Fforde, Jasper. The Last Dragonslayer.

Fforde, Jasper.   The Last Dragonslayer.  Houghton Mifflin/ Harcourt Brace 287p     $16.99      978-0-547-73847-5   2012      ms/hs   E-BN      Fantasy    

In Fforde’s newest universe, Hereford in the Ununited Kingdoms, magic is slowly but surely slipping away.  Where magical ability once ruled the world, it is now good for little more than odd jobs.  Pizzas are delivered by magic carpets, pre-cogs predict the colors of floral blooms, and plumbing and wiring are repaired by magical groups.  One of the last repositories for those still holding some skills is the Kazam Mystical Arts Management.  This magical employment agency/boarding house is managed by foundling and indentured servant Jennifer Strange.  Not yet sixteen, she has been in charge since her mentor, the Great Zambini, disappeared.   Jennifer must make sure that her magic makers get their work done properly to keep the institution going and themselves fed.   But, in the course of one week, everything changes.  Jennifer is declared the Last Dragonslayer upon the premonition that Maltcassion, the last dragon, will die at Sunday noon surfaces.  Requests for product endorsements and television interviews come pouring in, kingdom wars are about to begin over land grabs, and Jennifer must temper the ongoing chaos with her common sense and good nature.  This twist on fairy tales provides a wonderfully funny book.  As in all good tales, however, there are questions of morality and philosophy to discuss and evil and greed to overcome.  Fforde holds the reader entranced throughout this engaging and suspenseful fantasy.  It is thoughtful, thought provoking, and wonderfully funny, all at the same time.  Jennifer is a worthy soul sister to Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching.   The next two volumes in the series will be breathlessly awaited.

           

Dragons-Fiction, Magic-Fiction                        --Susan Ogintz

Gier, Kersten. Sapphire Blue. (Ruby Red Trilogy series)

Gier, Kersten.  Sapphire Blue. (Ruby Red Trilogy series)   

Henry Holt/Macmillan Children's Pub Group  362p  $16.99  978-0-8050-9266-0  

2012       ms/jr  VG-BN  Science Fiction 

Gwyneth discovers that she is the final link in a time-traveling family and a major key to solving the mysteries of the “Circle of Twelve”. Readers will enjoy the intrigue, romance, historical settings, and fast-paced trips back into various time periods.          

Gwen’s family has long been involved with time travel. They always knew that one female in each generation would inherit the gene for time travel based on her birth date.  It seems the family thought it was to be Charlotte, Gwyneth’s cousin, but Gwyneth’s mother disguised her birth date in hopes that she did not have the gene.

It was a baptism by fire for Gwyneth to the Secret Society of “The Guardians” and the intriguing adventures back in time (accompanied by Gideon de Villiers, her partner) to find blood samples from deceased members of The Circle that need to be read into the chronograph.

The author has created a series that will intrigue readers, with its believable characters (Xemerius, the gargoyle ghost; James, the ghost; and Leslie, a schoolmate and best friend), its romantic interludes, and its suspenseful adventures back in olden times.  It seems that Gwyneth Shepard is not an everyday, normal girl after all.  But she needs Gideon to save her from the fate that is not explained in the cliffhanger ending of the book.

Sapphire Blue is the second book in the series.  The series will end with the third book, Sapphire Green.              

Time Travel–Fiction, Adventure-Fiction                     --Linda McNeil

O’Brien, Caragh. Promised. (Birthmarked trilogy, book 3)

O’Brien, Caragh.  Promised. (Birthmarked trilogy, book 3)   Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press  292p  $17.99    978-1-59643-571-1     2012  hs  E-BN  Fantasy

This is the third title in a trilogy, following Birthmarked and Prized.  As the new Matrarc, Gaia leads the majority of her people on the long trek from doomed Sylum through the wasteland to the outskirts of Enclave, where she was born. Gaia only wants to establish New Sylum and peacefully negotiate for water.  The ruling Protectorat has other ideas.  He wants to harvest her ovaries for the eggs that can be inseminated to produce hemophilia-resistant children.

Trying to be fiercely independent, Gaia once again becomes a pawn in political battles.  As she makes the Protectorat’s plans for her known, she finds many allies.  In a revolutionary demand to set things right, the rebels are gaining when Gaia is captured and the surgery is performed.  This information strengthens the rebels’ position, and the Protectorat is arrested.  Gaia has won, but at a great expense.  At the end of the story Gaia and her promised one, Leon, plan to marry.  There are still questions about how they will handle the fact that they will never have children, but they appear to be headed toward happiness.

This one is well written, with love, action, intrigue and conflict.  It will be eagerly anticipated by readers of the trilogy.  It also stands quite well without its predecessors.  For mature high-school readers.

Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction                    --Joan Theal

Gee, Maurice Gool (Salt Trilogy v2)

Gee, Maurice Gool (Salt Trilogy v2)
Orca 2010 215p 18.00
978-1-55469-214-9 hs VG


Xantee and Lo set out to locate the Dog King, Tarl, to enlist his help to destroy the Gook that is the force sucking the life from their world. Gee revisits the world and characters he created in “Salt.” Hari and Pearl have had children who are each gifted with incredible telepathic powers. When Hari is attacked and his life threatened by an invisible enemy known as the Gool, his children, Xantee and Lo, strike out to find Tarl (aka, “The Dog King”), who is Hari’s father. Aided by “the people with no name” who dwell unseen in the wilderness, Xantee and Lo race against time to destroy the Gool before it kills Hari and moves on to consume the world. This requires the children to embark on a arduous physical journey and an equally perilous spiritual one.

While “Gool” is the second volume in a planned trilogy, it stands well on its own. However, the characters in this volume are underdeveloped and the subplots of mystery and romance were employed with more success in “Salt.” The dreamlike quality of the quest(s) are at odds with the imperative to quickly resolve Hari’s dilemma and save his life -- which demands a fast-paced journey and immediate action. This is an uneven sequel, which, when read out of sequence, many not win new fans to the series. Fantasy Welliver, Hilary