We return to the trials and tribulations from the world of Inkheart as Dustfinger continues to hunt for a way back home, and Meggie (I think Ms. Funke swapped out that a for an e just to confuse readers and confuzzle reviewers) battles with how to live in the regular world after seeing what's possible with the power of words and whether she should use her powers of bringing life to books simply by reading out loud.

Book Title: Inkspell
Book Author: Cornelia Funke
Book Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: April 1, 2007
Retail Price: $10.99
Buy it at: Various Outlets

Meggie, Mo, and Dustfinger return in this sequel to Inkheart. This time, Dustfinger finds his way back home, with a little help. Farid and Meggie find their own way through the pages, arriving in the Wayless Woods.

All is not as the story left off, though. A book's story continues past the pages and between the lines. Can Meggie, Farid and Dustfinger survive the changes that have happened to the Inkheart world? Will Basta get to use his knife on anyone? Will Capricorn's mother find a way to bring the dead back to life?

The power words have over the Inkworld continues to play an integral role in the plot. I enjoyed how the writing and reading of the right words can create miracles or disasters. But the interpretation of those words seems to be beyond the control of a writer like Fenoglio or even a reader like Meggie.

Bringing the dead back to life is indeed feasible, but the results are depressing at best (those saved by the Shadow in Inkheart don't adapt well to our world). And resurrection in the Inkheart world is disasterous, as Fenoglio learns to his dismay.

I found it interesting that the Inkworld became more and more real while reading, and the occassional interruptions into the real world to check up on Elinor and Darius were more and more jarring. The real world felt more like a story and Inkworld felt more proper. Strange that. 'Tis the sign of a good author, though, to weave a new world so convincingly.

It was also enjoyable to see certain characters grow and evolve. Dustfinger plays an integral role to the plot and even manages to break Fenoglio's pre-written death scene...in a satisfying but heart-wrenching way. A secondary character who didn't grow was Farid. If anything, his obsession over Dustfinger became even more pronounced, to the point of downright annoyance. But such is the way of having a character from the Arabian Nights trying to play a part in the Inkheart world. Different inks don't always mix as well as they should.

The ending of this book is a cliffhanger that had me reaching for Inkdeath on the same day. Funke knows how to leave us wanting more. Thankfully, Inkdeath delivers on that wanting. But that review is for next week. Tune in then to learn more of the Inkheart world and just what happens when Death comes to collect on what it's due.

Have you read Inkspell? Did you enjoy it? Leave a comment below to let me know.