Inkspell - Cornelia Funke

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of the extraordinary events of Inkheart, and the story whose characters strode out of the pages, and changed her life for ever. But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater, torn from his world of words, the need to return has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the magical ability to read him back, he sets in motion a dangerous reversal that sees the characters of Inkheart transported to a charmed Inkworld, about to be fought over by rival rebels and princes.

I did dither over whether or not to read Inkspell as I found Inkheart a little slow in places but decided to go for it as I can't leave a trilogy hanging...... I'm glad I did, because it's worth the read. As interesting a concept as Inkheart was (reading characters 'out' of books), Inkspell held my attention and imagination better, perhaps because it's more interesting to see what goes on when you read yourself 'into' an imaginary world? I don't know if it's intentional, but this book seemed to follow the same formula as the first, as far as 'pace' goes. The first third of the book had me turning pages to see what surprises the new world held....the middle third seemed to drop a gear and meander along until it reached the third and final section where the action picked up again. The story is still worth the time spent to read it, but that slow middle bit just knocks a star off for me. I find myself not liking some characters that I liked in the first book(Fenoglio) and situations (for some reason Farid and Meggie really jar with me as a couple. I don't know why, but they just do), but to even things out though, I found I really missed Elinor (whom I didn't have a lot of time for in the last one) and I'm hoping she gets to join them in part 3..... Swings and roundabouts. I'm looking forward to the final part, due out towards the end of the year, and recommend reading them in order to anyone starting out as they do follow on from one another.