287 pages
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2012 by Harcourt.
"Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs an agency for underemployed magicians in a world where magic is fading away, but when visions of the death of the world's last dragon begin, all signs point to Jennifer--and Big Magic"--Provided by publisher.
Fifteen-year-old foundling Jennifer runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians, but it is hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. Then the visions start, predicting the death of the world's last dragon. Book #1
Entirely too much fun, and an excellent shift in style from the Thursday Next series.
Very light and quite funny, but sometimes too obviously and self-awarely clever.
This was quintessential Jasper Fforde, if there is such a thing. I liked it but with this one, more than any of the Thursday Next books, I felt like I could see the stuffing so to speak. I felt like the plot structure was more pronounced: here's the main character, here's the backstory that's going to come into play later, here's all of the events hurtling towards an impossible but unavoidable event, here's how it all gets fixed. That's not to say I didn't like the story, I did. Maybe it was because it was a kids book the plot wasn't quite as convoluted as usual? I don't know. I liked it. I'll read [b:The Song of the Quarkbeast|11297320|The Song of the Quarkbeast (The Last Dragonslayer, #2)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327951729s/11297320.jpg|16224887], and I'm already excited about Book 3: [b:The Return of Shandar|16043857|The Return of Shandar (The Last Dragonslayer, #3)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352831092s/16043857.jpg|21821231] and I don't …
This was quintessential Jasper Fforde, if there is such a thing. I liked it but with this one, more than any of the Thursday Next books, I felt like I could see the stuffing so to speak. I felt like the plot structure was more pronounced: here's the main character, here's the backstory that's going to come into play later, here's all of the events hurtling towards an impossible but unavoidable event, here's how it all gets fixed. That's not to say I didn't like the story, I did. Maybe it was because it was a kids book the plot wasn't quite as convoluted as usual? I don't know. I liked it. I'll read [b:The Song of the Quarkbeast|11297320|The Song of the Quarkbeast (The Last Dragonslayer, #2)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327951729s/11297320.jpg|16224887], and I'm already excited about Book 3: [b:The Return of Shandar|16043857|The Return of Shandar (The Last Dragonslayer, #3)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352831092s/16043857.jpg|21821231] and I don't know anything about that other than the title.
