meggie's mother into the book in turn. The villain is bent on turning Mo's talent to evil intent and will stop at nothing to get Mo in his power.
Or at least, so we're told, though to be honest, for all the many sentences about how evil Capricorn is, how sadistic his chief henchman is, by the middle of the book, their actions come across as less "evil" than bullying. Sure there are a lot of threats and abductions and hurling of people into "the crypt", but when nothing more untoward happens and when this sort of thing gets repeated several times, the villains tend to lose their bite. Perhaps this is due to the young age the book might be aimed at, though in that case the earlier descriptions of Capricorn's potential for horror should probably be downplayed as well.
The story begins when Mo learns from Dustfinger (another character from Capricorn's world accidentally brought into ours) that Capricorn has learned of his hiding place and is seeking both Mo and supposedly the only surviving copy of Capricorn's book. Mo, Meggie, and Dustfinger flee to Meggie's Aunt's house, filled with thousands of books. Without giving away too much, there is a betrayal, Mo is abducted as is Meggie eventually. Then there are escapes and then more abductions. The plot seems to circle around the same setting and even the same actions, never spiraling far from repetition, and because the villains are not particularly convincing as villains, the victories and defeats don't create much tension.
Along the way there are a few nice plot turns, such as when the author of Capricorn's book makes an appearance, but predictability returns shortly. The characterization is relatively weak. As mentioned, the villains are not all that believable as villains, and Meggie and Mo, while sympathetic, are a bit two-dimensional. They gain our sympathies more through tried and true plot (the missing mother, the abducted daughter)than through depth of feeling or character. Funke is at her strongest in the creation of her middling characters--Dustfinger, Meggie's aunt, and a young boy pulled from yet another novel in a "test run" for what is to be Mo's big work for Capricorn. These characters, neither wholly good or wholly evil, are more complex and thus add a level of complexity and unpredictability, bringing a refreshing air here and there into the story. They are not enough, however, and in plot, character and final resolution, Inkheart remains mostly predictable and static, lacking the richness of character, story, and description found in Funke's previous effort, The Thief Lord.
Rating:
Summary: Really good book
Review: I took three days to read it and I couldn't put it down. It's like Meggie says the book calls.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but sometimes tedious reading
Review: This is a good book but I thought it was too long. The descriptions were sometimes tedious and things didn't happen for long stretches at a time. I wonder if that has anything to do with the translation? I think the premise of the book is great and the title is wonderful, especially as it relates to Capricorn. I had problems with some of the things that went on in the book. Although I'm not advocating more violence in the book it was hard to believe these "toughs" were as mean as they were said to be if they never did away with characters once they found them. They kept on letting them go or just locking them in a cell. And I thought Elinor was just too much in love with her books. She thought more about them when they were destroyed than the people in trouble around her. I can only assume the wonderful illustrations were done by the author since there was no credit given. I was also hoping the reader would be taken into the world of "Inkheart." I'm not sure if I'll read the next two books in the trilogy but "Inkheart" is a very good book, if a little flawed. I enjoyed "The Thief Lord" much more. (One good thing for me was discovering Lawrence E. Wilson's reviews!! Can't wait to read some of his suggestions!)
Rating:
Summary: Good reading
Review: My 10 year old son liked this book but not as much as "The Various". I liked it better. The whole idea of reading people out of books is fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Inkheart, Funke's Best
Review: I have read both Inkheart and The Thief Lord and this is what I think:Cornelia Funke, author of the bestseller The Thief Lord, has worked wonders once again. Those who have read The Thief Lord, her most famous masterpiece, will find it hard to believe that I think that Inkheart is her best work of art yet. The German Funke has packed suspense, drama, and a whole lot of magic into this action-packed novel. The spell that this book casts over its readers, caused by the unforgettable Meggie, her father Mo, and their battle against evil and their own magic powers, will leave the readers completely spellbound. This "un-put-downable" book will have both children and adults turning pages until they reach the back cover. With its magical characters and supernaturally well-woven plot, this book is good for ages 8+, but it is best for ages 8-12.
Rating:
Summary: Inkheart
Review: Imagine it were posible to bring the characters from a book to life!! Not like when someone reads a book with such enchantment that the characters seem to jump from the pages into your bedroom.... but for real! Imagine they could actually climb out of the pages and into the real world!!! Well in this book they do. A man (Mo) can read many things out of different books. But when one day Mo reads out a dreadfull character and his sidekickout of the book Inkheart things start to get out of hand. His daghter is just figuring this out. Will she have the gift to???? You'll have to read the book to find out.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best but not quite
Review: At first I couldn't put it down but after a while I could. Unlike Harry Potter, you have to force yourself to get through some chapters because you get bored but it's still very good. It took a while to read because of its length. She is a very talented writer but you need to really like reading to be able to read her books.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Read - even better than Thief Lord
Review: Cornelia Funke and her translators serve up some very good stories. I agree with some of the 'complaints' by the more negative reviewers, but pretty much any book could always be better, and this one is well-worth your time whether you're a kid or an adult. There are some great turns of phrase here, some interesting characters and a great premise. I look forward to more from Ms. Funke.
Rating:
Summary: Great!!!!!!!!!
Review: This is an amazing book!! The characters in this book are so life like I think they will stay with me forever. Meggie, her father, and some other characters find themselves trying to defeat the evil wizard, Capricorn, from the book Inkheart. Capricorn and an assortment of other strange characters were read out of the book Inkheart by Meggie's father when she was little. Capricorn destroys all of the books for fear that someone will read him back into it. Meggie soon realizes that she has her father's gift of being able to read things out of books. Soon her father and some friends are taken captive and Capricorn wants Meggie to read sometbink out of the book to kill them. Will Meggie have the strength, skill, and courage to rescue them? Read Inkheart to find out!
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