The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde, 289 pagesOrphaned 16-year-old Jennifer Strange is the acting manager of Kazam, a magic contracting company in The Song of the Quarkbeast, the second (and perhaps final?) book in Fforde's Chronicles of Kazam young adult series. With pluck and sarcasm, Jennifer leads a motley crew of sorcerers as they attempt to find items that don't want to be found, solve the problems with the magical energy (the "crackle") in their headquarters, and foil the plots of the horrendous King Snodd to take control of all magic for his own benefit.
This is best described as a genuinely silly book. Fforde has a knack for making ludicrous characters and situations seem normal, and somehow not at all over-the-top. He's also great at writing smart, take-charge heroines without making it a "girl book" or even making a big deal out of the fact that holy cow, it's a woman doing this crazy cool stuff. He's done a fantastic job with doing just that with his adult Thursday Next series (yes, I am trying to see how many times I can recommend this series without actually blogging about it), and with Jennifer in the Chronicles of Kazam, he's given us a glimpse of what a teenaged Thursday might have been like.
This isn't my favorite of Fforde's novels, but like the rest of his books, it's fun and silly and well worth a read.
My book image is bigger. That means my review wins right? Isn't that how it works? ...no? Dammit, they lied to me again!
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