ThrowBook Thursday: The Inkheart Trilogy

When I was planning out the topics for this month's blog posts, I had hoped I'd be finished with To Green Angel Tower before this post so I could wrap up my Osten Ard reread series.

Alas, it was not to be.

Instead, today's post is brought to you by recent conversations that have inspired me to reread yet another series (though the actual rereading is probably not happening just yet).

I've talked about my love of Inkheart and its sequels in the past but I want to talk about it just a little bit more today. Specifically, the five things about this series that have stuck with me and make it a series I will still fan out over today.

Dustfinger

First things first, there's this little gem of a character. At times a hardcore wise man and a ruddy coward, Dustfinger is one of the series' most complex and sympathetic characters. He is also the center of one of my favorite character arcs in fiction (it's up there with Zuko's redemption in Avatar: The Last Airbender). Also, he's one of those characters who was perfectly cast in the film adaptation, even if the movie itself wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped.

The Magic

From the name (Silvertongue, like Loki) to the effects (bringing people and things from books to life), this is just such a beautiful magic system and I love it. And the best part is that the magic doesn't get stale from book to book. Funke adds something new to the story each time and keeps you guessing.

Brendan Fraser's Audio Narration of Inkspell

Why they didn't get him to read all three books, I'll never know. He's Funke's choice for Mo, and he captures the character so well in this narration (better even than in the film, I think). The library copy that I listened to was super scratched in places, so I wasn't able to listen to it all the way through, but it's still ingrained in my memories of reading this series for the first time. If you can listen to Inkspell, DO.

The World Grows with Each Book

This is the ideal situation for any series, but the Ink trilogy is a prime example. The abilities of the Silvertongues are given depth and breadth in each installment. The villains get stronger and darker, and the heroes are pushed to grow in new ways. (Dustfinger may be my favorite character in the series, but he's by no means the only character to change and grow as it proceeds.)

Elinor

Book-obsessed, no-nonsense Elinor is the queen of the adult characters in this series. She is rarely shaken (and when she is, she's perfectly believable and still quite capable when the shock is over). My least favorite thing about Inkspell was how little she factored into the story, but Funke made up for that by bringing Elinor along in a big way for Inkdeath. Helen Mirren did a fine job in the role for the film, but the way she's described in the book I always pictured Imelda Staunton, which is nice since I always like her when she's not playing Dolores Umbridge and I'd love to see her take a stab at playing Elinor.

Have you read the Ink books? What are your favorite parts? Tell me in the comments! And if you haven't taken the survey to influence future content on Inexhaustible Inspiration and enter to win some Albion-inspired art, go here to do so.