I just want to say that this is a completely bias review. This is one of my favorite childhood books and for this review I read it again for the first time in almost a decade. The glasses are VERY rose colored here.

As an adult, I don't really like books about reading. They feel incredibly masturbatory. Nothing makes my eyes roll faster then this over romanticized feeling around reading, owning books, things like that. There is a lot of that in Inkheart. A LOT. And while I was rolling my eyes on this adult re-read every time someone called their books there children or lovingly stroked a spine, it didn't stop me from falling in love with Inkheart all over again.

This is going to be a really niche thing I say, but, Inkheart is exactly the kind of book that creates fandom. Yes its got wonderful characters and interesting world building, but there are a lot of empty spaces. Those empty spaces are of course created because this is a middle-reader. (And anyone who thinks this is YA is delusional.) There is a lot of things you have to infer for yourself because we can't just say those things out right for this type of audience. We can't go into excruciating detail because it would lose the audience attention. Its just the right environment for fandom and I really think that's why I enjoy this book a lot. There are a lot of unanswered things and I get to fill them in for myself.

Outside of that, this book is carried by Dustfinger. He is such a great character. He just symbolizes that feeling of falling in love with a fictional character, a feeling I'm sure a lot of readers have experienced. He is perfect and I love him and I have nothing else to say.

At its core, this is a book about childhood escapism, which I think also really lends to this being a fandom book. Those who have spent there whole lives chasing escapism, this ones for you.

10/10 this shit still slaps. Gonna go read the Mo/Resa/Dustfinger fanfiction now.