I loved the Thursday Next* series written for adults so of course, I expected to love the YA book by the same author and Jasper Fforde did not disappoint me. Right from the lovely prologue, The Last Dragon Slayer (Hodder & Stoughton, 2012 in the US, 2010 in the UK) is very funny. But I’ll admit I was really sad about something that happened with one nonhuman character…
Here’s a brief look at the story: 15-year-old, Jennifer Strange is the acting manager (and indentured servant) of Kazam since Mr. Zambini disappeared. The magic is failing, so sorcerors, magicians, etc. are reduced to doing things such as rewiring a house. Magic carpets are used to deliver pizza. People start having visions predicting the death of the last dragon and that Jennifer will be the dragonslayer. However, she doesn’t want to kill the dragon.
The sequel, The Song of the Quarkbeast, comes out in September in the US. Both covers are 
the UK covers which I like a lot!
I’m hoping Mr. Fforde continues to write YA.
I got to hear him speak last year–he’s a fun speaker to listen to as well. My favorite in the Q&A was when someone commented that they couldn’t get their friends to read his books and Mr. Fforde said, “maybe you need new friends.” I wasn’t the only one to chuckle.
*The first book is The Eyre Affair–find out the story behind the story… Here’s the author’s website