FICTION

Eye of Zoltar

by Jasper FFORDE
416p. (Chronicles of Kazam: Bk. 3). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Oct. 2014. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9780547738499; ebk. $16.99. ISBN 9780544374300.
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Gr 5–8—Jennifer Strange, 16, is pretty busy these days, as manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management and Court Mystician for the Kingdom of Snodd. Still, she can't say no when the queen "asks" that she take on the challenge of transforming the obnoxious and spoiled princess (who is switched into the body of a downtrodden orphan by her mother when she refuses to cooperate) into a functional and empathetic leader. Then Jennifer is blackmailed by the most powerful magician ever into a search (not a quest, which is far more expensive) for the almost completely legendary Eye of Zoltar, last seen in the dangerously unbalanced Cambrian Empire, where kidnapping and jeopardy tourism are the main sources of revenue. The odds are definitely not in her favor on this perilous journey with the young but extremely resourceful tour guide, Addie; a rubberized dragon; her rapidly aging beau, Perkins; a vain princess turned undernourished orphan; and mysterious heroes and wastrels of various sorts. The ever-resourceful Jennifer must reach deep into her bag of mental and emotional reserves to battle strange magic and survive terrible loss. This installment is darker than the first two outings and contains a Grand Canyon–sized cliff-hanger of an ending. Fans of strong, brave, intelligent females will root for Jennifer and her gang, and wait impatiently for the next book.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library
Powerful wizard the Mighty Shandar is once again threatening the lives of the last dragons. To spare them, Jennifer Strange accepts his challenge to find the Eye of Zoltar, said to be on a forbidding peak in the Cambrian Empire ("the land that health and safety forgot"). Fforde sustains the series' high quality of absurdity, wit, and literary inventiveness. Thoroughly satisfying.
The powerful wizard the Mighty Shandar is once again threatening the lives of the last dragons; to spare them, practical, down-to-earth Jennifer Strange, teenage manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management, accepts his challenge. She must find the Eye of Zoltar, said to be on the forbidding, mist-shrouded peak of Cadir Idris in the Cambrian Empire (otherwise known as "the land that health and safety forgot"). Jennifer and her traveling companions -- Perkins the sorcerer; "Laura Scrubb," a spoiled princess inhabiting the body of a maidservant; and a dragon who has been temporarily turned to rubber -- sign up with a tour guide who promises a "low" fifty-percent fatality rate. Fforde sustains the high quality of absurdity, wit, and literary inventiveness already evident in the series, not just with bons mots ("Honor is kind of what you get when you weaponize manners") and bizarre situations but also with a richness of characterization that deepens all bit parts (such as Once Magnificent Boo) as well as our formidable hero, Jennifer herself. Fforde's comic genius is such that he can poke fun at fantasy's generic tropes ("A quest always demanded the death of a trusted friend") and, at the same time, make them work for him. Thoroughly satisfying. deirdre f. baker
Reviewed by Mara Alpert , Jul 01, 2014

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