When words come alive....

A lot of people I know don’t understand why I read. And almost none understand my need to buy books. Hardly anyone understands why would I buy them and then keep them in the cupboard and read them months and sometimes years later. The fear of losing out on a fascinating world behind closed pages of a book because you don’t have time is a fear very few people can relate to. A few people who understand. May be it takes a different set of mind to understand the love of written word. That’ why when I first heard of a book about people loving the book so much that they call out the characters in their own world and then travel with the characters into the written pages of the books…. I knew it was my kind of book.

My introduction to the Ink series was a chance glance at the movie preview featuring the handsome Brendan Fraser and then getting hooked to the idea of calling characters out from a book. As a rule, I always read the book before I see a movie based on the book. So, there I was reading through words of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart.

Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath form the ink trilogy. They released over 4 years from 2003 till 2007. My introduction to them was done once the movie was out in 2008. And to finish the series… 2014 was half gone past. Why would it take me such long to finish an already completely published series? Well, the answer is simple…. I was busy running around in other wor(l)ds.

So coming back to Inkworld. For starters… what an amazing idea, calling people out from books… traveling with words into the pages a book. Where would you go if you have to enter into a book? I wondered while reading the Inkseries…. Where would I like to travel if I ever have to enter a book? Never found an answer to my question though… I realized I wouldn’t have chosen to enter the Ink world. The fantastic idea of entering the pages of books, is still as fascinating to me as it was before reading the series, but I hardly doubt if I might have chosen to enter into the words on Inkheart. The seemingly fairy-tale world of Inkheart proves a little too dark and too ‘real’ once you see the protagonists entering the pages. The troubles, pains and evil that lurks in the roads of ombra and silver castle is not only scary but also repulsive. Cornelia Funke manages to paint pictures with her words. Pictures that are not pretty. Pictures that show you that around every silver lining a black cloud clouts.

What is applaud able for this whole affair is that while I was reading the series… I wanted to give up. I wanted to stop reading and go on with my life… and I even took a break from reading the novels. But the words kept calling me back. The characters kept beaconing. I dragged myself through the pages and finally finished it. Only to realize that I liked the overall experience. Granted, I won’t yearn for it decidedly… but I definitely liked what I read.

Believable characters (despite the magical ability for calling forth the written words), beautifully constructed world, fantastical places and almost magical ability to bring darkness to life… these are some of the most prominent aspects of Cornelia Funke’s writing. It would have made a better choice to have moved the whole series up from YA genre… this is most definitely is NOT for young adults.

Whether I would ever pick up another Cornelia Funke's novels... is a question that only time will answer... May be sometime soon, I will forget the trauma and hardship Inkseries cost me... and I will succumb to the call of unknown worlds... you never know what lies behind closed pages of a book... hai na?