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Product Description
Review
'Highly recommended. Very funny' -- Independent on THE LAST DRAGONSLAYER '[Fforde's] ripping yarn of magic in decline mashes up the usual spells-and-beasts motif with a satire on corporate cash and tabloid values.' -- i on THE LAST DRAGONSLAYER 'This year's grown-up JK Rowling' -- Sunday Times 'True literary comic genius' -- Sunday Express
Product Description
A long time ago magic faded away, leaving behind only yo-yos, the extremely useful compass-pointing-to-North enchantment and the spell that keep bicycles from falling over. Things are about to change. Magical power is on the rise and King Snodd IV of Hereford has realised that he who controls magic controls almost anything. One person stands between Snodd and his plans for power and riches beyond the wildest dreams of avarice. Meet Jennifer Strange, sixteen-year-old acting manager of Kazam, the employment agency for sorcerers and soothsayers. With only one functioning wizard and her faithful assistant 'Tiger' Prawns, Jennifer must use every ounce of ingenuity to derail King Snodd's plans. It may involve a trip on a magic carpet at the speed of sound to the Troll Wall, the mysterious Transient Moose, and a powerless sorceress named Once Magnificent Boo. But one thing is certain: Jennifer Strange will not relinquish the noble powers of magic to big business and commerce without a fight.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Song of the Quarkbeast, April 27 2012
By Michael J. Kubat - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Song of the Quarkbeast (Hardcover)
Another good one from Jasper Fforde. It's supposed to be for children, but any child who wishes to read this book had better be well educated!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jennifer Strange's next adventure, Dec 31 2011
By M. A. Casey "In Quest of a Good Book" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Song of the Quarkbeast (Hardcover)
Jasper Fforde fans of all ages will not be disappointed! Entertaining and witty! Jennifer Strange continues as acting manager for Kazam. Quarkbeasts, a wizard challenge and a mysterious gold ring-- by the end of the novel everything becomes clear and Jennifer saves the day!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fforde creates another set of delightful characters, Dec 30 2011
By S. Lionel - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Song of the Quarkbeast (Hardcover)
Those of us who are Jasper Fforde fans in the US are faced with a problem - Fforde's books are often unavailable in the US until many months, even a year or more, after publication in the UK. Thankfully, there are a number of sellers who import or ship the books to US readers - including Amazon's UK branch - and it was thus that I was able to get my hands on The Song of the Quarkbeast, a followup to Fforde's The Last Dragonslayer which was the first in a new series of his.In "Dragonslayer", we met Jennifer Strange, a teenage "foundling" who was indentured to Kazam Magic when she was 12 - but when Kazam's manager, the Great Zambini, mysteriously disappeared, Jennifer had to take over running the business and dealing with its odd assortment of sorcerers-for-hire. That book also introduced us to the Quarkbeast, an armored, frightening-looking animal with titanium hide and which says "Quark". Quarkbeasts are rare, but one befriended Jennifer.
In "Song of the Quarkbeast", the Quarkbeast is really sort of a minor character, though it plays a pivotal role in one of the books climaxes. Jennifer is now 16, with two years left to go in her servitude, and Zambini is still missing. Kazam's cross-town rivals, Industrial Magic, now renamed iMagic, is led by the unsavory Conrad "The Amazing" Blix, who has decided to upgrade his accolade to "All Powerful". Blix's team is weaker than Kazam's, and he hatches a plot to get rid of his competition, resorting to various dirty tricks with the cooperation of King Snood and The King's Useless Brother (yes, that's his title.)
Jennifer, who does no magic herself, needs to figure out how to outwit Blix and save Kazam. She is aided in this by The Transient Moose, "The Youthful" Perkins, a sorcerer-trainee who wants to take Jennifer out on a date, and by a message from Zambini himself (who reappears at random times and places but only for a few minutes.) And, yes, the Quarkbeast.
While you could start with this book, I think you'd enjoy it more if you read The Last Dragonslayer first. At times the plotline reminded me of one of Fforde's Thursday Next books, but if he can't steal from himself, whom can he steal from? In any event I was thoroughly entranced by The Song of the Quarkbeast and was pleased to see that Fforde is planning a third in the series, though who knows when it will appear. I'm still waiting for the follow-up to Shades of Grey.
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