Jenn's Review: The Song of the Quarkbeast

Author: Jasper Fforde
Series: Chronicles of Kazam #2/The Last Dragonslayer #2
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: HMH Books
Pages: 289
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  YA, Fantasy
Rating: 3.75
Bottom Line: Plot exposition for bigger and better stories in the series.
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Blurb:  Long ago, magic began to fade, and the underemployed magicians of Kazam Mystical Arts Management have been forced to take any work their sixteen-year-old acting manager, Jennifer Strange, can scare up. But things are about to change. Magical power is finally on the rise, and King Snodd IV, of the Ununited Kingdoms knows that he who controls magic controls everything. Only one person stands between Snodd and his plans for a magic-grab--and that's Jennifer. 

Yet even smart and sensible Jennifer would have trouble against these powers-that-be. The king and his cronies will do anything to succeed--including ordering a just-might-be-rigged contest between Kazam and iMagic, Kazam's only competitor in the magic business. With underhanded shenanigans afoot, how can Kazam possibly win? 

Whatever happens, one this is certain: Jennifer Strange will not relinquish the noble powers of magic without a fight...

Review:  The Last Dragonslayer was on of my favorite reads last year so I've been looking forward to picking this up.  It's only taken me so long because, I love Jasper Fforde, but I definitely have to be in the right mood to read him.  His writing is thick with references and witticism so if you're in the mood to just rip through a story Mr. Fforde's work is not what you want to pick up.

While The Song of the Quarkbeast is just as fun and snarky as the first book in the series, I was left wanting. There were lots of places to pick up and story lines to pursue after The Last Dragonslayer, but Mr. Fforde didn't pick up the threads that felt I wanted to know more about.  However, it hardly seems fair to judge the novel on the basis that it wasn't the story I wanted.  The one told is interesting and expands the world that Japer Fforde has created. Jennifer is tested yet again, rising to the occasion and growing with it, all the while laying the groundwork for the story that is yet to come.

There weren't a lot of twists and turns in this one.  You knew from the outset who was behind everything, so there were few surprises.  I also felt like things were resolved hastily and rather summarily.  I was so taken aback that I actually had to investigate whether or not there were more books planned for the series.  (There are, if you're curious. The Eye of Zoltar is already published in the UK but won't be out stateside until October 17, 2014.)

All in all, it was enjoyable but seemed to be mostly plot exposition.  Will I continue this series?  You bet.  That was some darn good ground work and I am still waiting to see where we are headed.


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Jenn's Review: The Last Dragonslayer

Blurb:  In the good old days, magic was indispensable—it could both save a kingdom and clear a clogged drain. But now magic is fading: drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets are used for pizza delivery. Fifteen-year-old foundling Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians—but it’s hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. And then the visions start, predicting the death of the world’s last dragon at the hands of an unnamed Dragonslayer. If the visions are true, everything will change for Kazam—and for Jennifer. Because something is coming. Something known as . . . Big Magic.

Review:  It's been over 5 years since I read my last Jasper Fforde book, and it's been too long.   I saw this on the shelf of my local indie and knew this was the book to bring me back.  I adore the cover; it leaves so much scope for the imagination.

Once again, Fforde uses his brilliant wit to create a magical world.  In a parallel universe where magic and dragons are starting to die out lives Jennifer Strange the most extraordinary un-ordinary foundling the unUnited Kingdom will ever know.  Jennifer was abandoned at the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster orphanage in her orange Volkswagen, an apparent orphan of the Troll Wars.  Now in servitude of The Great Zambini, Jennifer finds herself in charge of the Kazam Mystical Arts Management due to Mr. Zambini's recent disappearance.  Herding sorcerers seems to be harder than herding cats.  They're moody and temperamental and can stick you on the ceiling for hours.  With the prediction of the death of the last dragon, Jennifer gets shoved into the spotlight.  Everyone is working an angle so the question is who do you trust?

Jasper Fforde always walks the fine line of making his characters hard to connect with due to the fact that his  quick witted dialogue can sometimes come off as flippant and snide.  This is not the case here.  Jennifer is intelligent but guarded.  I adore her Quarkbeast (who reminds me a little of Gru's 'dog' Kyle, from Despicable Me).  The wizards of Kazam are a hoot and Fforde does an excellent job of keeping them from becoming too cartoonish with depth of character.

