Reflections

There’s witty world building, deadpan absurdities, and physics-based/paradox-laced humor galore in Jasper Fforde’s The Song of the Quarkbeast, his second YA novel in The Last Dragon Slayer series, but surprisingly all that funny stuff doesn’t get in the way of its heart pounding suspense--I read the last chapters of the book at a gallop--and it didn’t prevent me from deeply caring about what happened to Jennifer Strange, all her quirky cohorts, and the state of magic in the Ununited Kingdom.

Books with unmagical main characters living in a magic world have special appeal to me. Sixteen year old Jennifer Strange has no magical abilities herself, but since the disappearance of the Great Zambini she’s been managing Kazam, the largest wizard employment agency in the world. Magic had been in decline, but now that it’s increasing the King is hoping to change the rules so he can make a profit at the expense of his citizens--a prospect that Jennifer and her disparate Kazam coworkers won’t let happen without a fight.

If you are looking for romance, this isn’t the book for you, but if you enjoy alternate world settings, marvelously eccentric characters, crazy breakneck plot twists, and mind-bendingly clever humor Jasper Fforde can’t be beat.