This reminds me a lot of a Saturday morning cartoon episode. It feels very self-contained, and several of the big conflicts get resolved as quickly as they're introduced. You can practically hear an announcer say: "Will Jennifer survive this dastardly setup? Find out after this commercial break! Okay, yes she does."
It's not as inventive as the previous book in the series, and indeed has little plot connection to The Last Dragonslayer. But it's not necessarily a bad thing to have a basically-self-contained entry in a series. It's still got the Fforde charm to it, as well - plenty of little throwaway lines that are brimming with cleverness and humor. But somehow it just doesn't feel like it has as much meat on its bones as The Last Dragonslayer. Yes, they're both pretty episodic. Yes, they've both got an obvious villain who needs defeating by the plucky do-gooder(s). And both are more interested in having a fun romp than digging deep. But for as on-the-nose as Dragonslayer could get, it felt like it had... something... more than this one does. The characters and the setting are still wonderful, and I'll certainly keep following the series. I'll just keep my expectations more tempered for a one-off adventure rather than a continuing, series-wide story.
No comments:
Post a Comment