Inkdeath

The trilogy set in Inkworld operates as a metaphor for the power of reading – the manner via which words record our individual histories and accordingly determine the futures available to us. Rarely can this have been summarised with the eloquence and articulation shown in Inkdeath.

Expanding from Meggie’s viewpoint which has been central to the previous two novels, Inkheart and Inkspell, the novel pans from a standpoint that allows much greater vistas of this world and of the motivations of the various characters who inhabit it.

With Fenoglio no longer able to write, the rules that once structured Inkworld have vanished leaving the environs lawless, a situation used to advantage when its children are held hostage. In its struggles to revert to more ordered existence, Inkdeath is a multi-layered, richly textured conclusion to the trilogy, pulling on literary allusions and conventions. These are pooled in a novel that succeeds in being at once action-packed and highly thought-provoking – a real treat!