Books: The Eye of Zoltar By Jasper Fforde (2013)

 

“The Mighty Shandar, the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen, returns to the Ununited Kingdoms. Clearly, he didn't solve the Dragon Problem, and must hand over his fee: eighteen dray-weights of gold. But the Mighty Shandar doesn't do refunds, and vows to eliminate the dragons once and for all - unless sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange and her sidekicks from the Kazam house of enchantment can bring him the legendary jewel, The Eye of Zoltar. The only thing that stands in their way is a perilous journey with a 50% Fatality Index - through the Cambrian Empire to the Leviathan Graveyard, at the top of the deadly Cadir Idris Mountain. It's a quest like never before, and Jennifer soon finds herself fighting not just for her life, but for everything she knows and loves.”

For a book sold as YA, filled with some standard tropes of the genre, The Eye of Zoltar, offers up a slightly darker tale, where bad things are happening to both good and bad people. It’s not grim, though, and death is seen more or less as easily accepted value –the consequences of people’s choices. It’s not there to shock people, in other words.

But what was once touted as trilogy, it seems odd that the supposedly last book took such an odd turn into typical fantasy trope of a quest (even if Jennifer does not want to call it that). It sidelines most of original cast of the first two books, including the Quarkbeast –a creature character that seemed almost as important as Jennifer Strange, but who seems now only be a minor figure in the arc of the series.

So this side-outing does not really propel the narrative of the first two books forward. Still, its enjoyable book filled with wittiness, the cleverness of its world, and some really well-drawn newcomers. I still wish he kept this to a trilogy, but I expect the next book, The Great Troll War to be worth the wait.

Well, in the sense, the paperback version is due in April. A lot of fans of this series had to wait eight years between the 2013 release of this book and the 2021 release of the last –and I’ve been waiting since 2009 for a sequel to Shades of Gray, which should see release in early 2024.

But there was a reason for the long break: writers block. Fforde was a prolific writer for a long time, but he would endure a two year spiral that nearly ended his writing career. As he noted to reporter Alice Cairns: “I wrote 12 books in 12 years, one after the other, and I thought I’d just carry on like that forever. Then, for no reason that I could see, I suddenly hit the buffers and the book I was trying to write (what was to be Early Riser) would not come out. The thing is, it gets worse the more you don’t do it. That’s when the doubts creep in. Is that it? Maybe 12 books is all I am ever going to do?

Early Riser would see a August 2018 release in the UK (February 2019 in the US), followed by the Constant Rabbit in 2020, The Great Troll War in 2022.

Books: The Song of the Quarkbeast By Jasper Fforde (2011)

“Magic has been in a sad state in the Ununited Kingdom for years, but now it’s finally on the rise, and boneheaded King Snodd IV knows it. If he succeeds at his plot, the very future of magic will be at risk! Sensible sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange, acting manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management and its unpredictable crew of sorcerers, has little chance against the king and his cronies—but there’s no way Kazam will let go of the noble powers of magic without a fight.”

In the second volume of the Chronicles of Kazam series, Fforde’s often quirky sense of humor and bits of social commentary continue to persist. A much leaner, episodic tale, in some sense, than the previous volume, as we see Strange and company try to use what dwindling magic there is to generate money –unclogging drains, using magic carpets to deliver pizza, predicting the weather, and rebuilding a bridge (which becomes a metaphor for the people of Ununited Kingdom). But Industrial Magic (AKA iMagic, “putting an ‘I’ in front of anything makes it more hip and current.”) wants a monopoly on magic and is working towards ruining everything.

Much like the first book, The Song of the Quarkbeast burst with magical spells that are often funny, but usually go south very quickly. Fforde’s envious wordplay and his satirical eye pokes fun at the upper crust of Ununited Kingdom folks who use big words, to taking on big corporations, and talentless boy bands. As a long time reader of British writers, TV shows, and movies, I got a lot of the puns, but I wonder if the young American readers would be so inclined to get them and the other jokes. Still, maybe I should not worry? Kids are sometimes way smarter than their adult counterparts.

Jennifer remains a strong, female role model; even if she talks like someone much older than her sixteen-years (this book is set two months after the first one). And the titular Quarkbeast only shows up towards the end of the book, yet has little to do with the story as a whole –so I wondered about why this book is titled this way. Also, clearly Fforde is setting up for a third –and assumed at the time, the last book in the trilogy- which can be frustrating because though it is a middle tale, there should still be enough story to satisfy any reader.

Books: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde (2010)

“15-year-old Jennifer Strange, who is filling in for the missing manager, Mr. Zambini, for an employment agency for magicians called Kazam. There are prophecies that the last dragon will soon die, meaning that the dragon's territory is up for grabs. Trying to find the truth of the matter, she finds the official Dragonslayer and is pushed into becoming his apprentice. The Dragonslayer dies and she becomes the last Dragonslayer, which means that she will be the one who slays the dragon.”

So, apparently, I’ve read this book before -back in 2012, when it was released in hardcover in the US (2010 in the UK). Strangely, I have no memory of it. That’s a new one, because I generally remember all the books I’ve read.

I did enjoy this book, as it’s a quickly paced and fun. Like a lot of Fforde’s work, it is set in an alternative world in where magic is real, but has become weakened and is being replaced by modern technology. Essentially, it’s like modern Britain, except that it is split into a number of small counties. Another aspect of Fforde’s work is to accept the absurd, eccentric ideas put out here. Yes, he has written more for adults than a younger audience, but he really creates a wonderfully weird universe where he can poke fun at our modern world. It’s satire, for sure, with dashes of Monty Python’s droll humor and Douglas Adams’ maddeningly funny look at a genre that is rarely made fun of –but not in any bitter way. It’s just an odd collection of people, places, and Quarkbeasts. While it's very much a derivative of the Harry Potter franchise, this is less mean.

Jennifer Strange is an engaging character and it was nice to see that no one goes out of their way to make it a big deal that there is a girl at the center of a prophecy. Maybe rare in 2010, but still, I need to point this out. A lot.

I think part of the problem-and why I forgot I read this 11 years ago- is the book does take way too long to really get going. It’s got a huge cast and Fforde spends a lot of time introducing them. The fact that most don’t actually play into the action of the last quarter of the book can spook people –and maybe it did that to me in 2012. I mean, yes, this is a trademark of Fforde’s other work, but in a book primarily marketed to 12 to 15 years old young adults, it can stop them in their tracks.   

The Last Dragonslayer started out as a trilogy, and was followed by The Song of the Quarkbeast (published in 2011), and The Eye of Zoltar (published in 2013). However, somewhere along the writing of book three, Fforde realized there was more of the story to tell, but eight years would pass before he finally finished the series with The Great Troll War (published in 2021).

Which is why I'm not going to read them all.