The Last Dragonslayer

I'm reading my way through Jasper Fforde's entire collection, so I have now come to his middle-grade fantasy books. I don't read a lot of books about magic and dragons, but I generally enjoyed this, especially as it definitely still has Fforde's trademark off-beat style, even if simplified a bit for his middle-grade audience. The protagonist is great, a responsible but behind-the-scenes girl who is thrust into the spotlight and discovers that she has a much larger role to play in the arrival of Big Magic. There's also a great collection of oddball characters, and the story is well-woven so that you're not quite sure whom to trust.

Since I don't read a lot of fantasy, though, I'm not sure how it compares with other books from the genre. I don't know if I would continue in the series if I wasn't trying to read all of his books, but I will likely continue on in the trilogy.

I am frankly startled to see so many good reviews of this book. I am a fan of Jasper Fforde's brand of humorous fantasy fiction, full of puns and delightful world building. I really enjoyed “Shades of Grey” and the Thursday Next novels. While it was a pleasant and easy read, with Fforde's characteristic wit, I just could not get over the plot holes in this narrative. Most of the things driving the plot felt very artificial and overly convenient.

Spoilers—–
...The central plot element of the novel is a premonition that reveals that the last dragon will die at the end of the week. Jennifer's reaction to that news is to decide quite out of the blue that she should go talk to the dragon. Never mind that there is a force field that will vaporizes anyone except for the Official Dragonslayer (and their apprentice, conveniently) surrounding that dragon land. Why does Jennifer think that she needs to go talk to the dragon? It would be like if I saw a White House press conference and then decided that the correct course of action would be to go personally and talk to the president. And then it is revealed that Jennifer is next in line to be the dragon slayer. The previous dragonslayer magically uploads all of the knowledge that she will need into her head in a minute, and then dies. Then she meets Gordon, a complete stranger, who shows up to apply to be the dragonslayer apprentice, telling Jennifer that he placed an ad in the paper for the job without her knowledge. Despite the fact that is is obviously some kind of scam, she without any thought whatsoever, in complete, blind trust, hires him. Surprise, it is later revealed that he is a bad guy, bent on claiming as much of the dragon lands as he can for a corporation. Why doesn't she pick her new friend Tiger? Why does she need anyone? After all, if she is the "last" dragonslayer, what does she need an apprentice for? One of the book's antagonists, Lady Mawgon, spends the first half of the book being a royal pain in the butt to Jennifer, and even succeeds in getting her effectively fired from Kazam. But she ends up being crucial in hiding Jennifer when she is in danger of being arrested (and possibly murdered) by the King's men. Lady Mawgon's character has shown absolutely no sympathy towards Jennifer during the entire book, that action is wildly out of character. It seemed much more likely that she would do something like that if she felt she could gain some kind of leverage over Jennifer, not out of the goodness of her heart. Also, Jennifer comes across as kind of pretentious. For example, why is she so turned off by the idea of endorsements? Do all of the athletes on Wheaties boxes and wearing Nike apparel, deserve our scorn for their endorsements as well?Finally, after saying over and over and over that no one can go into the dragon lands except the dragonslayer, and her apprentice...she brings her pet quark with her. Who then gets shot and killed. I found myself constantly rolling my eyes while reading this book. The plot just does not work.

Wow. Have you (ahem) written off Fforde because of what happened with the Thursday Next series? Well, he's definitely back. Maybe he felt trapped in there? Last Dragonslayer feels fresh, vibrant, from the heart. Yeah, it's a little heavyhanded – but it's a kids' book and you knew that coming into it. Despite the constraints of the format, Fforde makes it shine with enough humor and liveliness to keep this adult rapt.Douglas Adams never got a chance to come back. Fforde is, I believe and hope, not so much coming back as going new places. Rumor has it that this will be a trilogy, as will the exceptional [b:Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron 2113260 Shades of Grey The Road to High Saffron (Shades of Grey, #1) Jasper Fforde http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275714371s/2113260.jpg 2118671]. I hope he's pacing himself, because I am extra-eager to see what he comes up with next.

I saved this book for over a year. I have loved everything Jasper Fforde has ever written except this book. Had someone else written it, my expectations would not have been nearly so high. As it is, the characters (who are supposed to be 15 and 12) are not the least bit childlike, which is fine I suppose except that I kept envisioning older characters and then someone in the book would say something about the main character's age and I'd be reminded that this is supposed to be a YA book. While it is a fantastical tale filled with Fforde's now-familiar wordplay, it definitely felt like the stage-setting for a series. There was a lot of world-buliding and not much else.

I hate to say it, it pains me to say it but this is not a Fforde novel I would recommend to anyone but the most diehard fan looking for a Fforde-Fix until the next Shade of Grey or Tuesday Next book.