The Song of the Quarkbeast: Last Dragonslayer Book 2

The sequel to The Last Dragonslayer just lives up to the promise of its predecessor. Jennifer Strange, acting manager of Kazaam - a magic company - is getting ready to rebuild Hereford's history bridge, but iMagic, their closest competitor, have something different planned.The book had, I felt, a relatively weak opening. Fforde's recent works, particularly Shades of Grey and The Last Dragonslayer, have been masterpieces, and to be honest this felt like a bit of a let down after those. However once some of the set up had been passed, the pace picked up and Fforde's unique surrealism began to show itself again and for the second half the novel was easily the equal of its predecessor.The nature of the story though does make it feel more of a children's novel, though perhaps that is by design. The first book in this series appealed to me as an adult reader, in that it dealt with some weightier themes which this book barely brushes against.Overall though certainly another good book from Fforde and I will continue to look forward to his works with a sense of glee. His mastery of the English language has to be up there with the greats of surreal and humorous writing.

I've been a fan of Jasper Fforde, for many a year now, and enjoy all his books. This is part of his "YA" range, and is the follow-up to Dragonslayer. As all the ends were nicely tied up in the previous book, I did question hooooow it could be continued, and to be honest the series should be "Jennifer Strange", rather than "Last Dragonslayer".It's not his best, and the ending is a tad rushed, but Fforde is consistently entertaining

I'm not sure if a YA book can be eloquently written but that's the word that comes to mind when I think of this book. I absolutely LOVED the 1st book in this series, The Last Dragon Slayer, and I could no longer take the wait for the 2nd book to come out in the U.S. So, I ordered it from the U.K. Best $28 I've spent on a paperback.Fforde has invented a world that is 100% fantasy and 10000% believable. While both The Last Dragon Slayer and The Song of the Quarkbeast are 'simple' stories they are so eloquently written and so laugh out loud funny, that for me, they have become the standard of which I judge other books by.The Song of the Quarkbeast picks ups 2 months after the end of The Last Dragon Slayer. Jennifer Strange is a sixteen-year-old foundling and acting manager of Kazam, the employment agency for sorcerers and soothsayers. For the past two months "it was very much business as usual: hiring out sorcerers to conduct low-level, mundane and very practical magic. You know the sort of thing: plumbing and rewiring, wallpapering and loft conversions." But things are about to change. Magical power is on the rise and the king wants control, for he who controls magic controls everything.

Like all Jasper Fforde's books.This is perhaps for a younger age group than the Thursday Next series but still very enjoyable.

I often order books through Amazon UK as editions are often slow in US publication from several of my favorite authors. I received The Song of the Quarkbeast along with two other Jasper Fforde novels a few weeks ago. Song is a YA and so I saved it to read after I had completed the other two...I received a great surprise after turning past page 134 to see an entirely different book bound into the center of my paperback edition.I'm not new to Jasper Fforde, so I naturally thought that it was all part of the book...until I began to read those pages and knew there was no way he would have written such, for lack of a better word, crap.So I have thoroughly enjoyed the first 134 pages of The Song of the Quarkbeast and look forward to the day when I can read pages 135-187 and beyond, until that time...I'll just have to wonder which mustached author would have wanted to sabotage Mr. Fforde's publication.

Anyone who loves light hearted, clever fantasy will enjoy this book. Witty and highly enjoyable, a modern masterpiece of the genre.

I really enjoyed these 3 books by Jasper Fforde! They had me laughing out loud and really annoying my partner by reading bits to him, he won't even read the books now because he says he doesn't need to....

The same quaint quirkiness that haunted its predecessors. A great read!