Journal Entry 1 by chich from Sant Antoni de Portmany, Illes Balears/Islas Baleares Spain on Sunday, March 06, 2011

Yet another witty read by Jasper Fforde! Although aimed primarily at younger readers, this book is very enjoyable and very Fforde: lots of great characters (Jennifer did remind me of a young Thursday Next), puns, jokes and inventiveness. Who else but Fforde could mix an evil multinational, media circus, crooked politicians and dragons in the same book? Granted, the book is short and the plot is a bit thin but this is still a great read. A very good Fforde:)

Synopsis:
In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7g.

Then the magic started fading away.

Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery.

So it’s a surprise when the visions start. Not only do they predict the death of the Last Dragon at the hands of a dragonslayer, they also point to Jennifer, and say something is coming.

Big Magic . . .  

Journal Entry 2 by chich at Sant Antoni de Portmany, Illes Balears/Islas Baleares Spain on Sunday, September 04, 2011

Journal Entry 3 by chich at Bookray, Bookray -- Controlled Releases on Friday, September 23, 2011

Released 8 mos ago (9/23/2011 UTC) at Bookray, Bookray -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Here we go! Book sent to Cassandra2020 today, enjoy:) 

Journal Entry 4 by Cassandra2020 at Roslin, Scotland United Kingdom on Thursday, September 29, 2011

Ooh, so excited to find this on the mat this evening :-) And so happy to be first on the list, thank you so much Chich for organising this and posting it out to me. I'm nearing the end of my current book, so I think this will be perfect for my business trip Monday/Tuesday & hopefully I can pass it to EarthCaroleAnne when I see her on Thursday. Finger crossed. 

Journal Entry 5 by Cassandra2020 at Roslin, Scotland United Kingdom on Thursday, October 06, 2011

I'm afraid I tend to be very scathing about adults reading children's books, so I'm not very used to doing so myself.... I'd only do so for Jasper ;-) Not sure if I will again or not as I did quite enjoy this book.

The story is fairly typical of him. Lots of humour, lots of wierd & wonderful names and puns, but as you'd expect from a children's book, the language and plot are a lot simpler.

Again, a very Fforde-esque set up: the story is based in the Kingdom of Hereford where magic is waning and there is only one dragon left and he is living in the Dragonlands as defined by the dragonpact - all very like the Danelaw etc. Our heroine is Jennifer Strange, a foundling just short of her 16th birthday who is managing the Kazam Magic Agency. Not going to go into too much detail from here as it will spoil the book, but unsurprisingly she's involved in various magic/dragon related adventure with her faithful quarkbeast (I really liked him!) by her side. There were a few other characters that I wished were developed further, like Tiger Prawns, so am fully expecting them to feature more heavily in the follow up books.

Like I said, a great book for the Harry Potter generation, but not sure that I'll bother when there are so many other books out there that are actually intended to appeal to me.

Will hopefully see EarthCaroleAnne tonight & will be able to pass direct to her. 

Journal Entry 6 by Cassandra2020 at Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom on Thursday, October 06, 2011

Released 7 mos ago (10/6/2011 UTC) at Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Will bring the book to the meetup to pass to EarthCaroleAnne 

Journal Entry 7 by earthcaroleanne at Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom on Saturday, October 08, 2011

Got this from Cassandra 2020 at the Edinburgh meetup. 

Journal Entry 8 by earthcaroleanne at Falkirk, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, November 02, 2011

I quite enjoyed the story but not enough to read the next one. As Cassandra2020 said, it is very Fforde-esque however there was one point which irritated me slightly. I love the Thursday Next series and I especially love the way he plays with names and he did it in this book too. I almost felt like he had stolen it from Thursday's books.  

Journal Entry 9 by earthcaroleanne at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Thursday, November 10, 2011

Released 6 mos ago (11/11/2011 UTC) at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way in the ring. I'm making release notes now but it might not get posted straight away (not sure how my finances are working out this month). 

