Inkheart From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Title Inkheart Inkheart book cover Author Cornelia Funke Original title Tintenherz Country Germany Language German Genre(s) Fantasy, High Fantasy Publisher Chickenhouse Released Media type Hardcover Followed by Inkspell Inkheart (original title: Tintenherz) is a young adult-child fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke about a girl named Meggie whose life changes dramatically when she realizes that her father, a bookbinder named Mortimer (Nicknamed Mo), has an unusual ability: when he reads aloud, he can bring characters from books into the real world. Meggie and Mo's adventure takes them throughout Europe, particularly Italy, and brings them into contact with many unusual characters. The sequel, Inkspell, was released on October 1, 2005. The third book in the trilogy, Inkdawn, previously known as "Inkdeath" is set to be released in 2007 (German) or 2008 (English). [edit] Plot summary Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The story of Inkheart, there is a story within a story: Mo originally brought four of Inkheart's characters to life (Italy) while reading aloud from a novel which is also called Inkheart - Basta, Capricorn, Dustfinger, and Dustfinger's pet marten, Gwin. Dustfinger, a fire eater, desperately wants to return to the world of the fictional novel; Capricorn, the villain of both the "real" and "imaginary" stories, wants Mo (and later, Meggie, who shares her father's unusual gift) to summon an evil monster, a creature forged from the ashes of the murdered known as the Shadow, from the fictional novel; and Basta is Capricorn's right-hand man. On more than one level, Inkheart is a book about books and the love of reading. Meggie and Mo are both avid readers; Meggie has carried a box (made by her father) of her favorite books with her all of her life. But also, Inkheart references many other works of literature. In addition to the characters from the fictional novel Inkheart, Mo also brings to life a boy (named Farid) who belongs in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, and makes gold appear from Treasure Island. Meggie's reading causes Tinkerbell from Peter Pan to appear, and she also conjures up the soldier from "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, at the request of the Magpie, Capricorn's mother. Later, at the request of Fenoglio, she also solicits the soldier back. Fenoglio, the writer of Inkheart, eventually reveals his intentions for asking Meggie to keep the tin soldier. Testing an idea Mo suggested earlier in the novel, he rewrites the original, sad ending of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," then tells Meggie to read it aloud. The tin soldier returns to the book and has a happy ending. Before Capricorn forces Meggie to read the evil monster out of Inkheart, Meggie invokes the aid of the book's original author to rewrite Inkheart's ending so that the Shadow, instead of helping Capricorn with his evil plans (devouring Resa, Elinor and Basta), will destroy him. This plan succeeds. Meggie reads this new ending aloud, the book's author disappears into his own creation, and Capricorn falls dead.

Paul finally ends up as a temporary technical writer at TxDoGS, a government office in what seems to be Austin, Texas, where a series of encounters with his weird co-workers (not to mention the unnoticed-by-anyone-else dead body in the next cubicle) forces him to choose between a life of ease at TxDoGS and an honorable but probably unsuccessful future