Saturday 14 June 2014

Book: 'The Eye Of Zoltar' by Jasper Fforde (2014)

Okay, here we go, and once again it's time to squeeze out a meaningful passage in a comparatively short period of time! Fortunately I've finally belatedly read the latest Jasper Fforde so there's an easy barrel to roll down the hill. What has my favourite living author been up to this time?

When last I wrote on things Ffordean, it was for the opening salvo of the 'Shades of Grey' series, which sadly sold a bit badly so the following books haven't quite materialised yet. That is a shame, as it was a pretty intriguing premise. Instead, he launched the 'Last Dragonslayer' or 'Jennifer Strange' series for younger adults, of which 'The Eye of Zoltar' is the third. Don't take that 'young adult' tag as a discouragement though as these books are teeming with as much imagination and wit as the other books, perhaps in spite of the slender limitations that exist, which are mostly gotten around with euphemisms in any case. Jasper is so funny.

This third novel, which is hugely chunky in comparison to the other two, is quite the mix of ideas. The arching plot of the evil and elaborate scheme of the mysterious Mighty Shandar continues in a very dark machination, while Jennifer is decoyed away with a small party to find the mysterious Eye Of Zoltar. Within the story's universe, Great Britain is the UnUnited Kingdoms, composed of myriad smaller countries which unite sporadically to engage in a Troll War or two. Despite the whole series being in some sense a joke, it is all intricately assembled and delivered, despite quite probably being mostly improvised on the run. That's one of the great things about Fforde books, that they move quickly in reading just as they probably did in writing. That's not including the horror of editing, of course!

The tome-like nature of 'The Eye Of Zoltar' was discouraging to begin, knowing as I did that the history of inflation in Pratchett and Rowling novels was rarely a good thing. However in this case it is surely a side effect of the original idea being so huge that it ended up being being split between this and an originally unplanned fourth part. Hopefully it will be just as intricate, and funny, and interesting as this one. Sadly, one character won't be returning though and you'll have to read it to find out which.

It is quite difficult to write about something without writing about something! Let's sum up what this story actually is. It's a search, which escalates into a quest, culminating in a Pyrrhic victory and ensuing massive defeat. It's also a twisted take on 'The Prince And The Pauper' combined with a lesson on what happens when you rubberise your accompanying dragon. More than that I can not tell, except that with one part still to go the story of 'Jennifer Strange' is still well worth catching up on.

O.

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