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The Eye Of Zoltar (2014)

by Jasper Fforde(Favorite Author)

4.1 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1444707272 (ISBN13: 9781444707274)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Hodder & Stoughton

series

Chronicles of Kazam

review 1: Book Three of the Chronicles of Kazam goes in a different direction than the other two, with Jennifer Strange out of the Kazam offices and on a quest in the Cambrian Empire. With a body-switched princess, guide Addie, and a variety of other miscellaneous characters, she is searching for the Eye of Zoltar. This book doesn't feel as strong as the previous ones in the series - it has some nice moments, but nothing nearly as funny or exciting as Quarkbeast did. Jennifer doesn't really seem to do much as the protagonist; a lot of things happen to her and her band, but she rarely seems to be pivotal to those actions. And maybe it's just that I've gotten too used to his style, but the world here doesn't seem as whimsically silly as it has in previous books - there is definitel... morey a darker feel to the entire book, down to its ending that, while not really a cliffhanger, leaves no doubt that there is more story to go. There are lots of zany ideas (and a fair bit of economics), but it all seems too... grounded (which is somewhat ironic).That's not to say the book is bad; it is still a fun, worthwhile read. It just doesn't quite reach the heights of the others in the series.
review 2: The story: Jennifer Strange is back, and her mission is more perilous than ever: find the legendary jewel called the Eye of Zoltar, or the evil Shandar will exterminate the last of the dragons. To complicate things, she and Perkins, by royal decree, have to drag a spoiled princess along with them and somehow teach her how to be a decent ruler. There's murder, kidnapping, and a rubber dragon--everything you need for a great story!June Cleaver's ratings: Violence PG; Language PG; Sexual Content G; Nudity G; Substance Abuse G; Magic and the occult PG-13; adult themes PG; overall rating PG. (Even though the usual themes lend to a PG rating, the British humor and alternative-reality setting might be confusing for younger readers.)Liz's comments: I really like this series, but found this volume to be a little darker and less humorous than the first two. Fearful things are happening in the Kindgom of Snodd, and it's up to Jennifer and her friends to try to put them right! If you haven't read the first two books in the series--"The Last Dragonslayer" and "The Song of the Quarkbeast"--you really should start there.Annotation: The story starts with Jennifer and the newly-licensed young sorcerer Perkins helping to catch a Tralfamosaur that's escaped from a local zoo. The Once Magnificent Boo escorts the animal over the border into Cambria, where such animals live in the wild, using Jennifer's Volkswagen as transport. She's immediately captured and held for ransom by minions of Emperor Tharv. Jenny's sorry to see Boo and the car floating off, but she has bigger problems. First, she's summoned to the palace and, as Court Mystician, given the task of taking Princess Shazza in hand and turning her out of a spoiled brat and into someone who will be fit to rule someday.Not only that, the mighty Shandar (who spends most of his time in stone sleep, thus avoiding aging) is unhappy with Jennifer Strange: she upset his plans for the extermination of the last dragon, causing him to default on the contract with the kingdom, which is now asking for a refund. Shandar doesn't do refunds, but he is looking for something--so he tells Jennifer that she has two choices: either find and deliver the legendary Eye of Zoltar (a magical ruby the size of a goose egg) or he will personally make sure her two dragon friends, Colin and Feldspar, are killed, thus fulfilling his contract. Jennifer agrees to take on the search (not a quest, mind you, since quests are highly regulated and cost a lot extra). Jennifer takes Perkins and Shazza (now magically switched into the body of a serving girl and called Laura in order to discourage anyone from kidnapping her) with her on the...search. (It's NOT a quest, as quests require permits and additional funding.)Following the few clues they have, they head for Cambria. According to the Remarkable Kevin Zipp (a future-seer working at Kazam) the search for the Eye of Zoltar will hinge on finding a man named Able Quizzler, who was the last one to have systematically gone searching for it, and who traced it as far as the Sky Pirate Wolff and the Leviathan's Graveyard in the Cambrian empty quarter before disappearing. (A note about Cambria - it's one of the Ununited Kingdoms, one whose economy is dependent on "Jeopardy Tourism" - thrill seekers might experience a face-to-face with Trafalmosaurs (like T-Rex but meaner), an attack by flesh-eating snails, or be captured by the Hotax (a tribe of cannibals that considerately does very lifelike taxidermy on their victims' remains after eating them). The location can't be helped, though, so off they go, with instructions to rescue Boo on the way back. Jennifer, minus a car, picks a Bugatti Royale from the Kazam garages, mostly on account of its being big enough to haul them all (except for Colin, who prefers to fly). Upon arrival, they hire 12-year old Addie as a guide (she's a lot tougher than she looks!) and also run into Curtis a beach-bum style tourist who, along with two friends, decides to accompany them. Since Addie has figured the mortality rate on this mission at 50%, she agrees to let