As you might recall, I have been listening to audio books during my daily commute. And I stumbled on Jasper Fforde‘s Chronicles of Kazam series at the local library. I started with The Last Dragonslayer and next came The Song of the Quarkbeast.
The third book, The Eye of Zoltar, turned out to be another fun listen on the daily commute.
Although she’s an orphan in indentured servitude, sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange is pretty good at her job of managing the unpredictable crew at Kazam Mystical Arts Management. She already solved the Dragon Problem, avoided mass destruction by Quarkbeast, and helped save magic in the Ununited Kingdoms. Yet even Jennifer may be defeated when the long-absent Mighty Shandar makes an astonishing appearance and commands her to find the Eye of Zoltar—proclaiming that if she fails, he will eliminate the only two dragons left on earth.
How can a teenage non-magician outdo the greatest sorcerer the world has ever known? But failure is unacceptable, so Jennifer must set off for the mysterious Cadir Idris in the deadly Cambrian Empire—a destination with a fatality index of fifty percent. With the odds against them, will Jennifer and her traveling companions ever return to the Kingdom of Snodd?
Once again, Jennifer Strange is a good central character and the crew at Kazam Mystical Arts Management returns as well (although mostly backstage with the prominent exception of Perkins). And there are some fun added characters in this one which the narrator does a nice job of capturing (accents and personality).
I particularly enjoyed the princess who loves complex economics. Plus, we get to visit another kingdom and explore its unique culture, economy and people. There is plenty of wit but also some mystery and adventure.
This is not quite as good as the first two but I have enjoyed this series. This one ended on quite the cliffhanger so I guess we wait for the next book.