Journal Entry 10 by Jonniboi at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Monday, November 21, 2011

I'm looking forward to reading this, although I hope it doesn't become complicated, but fingers crossed this opens up a whole new author to me! I have a few books to get through before this one, but I'll try and get to it asap 

Journal Entry 11 by Jonniboi at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Wow, Wow, WOW!!!!!! There is no other way to describe this book, just utterly WOW!!! I stayed up until 3am last night finishing this book, and it is so gripping that you just want it to be real, to be able to be in a world like that would just be magical, and I loved the ending, even though water did fill my eyes and I did shed a tear here and there for certain reasons.

As for my first Jasper Fforde novel, this was amazing and I'm surprised I have never come across this author before hand. This is totally an author who's books will be appearing on my wishlist sometime soon, and this is definitely one of those books that I will go out and buy so that I can read it over and over again, one to add to my collection!

I have not received an address as of yet, so I shall pm the next person in line again. 

Journal Entry 12 by Jonniboi at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 21, 2011

SudoKris wishes to be skipped, so on to the next person in line! 

Journal Entry 13 by Jonniboi at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Monday, February 06, 2012

Released 3 mos ago (2/6/2012 UTC) at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent this book off, it's now in the post! Sorry I've had this for so long, and I just hope others have as much enjoyment out of it as I did :) 

Journal Entry 14 by footymadgill at Croydon, Surrey United Kingdom on Friday, February 10, 2012

Thanks Jonniboi, received this one. Next on the list TBR so should send it along in a week or so. 

Journal Entry 15 by footymadgill at Croydon, Surrey United Kingdom on Sunday, February 19, 2012

I found this one difficult to get into. It picks up about half way through. The Quarkbeast was my favourite character. 

Journal Entry 16 by footymadgill at BOOK RING, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Thursday, February 23, 2012

Released 3 mos ago (2/22/2012 UTC) at BOOK RING, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off to the next person in the ring...I hope you enjoy! 

Journal Entry 17 by vampirequeen at Coventry, West Midlands United Kingdom on Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Got this in the mail last week, started it already, and loving Fforde's style as usual.  

Journal Entry 18 by vampirequeen at Coventry, West Midlands United Kingdom on Thursday, April 19, 2012

Released 1 mo ago (4/17/2012 UTC) at Coventry, West Midlands United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off in the post Tuesday :) 

Journal Entry 19 by WistfulDragon at Streatham, Greater London United Kingdom on Sunday, April 22, 2012

Got it, read it, loved it! I now have a new word for my vocabulary - Quark is likely to be said as often as Plok. I love Jasper's writing, and while this is indeed a children's book, so long as you approach it knowing that it is extremely good. Thank you so much!
Now to get Vekiki's address... 

Journal Entry 20 by WistfulDragon at Streatham, Greater London United Kingdom on Monday, April 23, 2012

vekiki has another copy already so has asked to be skipped - off to pm mysteriousmummy 

Journal Entry 21 by mysteriousmummy at Shefford, Bedfordshire United Kingdom on Sunday, April 29, 2012

Received Saturday and already finished reading it! I loved this book it captured me from the first page, it was funny and exciting. I need to read the next one now. 

Journal Entry 22 by KiwiinEngland at Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand on Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Safely arrived in New Zealand, where a I have relocated. Thanks for sending it over, I'm a great fan of Fforde and loved seeing him at the Swindon UnCon. 

Journal Entry 23 by KiwiinEngland at Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand on Tuesday, May 15, 2012

A fun romp that needs little thought, definately watered down Fforde for children.

My favourite Fforde book still is Shades of Grey. I have the next person's address and will post this to Europe shortly. 

Journal Entry 24 by KiwiinEngland at Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand on Thursday, May 17, 2012

Released 1 wk ago (5/17/2012 UTC) at Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is off to Germany to the next person on the ring.