The Last Dragonslayer

The Chronicles of Kazam, Book 1

By: Jasper Fforde

Narrated by: Elizabeth Jasicki

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the good old days, magic was indispensable - it could both save a kingdom and clear a clogged drain. But now magic is fading: drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets are used for pizza delivery.

Fifteen-year-old foundling Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians - but it’s hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. And then the visions start, predicting the death of the world’s last dragon at the hands of an unnamed Dragonslayer.

If the visions are true, everything will change for Kazam - and for Jennifer. Because something is coming. Something known as . . . Big Magic.

©2010, 2012 Jasper Fforde (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

I plan to keep listening to this series

I consider myself a fan of Jasper Fforde's. I've now read everything he's published in the US, and I've enjoyed rather a lot of it. I like his weird worlds, his twists on reality that are almost plausible, and I like his sense of humor. This being a whole new series, I wasn't sure what to expect. I wound up liking it, though, and plan to read more.

The Last Dragonslayer is about Jennifer Strange, who's (almost) 16 and is a foundling in a world where magic exists. She runs an agency of magic users in the absence of the manager, who vanished in a magical accident. Her replacement, Tiger Prawns, arrives, and through his eyes we learn of the odd world Jennifer lives in, where there's one surviving dragon and magic has been steadily dwindling for years. Then, all of the world's precogs (seers and psychics, basically) have a vision of the world's last dragon dying, and millions of people converge on the dragon's territory hoping to grab a piece of land when the barrier keeping people out drops.

Jennifer is confused for two-thirds of the book, and, because the book is in first-person, that means the reader is, too. She pieces together the puzzle slowly, but all isn't revealed until the very last chapter. The action of the last third makes up for a lot of the confusion of the earlier sections.

I wondered, for most of the book, why the protagonist was female. She has a lot of traditionally masculine traits, and romance never comes into the equation. It would be a spoiler to say why I felt this choice was a masterful one, in the end.

Jennifer is a flawed hero. She takes on too much, says the wrong things at the wrong time, and often trusts the wrong people. She muddles through a lot of the plot, and she lets her anger get the better of her judgment more than once. She also has agency, sensitivity, and a strong sense of who she is.

This book has a lot less of the quirky humor I've come to enjoy in Jasper Fforde's books. There were some jabs here and there, but the book's tone is mostly serious.

It also lacks a lot of the YA trappings, though it is a YA book. There's no bad language or sex. But then, I don't recall a lot in Fforde's other novels. The biggest thing that marks this as YA is the age of the protagonist.

I listened to this book on audio. For the most part, Elizabeth Jasicki's narration was good and clear, and she sounded like a teenage girl. But, narrating dialogue, she often drawled, whispered, or did some combination of the two that quickly became grating. If she narrates the next books, I do hope she finds a better way of narrating dialogue.

Opening Curtains

Any additional comments?

Jasper Fforde is back with his new series 'The Last Dragonslayer.' This series follows a 16 year old orphan as she tries to find her place in the world. It is a promising start to a new series from a great writer. If you expect this series to be exactly like Thursday Next, you will be disappointed. 'The Last Dragonslayer' isn't about a love of books or language. It is about something completely different, and Fforde does a great job making that clear, and giving this series a new voice while maintaining his hilarious and dry sarcasm. So, put Thursday Next aside and read this book with a clear mind. If you do, you will enjoy this new series.

Sweet YA Story

Not complicated, but has all the charm of Fforde's other works. Definitely geared for the young adult market, but still fun to listen to. The narrator did a nice job, although I found her breathy, male voices a bit annoying, but not enough to distract from the story. Worth a listen.

A good light book

What made the experience of listening to The Last Dragonslayer the most enjoyable?

I found the book light and refreshing. It is a well written pre-teen book but something that an adult can slip into and let the cares of the day fade. If you are looking for something more serious or along the line of Jasper Fforde's other novels this might be the book for you. If you can enjoy a basic story line with only a few minor twits this is a good one.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Last Dragonslayer?

The description of the quark beasts statue.

Which character – as performed by Elizabeth Jasicki – was your favorite?

Tiger Prawns

Ffunny Ffantasy

Jasper Fforde has proven his mastery of the alternate universe with his Thursday Next series (and the related Nursey Crime series), imagining a world where literature is intimately intertwined with reality (his alternate version of reality). With The Last Dragonslayer, Fforde creates an alternate universe where magic, dragons, kings and home improvement coexist uneasily in present-day England, hamstrung by government bureaucracy, an omnivorous media, corporate manipulation, and rising real estate prices.

As original as Thursday Next's world is, humorously applying the conventions of detective novels to a setting where the boundaries between literature and reality are blurred, the idea of placing magical beings in modern day society is hardly a new one -- way overdone, in fact. But Fforde pulls it off thanks to his impeccable sense of humor and comic timing. If you like Monty Python, you'll like Fforde -- he even has a short riff on the ethics of turning people into newts, an overt nod to MP and the Holy Grail.

If I have one minor bone to pick -- and why I stop short of going to five stars -- it's that once the plot kicks in, supplanting the detailed world building of The Last Dragonslayer's alternate universe that occupies the first few hours, the joke quotient shrinks, and that's a shame, because the jokes are so good. The last few chapters wrap up way too quickly, which may only be a problem because I wanted them to last longer -- but there are additional entries in the series, so that won't be a problem for very long.

I'm reminded when I listen to a book like this why I love listening to humorous fiction in audio -- why bother with any other genre? (Although of course I'll keep going back to the others.) This is certainly the one type of book where, indisputably, the voice in your earbuds has better comic timing and better dialects than the voice in your head. At least, if the narrator is doing a good job -- and Elizabeth Jasicki does an excellent job as the voice of Fforde's teenage heroine, Jennifer Strange.

Stop americanizing English books.

I want to hear the book as it was written. This is especially important with fforde whose humour consists of
wordplay.
Baby carriage!

Great fantasy

If you could sum up The Last Dragonslayer in three words, what would they be?

fantasy adventure funny

Who was your favorite character and why?

That's tough. It would have to Jennifer Strange or the precog friend of hers. They seemed to stick in your mind and you wanted to follow their stories.

Have you listened to any of Elizabeth Jasicki’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The Silent Governess, but they didn't really compare in terms of story. As a narrator, she did a great job portraying the heart of the main character.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh, it was hilarious.

Light and quirky, more of a snack than a meal

First, I am a Jasper Fforde fan, having read all of the Thursday Next, Nursery Crimes and am anxiously awaiting the next Shades of Grey book. I was certainly not disappointed in the ideas in this book and would love to have an elevator that swoops me upwards. However, I just didn't feel as satisfied after finishing this book as I have after other Jasper Fforde books. Perhaps it's because it's the beginning of a series but it just seemed to lope along and then suddenly end. Though there was excitement and chases, I never felt like the book properly took off. I still give the book four stars based on the world and all of the fun little jokes. I just wanted a bit more.

Love Jasper Fforde

I love the writing, whimsy, comedy and humanity in Fforde’s books!!! It’s so fun and fantastic!!

This book is about Jennifer Strange who is a 16 year old orphan. Her job is managing Kazam, a company that employees wizards to do things like tree removal and home improvements etc.
It follows her adventure when she finds out that she is the last dragon slayer.

I highly recommend this book. Fun for older kids/young adults and adults :)

All the characters sound the same, endless chat

Acres and acres of arthorial exposition interrupted only by mind-numbing chat about nothing pertaining to any action. NOTHING HAPPENS. After a few hours I gave up.