Eye of Zoltar

This is the third book in Jasper Fforde's Chronicles of Kazam series. I don't generally gravitate towards fantasy (but I'm reading through Fforde's entire bibliography), but I actually enjoyed the first two books pretty well, I think because they were light on the strange creatures and peril and more about the relationships between the characters and the main character finding her strength. This third book, on the other hand, takes Jennifer Strange on a (not a) quest into a neighboring kingdom, meaning she is leaving behind the characters from the previous books that I enjoyed, and is mostly strange creatures and peril. It also ends with a pretty major cliffhanger, which I'm guessing Fforde is planning to address in future books, but these future books haven't arrived yet.