The Adderhead — his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo — has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay — Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrenders. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story? 6. INKSPELL, Book Sense Book of the Year, has spent more than 40 weeks of the NYT list. 7. INKHEART movie, starring Paul Bettany, Brendan Fraser, and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren, now available on DVD. 8. Funke, a four-time nominee and two-time Book Sense winner, is a favorite of booksellers. 9. More than 5 million Funke titles in print across all channels in North America alone!

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of INKHEART, the book whose characters became real. But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater brought into being from words, the need to return to the tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the ability to read him back, Dustfinger leaves behind his young apprentice Farid and plunges into the medieval world of his past. Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and before long, both are caught inside the book, too. But the story is threatening to evolve in ways neither of them could ever have imagined.