Although I may have had one plot point worked out, I was mostly too busy enjoying the story, so it was purely happenstance and it didn't lesson my experience at all.  I loved the twists and turns the story-line took.  Jasper Fforde does a lovely job of wrapping things up neatly, while leaving enough loose ends with which to continue the series.  Reading this takes me back to some of my first Dianna Wynne Jones novels.

Jasper Fforde isn't for everyone.  His writing is dense and full of references, but his work is smart and funny, and really worth a try.  The Song of the Quarkbeast, book two of the Kazam Chronicles, just released this past week, and you can bet it's on the top of my reading list!

Final Take:  4.5/5


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Group Review: The Big Over Easy

Fforde's whimsical fifth novel, his first not to feature literary detective Thursday Next, is consistently witty, but its conceit—putting a criminal spin on nursery rhymes—wears a bit thin. Det. Jack Spratt, the dedicated but under appreciated investigator in the Reading, England, Nursery Crimes Division, is depressed because the court finds the three little pigs "not guilty of all charges relating to the first-degree murder of Mr. Wolff." Working with an ambitious young detective, Mary Mary ("Quite Contrary"), Spratt later takes on the case of "fall guy" Humpty Dumpty. Fforde crafts a police procedural out of this bizarre alternative universe that prizes, as The Eyre Affair does, literacy (detectives, for example, garner recognition less for solving crimes than by writing articles about cases for the likes of Amazing Crime Stories or Sleuth Illustrated). While it can be charming to encounter Mrs. Hubbard or Tom Thomm or to hear Spratt bemoan "illegal straw-into-gold dens" in this unusual context, the novel's broad satire overshadows elements like plot, conflict and characterization. The result is unusually clever but not compelling in the least. ~ Publisher's Weekly.

Jenn's Review:
This is an incredibly clever book, perhaps too clever for it's own good. It is not only a play on nursery rhymes but decades of detective stories. It's satirical writing at its most witty, which makes this book "not for everyone."

I found myself being torn away from the plot in an effort to catch all the references... and some of them I didn't catch until I was presented them a third or fourth time. The plot is delightfully twisty and, yes, far fetched, (but there's that satire again!) yet you can't help but be pulled into it. However I still found it all oddly distracting somehow...

If you are not in the mood for a lofty farce, this book is not for you. Someone who I think will enjoy it tremendously? My husband; it his style of humor... but for my final evaluation, would I read it again? Maybe not.

Final Take: 3.9/5

Julie's Review:
I liked this book, I didn't love it. I like the overall concept of the book. It's similar to what Gregory McGuire is doing with Wicked and Confessions of an Evil Stepsister. Jasper FForde is taking a topic we've all grown up with and making some insinuations regarding the classic nursery rhymes.

I liked the character of Jack Spratt. He's a solid character and of good morals. He's been ridiculed and stepped on but he still likes his job and feels that he's making a difference. Enter Mary, Mary a new detective with the Nursery Crimes Division and who frankly, doesn't want to be there. The case unravels and leads to a bunch of different characters who might have wanted Humpty Dumpty dead. The book is a bit slow and times and could have been wrapped up a bit sooner. I enjoyed the way Fforde incorporated the other nursery rhyme characters into the book and even chuckled when some of them were mentioned. Not only does he include nursery rhymes, but he even included a bit of Greek mythology in the book. I thought it was clever the way he wove that into the overall storyline. I did like that he didn't just add characters or subplots to incorporate nursery rhymes, everything had a purpose to the main plot. The crime itself lends a lot to discovering the real Humpty Dumpty and I felt sorry for him, even if he was not always on the up and up with his business ventures.

I would definitely read Jasper Fforde again, but I'm not rushing out to get his other books. I have enough on my bookshelf as it is right now.

Final Take: 3.5/5

Lisa's Review:
Humpty Dumpty - talk about an egg with a target on his back! Jasper Fforde crafted a clever, witty mystery using nursery rhymes. A very interesting premise with a few chukle-worthy moments. This was a slow read for me, witty as it was. I wasn't at any time fully engrossed in what I was reading. I did enjoy the twists and turns and the ultimate reason for Humpty's demise. Jack Spratt was by the best developed character and I enjoyed his simple everyman persona. I can't recommend this whole heartedly, but it's certainly good for chuckle if you need it.