The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde

In an alternate United Kingdom, King Snodd aims to control the world by controlling magic, and only 16-year-old Jennifer Strange, acting manager of an employment agency for sorcerers, stands between Snodd and his plans, in the sequel to The Last Dragonslayer. 75,000 first printing.

I have to say, this Kazam series is growing on me. I honestly think that the illustrations on the covers, albeit beautiful, made me skeptical because I am not very interested in hard-core fantasy. But the series is definitely fantasy with the Ffordian wit and humor. The protagonist, Jennifer Strange, also has some young Thursday Next vibes, particularly in keeping her cool in hectic situations and wanting to be left alone but actually enjoying her adventures. The Song of the Quarkbeast offered an opportunity to get to know the characters a little better and therefore made me more interested in them.

I love the wizarding world that Fforde created but I continue to lament the attempt to make this a juvenile series. There's politics, buerocracy and classic Fforde-ian weirdness. All sorts of things to recommend this series.

That said, there really isn't anything in the books that would not appeal to both adults and children except Jennifer constantly being described as “young”. Casting a “young” character as your protagonist does not make a book YA/juvenile. It just annoys me. Jennifer is very much a re-interpretation of Thursday in a different timeline. The “young” thing just feels slapped on.

The only other irritant is the 24 pt. type. I would recommend adults read the ebook if only to adjust the type size. I felt like I was reading a Dick and Jane book.

I really like this series. Although it's billed as YA and it would be totally appropriate for that age range, I actually think that adults might enjoy it more due to the references tucked away in the narration (as is typical for Fforde).