You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Another fun read. I'm enjoying this world that Fforde has created.
Read with the kids. Another fun book from Jasper Fforde.
I was looking forward to this book. In general I find reading young adult novels to be a breath of fresh air and I was hoping that The Song of the Quarkbeast would live up to its press as a magical adventure with a bit of nerdy wordplay.
The Story
Young Jennifer Strange, a foundling, is left in charge of Kazam, the more ethical of the two companies that perform magic.
Their newly renamed competitor iMagic is up to no good, manipulating King Snodd into ordering a contest between the wizards of both companies; the losers to merge with the winning agency.
Jennifer expects to win, that is until they begin losing sorcerers to Runix powered spells and trumped up magical misdemeanours.
The search for magical allies results in the revelation that nefarious plans are afoot.
My Issues
Initially I liked the word play, the short tangents away from the movement of the story, and the jokes or allusions that might escape younger readers.
I usually give a novel 25 % of its length, or about 100 pages to hook me in, some novels require an adjustment due to style. I found that by a third of the way through The Song of the Quarkbeast, I wasn’t. The witty wordplay and divergent descriptions began to feel overdone and I longed for the story to pick up pace.
I also had issues with Jennifer. She seemed to me to be a bit wooden, perhaps standoffish – I didn’t feel she was a convincing 16 year old girl.
Recommendations
My 15 year old self would have liked this book, it was reminiscent of Douglas Adams and the sense of humour that produced the Deeper Meaning of Liff, but even then I think I might also have had an issue with the pacing.
I am hesitant to recommend it to all but the hard-core book nerds amongst the teen population, those who will find endless amusement in descriptions of the history, characters, oddities of the Kingdom of Hereford and who have the ability to make the connection with their real world equivalents.
I struggled to enjoy this one.
The Story
Young Jennifer Strange, a foundling, is left in charge of Kazam, the more ethical of the two companies that perform magic.
Their newly renamed competitor iMagic is up to no good, manipulating King Snodd into ordering a contest between the wizards of both companies; the losers to merge with the winning agency.
Jennifer expects to win, that is until they begin losing sorcerers to Runix powered spells and trumped up magical misdemeanours.
The search for magical allies results in the revelation that nefarious plans are afoot.
My Issues
Initially I liked the word play, the short tangents away from the movement of the story, and the jokes or allusions that might escape younger readers.
I usually give a novel 25 % of its length, or about 100 pages to hook me in, some novels require an adjustment due to style. I found that by a third of the way through The Song of the Quarkbeast, I wasn’t. The witty wordplay and divergent descriptions began to feel overdone and I longed for the story to pick up pace.
I also had issues with Jennifer. She seemed to me to be a bit wooden, perhaps standoffish – I didn’t feel she was a convincing 16 year old girl.
Recommendations
My 15 year old self would have liked this book, it was reminiscent of Douglas Adams and the sense of humour that produced the Deeper Meaning of Liff, but even then I think I might also have had an issue with the pacing.
I am hesitant to recommend it to all but the hard-core book nerds amongst the teen population, those who will find endless amusement in descriptions of the history, characters, oddities of the Kingdom of Hereford and who have the ability to make the connection with their real world equivalents.
I struggled to enjoy this one.
Why do second books in series so often fall short?
First Fforde spent so much of the book beginning reminding us of book 1. Then with all the quirkiness of world the author adds in, there wasn't much in the first 60 pages that could actually count as plot. The main character makes a big decision with big consequences, but she has no internal thought or conflict about it. She doesn't even give a good reason. And it's soon forgotten. By page 60, I had no idea of the stakes. Not much happened. The charm and world building didn't make up for all the tangents. When I got to the cell phone/electronic explanation distraction, I was done.
First Fforde spent so much of the book beginning reminding us of book 1. Then with all the quirkiness of world the author adds in, there wasn't much in the first 60 pages that could actually count as plot. The main character makes a big decision with big consequences, but she has no internal thought or conflict about it. She doesn't even give a good reason. And it's soon forgotten. By page 60, I had no idea of the stakes. Not much happened. The charm and world building didn't make up for all the tangents. When I got to the cell phone/electronic explanation distraction, I was done.
The second installment in the Chronicles of Kazam, The Song of the Quarkbest is just as witty and fun as the first in the series. Unfortunately, dragons are not in this book and contrary to the title Quarkbeasts are hardly here as well. "Quark" is all I have to say. Fforde is able to meld magic and modern in such a funny way that almost reminds me of [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg]. (Calm down hard core Pratchett fans I said almost.) If you enjoyed the first book then you should continue with the series, if you are just starting you should read the first book, [b:The Last Dragonslayer|13316328|The Last Dragonslayer (The Chronicles of Kazam, #1)|Jasper Fforde|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346791460s/13316328.jpg|13380425] as all the initial world building starts there.
This is an enjoyable sequel to The Last Dragonslayer. Despite the title and subject matter of the first book, this second book has virtually nothing to do with dragons. The focus instead remains with the magic company, Kazam, and its struggle to survive since not much has happened with Big Magic. Interference by rival company iMagic and the king leads the group into increasingly dire straits. There is an exciting magical battle to cap it all off, and intriguing references, potentially to the third book, appear throughout. The story comes together nicely, and there are a lot of fun, random magical occurrences.
Der zweite Teil der "Chornicles of Kazam" hat mir sogar noch besser gefallen als der erste.
Warte.
Eigentlich waren beide wirklich toll, der zweite hatte nur eine noch überraschende Wendung am Ende.
Jenny ist auch in Buch zwei eine großartige Protagonistin. Schlau, mutig, witzig - würde ich gerne mal treffen.
Und Jasper Fforde ist definitv meine Neuentdeckung in 2015 (ja, late to the party, ich weiß).
Warte.
Eigentlich waren beide wirklich toll, der zweite hatte nur eine noch überraschende Wendung am Ende.
Jenny ist auch in Buch zwei eine großartige Protagonistin. Schlau, mutig, witzig - würde ich gerne mal treffen.
Und Jasper Fforde ist definitv meine Neuentdeckung in 2015 (ja, late to the party, ich weiß).
This time, the mess is that Blix, the head of the competing magic company, wants to take over Kazam. He and the king use underhanded methods. Meanwhile a mystery around a woman who used to be a great, young, magician, also ensnares Jennifer Strange. Another fun romp where the jokes don't take over enough to make it tired, as Pratchett, sadly, often does.
As others have indicated, this is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I didn't realize this was the second book in the series and almost gave up on it at 25% because of what seemed more a summary of events than narration. I pushed on and it got better and more humorous. But I should have realized it was a series because I've read other Fforde books and know he wouldn't write a dud.
Second in the series of YA books from the amazingly talented Jasper Fforde.