the lame guys come to improve the Kazam team's odds. At that moment, however, their car is impounded by agents of Emperor Tharv, who's a collector, and they're left to arrange their own transport. Even worse, Colin is attacked by border security as he flies in, saved only by Perkins, who jumps in with a spell that turns him into rubber and sends him bouncing down the road miles ahead of them.They have fallen into the clutches of kidnappers when one of the beach dudes, Ralph, overdoses on magic he's stolen from Perkins' bag and ends up as an Australopithecine--only saved from dying by Perkins' wizarding power. Eventually, Perkins is taken by the kidnappers to be used as a gift for Emperor Tharv, and they're left with a wandering ornithologist named Wilson in exchange. They get a strange message from Kazam via snail messenger advising them to use every effort to find the Eye and also to keep Shazza/Laura safe; Addie takes off on a side trip to rescue Perkins, saying that if she's not back by morning, she's dead, so to move on; Curtis threatens to turn them into the Questing Foundation unless they give him a cut in their made-up search for Leviathan teeth--so they agree. When Addie doesn't show up the next day, they move on as instructed.It's not much longer, however, until Curtis steals their vehicle and kidnaps Laura in the process. The rest of them set out on foot, and soon after are rescued from a Lifesucker by Gabby, who's in Cambria working for a company that asseses the risk of death in various activities available there. Gabby, who's been around a while, suggests that they cut cross country through the former Dragonlands and that way catch up with Curtis before he has a chance to sell Laura in Llansgurig (the town nearest Cadir Idris, the mountain where they're heading). They see an actual Leviathan (i.e., lighter-than-air whale) and Australopithicine Ralph gets caught up and taken away by it. By day's end, they run into Addie again and find that she has, indeed, rescued Perkins. But Perkins doesn't look the same. Come to find out that he's a "burner" sorceror--every time he uses magic for something, it literally takes years off his life, and the bigger the spell, the more years are used up. Now he's in his late twenties; next time, he'll be 50. This is very sad for Jennifer, who had really been thinking she liked Perkins and could possibly stand to be his girlfriend. It also turns out that Gabby had found them at Addie's request and helped them out; now he's on his way elsewhere once again. They arrive at Llansgurig and find a war going on--between railroad companies: whoever's first to finish their line will end up rich, so each labors to prevent the other from finishing. They slip into town during the daily cease-fire and find Princess Shazza/Laura making a killing on options on the Llanguirg stock market--such a killing, in fact, that she's arrested and set to be executed for illegal trading. But just as the decree comes down, Perkins does another magical act that allows Trans-Wales Rails to finish their line, and the entire town goes out to celebrate. During the hubbub, they're able to take the Princess and get away, but only at the cost of 20 years of Perkins's life. Before they leave, however, they find out that Able Quizzler was in fact in town six years ago--that he died there, falling off a Leviathan. Now that they know Leviathans are real, and that Quizzler was real, they resolve to go find the Graveyard and see if they can also find Sky Pirate Wolff.As they make their way, they see Curtis ahead of them; they get to Cadir Idris and find that the magically-enhanced cloud cover there is a cover for a Skybus plant (one of Shandar's corporations). He has Hollow Men drones (animated suits of clothing) there to protect his interests, which seem to be shovelings Leviathan poop and recycling it for its excellent lift qualities. The Hollow Men also kill everyone who attempts to leave the vicinity. Climbing the mountain, they find the ancient nest of the Leviathans, and find Gabby waiting there for them. He shows Jennifer the Sky Pirate, who's been turned to lead (a gatekeeping spell performed by the Eye of Zoltar) and helps her figure out that Quizzler, falling off the Leviathan from the sky, must have had the jewel in his hand when he landed. The group goes down, find the obnoxious Curtis eaten and stuffed by the Hotax, and fight their way through an army of Hollow Men--at which they're only successful because Perkins uses up the rest of his magical energy (and his life) to take out half of them. In the fight, Princess Shazza/Laura also has the servant girl's hand get chopped off. Upon their return to Llansgurig, they do indeed find the Eye of Zoltar buried along with Quizzler. They retrieve it, then go to Cambrianopolis to rescue the Once Magnificent Boo. Her ransom, though, seems beyond them--until they take the receipt they got for the stolen Bugatti and use it to cover costs.As they make their way back into the Kingdom of Snodd, things are not right--hence the urgent, somewhat garbled notes they've been getting from the magicians at Kazam. It appears that the trolls, in league with Shandar, have invaded the country and triumphed. Shazza's parents are dead, so not only is she an orphan, but she's stuck in Laura's body for the rest of her life. Jennifer fears that all the rest of the Kazam dwellers are dead too--but they now have a mission in life: keep the princess safe, and mount a resistance to Shandar. All or most of which will happen in book 4! less

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