Tuesday, November 11, 2014

The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde

Corporatized magic for profit, professional kidnapping and ransom scams, and high-risk tourism are all factors in the fantasy quest (sorry, no, not a quest, didn't fill out the paperwork - it's just a business trip) of this novel, the third installment of The Chronicles of Kazam series.

When magician The Once Magnificent Boo gets kidnapped, our heroine and intrepid orphan Jennifer Strange turns the ransom negotiation into a multi-tasking trip to also save the world's last two dragons by locating a mythical stone for a crooked magician. And she might find a way to sneak in a date, too.

The first two books in this series (The Last Dragonslayer and The Song of the Quarkbeast) to me felt a bit incomplete ... like they were building to something. Yes, THIS is what they were building to! Fforde has found his groove with this third book, and he's not done because this one ends with the start of a whole new world for the magicians of Kazam. I won't ruin it for you.

I seriously loved this book, and I couldn't have said that for the first two. But I've really come to love these characters, and the storyline in this one is full, rich, and satisfying. Best yet!

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