Inkdeath -- Take 2

Yes, I know it took me forever to read this book. I've been very busy moving and trying to catch up on some magazines I was behind on (though I still have a lot more of both to do).

This is the last book of the Inkheart trilogy, and we pick up with our intrepid hero and heroine, father and daughter, Mo and Meggie. They are in the Inkworld, recovering from the disasters of the second book and trying to find a way home.

One thing I can say for sure about this book is that it's not for kids, despite its classification. Witness these passages and ideas, some of which are rather inappropriate for children, and some of which are just sad (even if true):

- Orpheus was "taking pleasure with one of the maids...."

- "His silver nose still looked like a beak in the middle of his face. There were tales saying that the Adderhead had ordered a silver heart to be made for his herald, too, but Fenoglio felt sure there was still a human heart beating in the Piper's breast. Nothing was more cruel than a heart made of flesh and blood, because it knew what gives pain."

- "He saw so many emotions mingled on her face: anger, disappointment, fear -- and defiance. Like her daughter, thought Fenoglio again. So uncompromising, so strong. Women were different, no doubt about it. Men broke so much more quickly. Grief didn't break women. Instead it wore them down, it hollowed them out, very slowly."

- The author quotes passages from other words at the beginning of every chapter: "'You wish for something you don't really want, the dream says. / Bad dream. Punish him. Chase him from the house. / Tie him to the horses, let him run with them. / Hang him. He deserves it. / Feed him mushrooms. Poisonous ones.' - Paavo Haavikko, 'The Trees Breathe Gently'"

- "The happiness in her voice moved him, and he wondered, not for the first time, how it was that the book that had told him so much about fire elves and giants said so little about the Adderhead's daughter. To Fenoglio, Violante had been only a minor character, an ugly, unhappy little girl, nothing more. Perhaps you could learn from her how small parts can be made into major roles of you play them in your own way."

- "Cheeseface was not alone when his bodyguard told him about his late-night visitor. There were three girls with Orpheus, none of them much older than Meggie, and they had been cooing at him for hours, telling him how clever, important, and irresistible he was. The oldest was sitting on his plump knees, and Orpheus was kissing and fondling her so grossly that Farid would have liked to strike his fingers away. He was always being sent out to bring Orpheus the prettiest girls in Ombra."

- The idea that the main character loves one of her parents more than the other.

- And the occasional curse word.

These are not things for children! I would put this book solidly in the teen category if it were up to me.

As an adult, and probably more able to understand and appreciate some of the themes than a 10-year-old would be (I hope), I really liked it. It didn't end at all how I expected, which is one of the things I like. Things weren't always happy. Sometimes the bad guys didn't get their comeuppance the way you like them to. Sometimes the characters who showed the most arrogance or hubris came out just fine. (But sometimes not.)

Then there are the trials and tribulations of love. Lots of couples in this book - old and young, married and un-. Things go well for some, and others suffer a lot of disappointment; sometimes (as is often the case in real life) the same characters experience both. This, I think, is one of the most teen-oriented parts of the book, because our teenage heroine experiences her first love, and her first failure at it.

And lastly, there is intense exploration of the ideas of fate, choice, and chance. For example, Fenoglio (referenced in some of the above quotes) wrote the book that allegedly created the Inkworld. As new characters from the "real" world enter the Inkworld, things start to go terribly awry. Fenoglio tries to fix it by rewriting the story, and having Meggie or Mo read his words to life. But there is another reader/writer who has entered the story - the proud and greedy Orpheus. He twists Fenoglio's words to change the story yet again, and eventually it spirals out of everyone's control. But was it ever in their control to begin with? How have the characters who have come into the lives of the characters changed the story, if at all? How much say do the characters have over their own actions?

As an appropriate and parting tribute, I will leave you with this quote from Inkdeath, which is terribly reminiscent of something Frodo says to Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: "He'll kill him, you wait and see," replied the Strong Man, and his voice sounded so confident that for a precious moment even Meggie forgot all her fears for Mo. But the moment passed, and once again she felt the snow on her skin, as cold as the end of all things."