Jennifer continues to be the acting manager for Kazam, a house of magic serving the Kingdom of Snodd. When the odious Amazing Blix teams up with the King to put Kazam out of business and privatize all magic in the kingdom, for their great financial benefit, it will take all of Jennifer's cunning to help the sorcerers at Kazam to keep magic independent.

Another fun romp from Jasper Fforde. While it's been over a year since I read the first book in the series and remembered very little of it, I didn't feel lost at all reading this second book. The narrative subtly holds your hand enough that the reader doesn't feel lost, while also crafting a really excellent fantasy tale. Of course, there's plenty of Fforde humour throughout and I definitely laughed aloud in a few spots. Recommended for Fforde fans. ( )

Fun, quick read. Jasper Fforde is pretty amazing in that he makes nonsensical things kind of make sense. :) ( )

The continued adventures of Jennifer Strange, acting manager of Kazam, the magic employment agency.

It definitely feels like a middle book - corrupt King Snodd is not yet defeated, the Great Zambini has not yet been found. And if Jasper Fforde pulls the 'invent whimsical animal, make us feel attached to it, have it make a noble sacrifice to save Jennifer and the Plot' trick again, I will be most displeased.

But! More Quarkbeasts! Interesting backstories! A great look at what it is like to live with incredibly talented but also incredibly eccentric specialists! ( )

This one had been sitting on the shelf two-thirds read since I stopped reading it aloud to the offspring. I picked it up and finished it off in one last ditch attempt. It has the notable feature that at no point did I have to wonder who the characters are or what is going on, and what have I forgotten -- despite the number of years in between, it is all sufficiently clear. I did not even turn back one page.

And it is working for me a light and fluffy dystopia with magic and political shenanigans. One of the villains had somewhat of a comeuppance; the other makes a last minute power grab and got theirs.

Pros: Fforde does good over the top plots with handwaving and clever use of language. Cons: It obviously didn't hold my attention enough, and at no point have I wondered how it finishes. It was just that I got to there in the pile of books, and figured I might as well read it. ( )

Even for such a short book, the plot felt really thin.

> ‘It’s going to be as dark as the belly of a whale down there.’ I passed him a glass globe from my bag, just one of the many useful objects that I liked to have with me on assignment. ‘It runs off sarcasm,’ I said, handing it to him. ‘Great,’ he replied, and the globe lit up brightly.

> Mobile phones had been one of the first things to go when the drop in wizidrical power required the slow switch-off of services that ran, essentially, on magic. Mobiles and computers hadn’t been possible since 1993, color televisions since 1999 and GPS navigation since 2001 ( )