INKDEATH

A monumental third installment brings the Inkheart trilogy to a grueling, blood-spattered, mortality-obsessed close. The Inkworld is in disarray: Its author, Fenoglio, has lost his ability to write and, therefore, shape events; the odious Orpheus, however, has taken to recycling Fenoglio’s words to control the narrative/world himself. The evil Adderhead, whose immortality was bound into the White Book by bookbinder-turned-people’s champion Mo/the Bluejay, finds his body decomposing and demands a new Book; can Mo use the opportunity to end the villain’s life altogether? Can Dustfinger come back from the dead? Will Resa’s baby be born into peace or violence? Is Meggie falling out of love with Farid? (Thank goodness there’s an A to Z of Names and Places!) Where the first volume was thoroughly young Meggie’s story, this narrative alternates among a dizzying array of characters, most of whom are adults who betray distinctly adult concerns. While Funke’s storytelling is as compelling as ever, the natural audience for this brooding saga seems, sadly, to be teens and up and not the children who so eagerly responded to Inkheart. (Fantasy. 13 & up)